Are emergency management teams adequately prepared to handle special-needs scenarios?

 By Elizabeth A. Davis and Kelly Rouba

 In an article that appeared in New Mobility magazine (“Are We Ready for an Emergency?” August 2009), Chip Wilson, Florida’s statewide disability coordinator for emergency management, was quoted as saying that “for far too long, people with disabilities have been an afterthought by many involved in emergency management.”

 In support of that statement, disability advocate and Mercer County (N.J.) CERT member Norman Smith, who has cerebral palsy, added that for many years, “On the emergency management side, there was the assumption that someone else was ‘responsible’ for us—an agency, an institution, a parent, or the health care system.”

 Recognizing that changes needed to be made, the National Council on Disability commissioned our organization to conduct extensive empirical research on emergency management issues pertaining to people with disabilities. The resulting report of over 500 pages examines all phases of emergency management.

 This report is the result of culling through thousands upon thousands of pages of materials found inscholarly journals, news reports, firsthand accounts, testimony, after action reports, and the like from across a variety of disciplines. We looked to works in emergency management, protective services, sociology, social anthropology, medicine (disaster, geriatrics, pediatric), transportation, housing and much more.

 The goal was to not just reiterate known or presumed gaps based in part on the lack of reporting on the issues, but to find replicable solutions and promising practices and to offer an organized roadmap for change.

 Titled “Effective Emergency Management: Making Improvements for Communities and People with Disabilities,” the report calls for significant changes in the field and highlights a number of best practices whose adoption might better address the needs of people with disabilities.

 More at:  http://www.homeland1.com/Emergency-Management-Operations/articles/764609-Remembering-the-special-needs-population-during-disaster/