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Resources for Information

The following may be useful for further information about disaster preparedness in relation to people with disabilities:

• Support Coordinators Emergency Preparedness: Best Practices Guidelines (www.dhh.state.la.us/publications.asp?ID=77&Detail=1193). A resource guide providing a framework for support coordination agencies to use in designing emergency preparedness procedures, and in supporting development of individualized emergency plans for individuals with disabilities. Developed by representatives from Louisiana’s support coordination agencies and the state’s Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities.
  
  
• Higher Ground: The Dedication of Direct Support Professionals During and After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. A documentary on DVD telling the stories of some of the heroic Direct Support Professionals from New Orleans who, despite long hours, low pay, and tremendous stress and trauma, continued to provide support services during and after the storms while often not knowing the fate of their own families. Produced by the Research and Training Center on Community Living, University of Minnesota, in conjunction with Volunteers of America of Greater New Orleans. For further information go to www.highergroundthemovie.org or call 612/624-4512.
  
  
• We Watch the City: Stories in the Shadow of 9/11. A documentary on DVD relating the experiences of New Yorkers with intellectual and other developmental disabilities and those who supported them in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. Produced by the Research and Training Center on Community Living, University of Minnesota. Ordering information available at http://ici.umn.edu/products or by calling 612/624-4512.
  
  
• The Take and Go Emergency Book (www.dhh.state.la.us/publications.asp?ID=77&Detail=1193). A practical booklet for use by individuals with disabilities in personal emergency planning. Includes planning worksheets to fill out. Developed by persons with disabilities and their families in collaboration with the Louisiana Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities.
  
  
• Disaster Preparedness for People with Disabilities (www.redcross.org/services/disaster/beprepared/disability.pdf; or in print from your local Red Cross chapter, item #A5091). This in-depth guide is designed to help people who have physical, visual, auditory, or cognitive disabilities to prepare for natural disasters and their consequences. Individuals with disabilities and those who work with, live with, or assist a person with a disability can use this booklet, which contains information and checklists that can help users organize a personal disaster plan.
  
  
• It’s Not Flu as Usual: What Faith-Based and Community Organizations Need to Know About Pandemic Flu (http://healthyamericans.org/reports/flu/brochures/FluBrochureFaith.pdf). A brochure from the Trust for America’s Health that includes a checklist for preparing for and responding to a pandemic, and common sense prevention precautions.
  
  
• Disaster Preparedness for Families of Children with Special Needs (www.fifionline.org/disaster_plan.php). This resource from the Florida Institute for Family Involvement includes checklists, tips, and information for families preparing for a variety of emergencies or disasters. Available in English and Spanish.
  
  
• Emergency Preparedness: Taking Responsibility for Your Safety – Tips for People with Disabilities and Activity Limitations (http://lacoa.org/esppub.htm#Spec). This guide is for anyone who has trouble walking, hearing, seeing, breathing, understanding, learning or responding quickly. It includes checklists and worksheets for identifying the areas in which a person might need assistance during a disaster, their current level of emergency preparedness, emergency contacts, and necessary emergency supplies. Produced by the County of Los Angeles Office of Emergency Management, it’s available in English and Spanish. Additional resources are also on the Web site.
  
  
• Emergency Evacuation: Safe Egress of Persons with Disabilities from Transit Systems (www.projectaction.org). This fact sheet provides information for transit agencies and for people with disabilities about planning for safe evacuation from public transportation during an emergency. Prepared by Easter Seals Project ACTION and the National Organization on Disability Emergency Preparedness Initiative.
  
  
• Project Safe EV-AC (http://evac.icdi.wvu.edu). The Web site of this project at West Virginia University has resources for emergency responders as well as people with disabilities and those who support them. The focus is improving evacuation from buildings, vehicles, and other settings during emergencies by providing training materials on the evacuation and accommodation of people with disabilities.
  
  
• U.S. Access Board, Resources on Emergency Preparedness and Evacuation (http://www.access-board.gov/evac.htm). This Web site on emergency preparedness includes extensive resources on accessibility issues in evacuation planning and response. It’s operated by the Access Board, a federal agency committed to accessible design, that develops and maintains accessibility requirements for the built environment, transit vehicles, telecommunications equipment, and for electronic and information technology under several different laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
  
  
• ADA Checklist for Emergency Shelters (www.ada.gov/pcatoolkit/chap7shelterchk.htm). This checklist from the U.S. Department of Justice, Disability Rights Section, evaluates the accessibility of shelters.
  
  
• Disaster Resources for People with Disabilities and Emergency Managers (www.jik.com/disaster.html). This Web site from disability policy consultant June Isaacson Kailes provides extensive resources on individual preparedness; legal issues and disability rights; planning, policy, and training; and the role of community organizations. It also includes a working document on creation of state level coordinator positions for facilitating inclusion of people with disabilities and disability organizations in all areas of emergency planning and response.
  
  
• PrepareNow.Org (www.preparenow.org). This Web site of PrepareNow Partners, an alliance of San Francisco Bay Area groups supporting the needs of vulnerable people in disaster preparedness/response, has an information library of practical tips in English and Spanish for use by service providers, advocates, individuals and families. It includes tips for people with specific types of disabilities.
  
  
• Gender and Disaster Network (www.gdnonline.org). This Web site contains extensive international resources on the experiences of women and girls in disasters, ways in which they often experience additional vulnerability (including gender-based violence), and gender inequality in disaster planning and recovery. It also includes stories of women’s leadership in recovery efforts.
  
  
• National Organization on Disability Emergency Preparedness Initiative (www.nod.org/emergency; 202/293-5960). The Web site of this N.O.D. initiative has extensive resources for people with disabilities, community leaders, emergency managers/planners, and disability service providers.
  
  

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Retrieved from the Web site of the Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota (http://ici.umn.edu/products/impact/201/default.html). Citation: Moseley, C., Salmi, P., Johnstone, C. & Gaylord, V. (Eds.). (Spring/Summer 2007). Impact: Feature Issue on Disaster Preparedness and People with Disabilities, 20(1). [Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, Institute on Community Integration].
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Hard copies of Impact are available from the Publications Office of the Institute on Community Integration. The first copy of this issue is free; additional copies are $4 each. You can request copies by phone at 612/624-4512 or e-mail at icipub@umn.edu, or you can fax or mail us an order form. See our listing of other issues of Impact for more information.

The PDF version of this Impact, with photos and graphics, is also online at http://ici.umn.edu/products/impact/201/201.pdf.

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