Please scroll down and submit comments below so we can use this space to continue our conversation on What Now? What Next? and support each other in this work. Ask/answer questions, share successes and challenges, respond to each other, etc.
Carrie: Well, Terrye, you’ve done it. Eight visits to Disasterville! We’ve talked about the American emergency management “system of systems” and local emergency planning. You’ve explored the Prepared4ALL process. You’ve seen examples of Prepared4ALL in action. We talked about planning for a COVID-19 testing site and vaccine Emergency Dispensing Site (EDS).
We’ve talked about “whole community” planning and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Title II of the ADA requires county, city, and town governments to provide equal access, inclusion, and equity in local emergency services, including COVID-19 testing and vaccination. Involving people with disabilities in the planning process and ongoing planning are the best ways to achieve access, equity, and inclusion.
EM: We reviewed the “functional and access needs” concept and the “C-MIST” framework which are ways of thinking about the needs of people with disabilities and others during a disaster or pandemic.
We’ve also talked about topics that emergency and public health preparedness planners may not know. For example, they may not understand local disability demographics. They may not know about negative experiences people with disabilities have had during disasters or COVID-19. Planners may not understand program and physical access or effective communication.
PJ: Terrye, you’re ready to return to Tornado Gap. Now you can use the Prepared4ALL process to develop a coalition to engage and collaborate with the local emergency and public health preparedness planners. Job well done! And you know you’re welcome back any time for a review of what you’ve learned here.
Carrie: Before you go home, Terrye, there are a few things you need to do.
• Download the Prepared4ALL Resource List: This is a list of the resources we talked about during your visits here plus other key information.
• Download the Prepared4ALL Active Planning Workbook, if you haven’t already.
• Download the Prepared4ALL Kick Start Directory tool, if you haven’t already.
• Complete Survey: We’re going to ask you questions based on your Disasterville visits. Your input will help improve the experience for the next group of visitors.
Carrie: Hey, Terrye. Glad you could stop by for part of our Community Stakeholder Meeting. You missed my intro, the Action Team’s intro, and the meeting scope. Remember, these parts of the meeting are in the Active Planning Workbook, the guide we use to run Active Planning Meetings? Then we heard a summary of the local emergency plan, that’s the next step of the meeting.
Then we heard a summary of the local emergency plan. We identified strengths and gaps before you came. Now we’re talking about them. EM is leading this part of the meeting.
Next we used the first Workbook tool, the needs assessment/gap analysis checklist to identify strengths and gaps. Now we’re talking about the strengths and gaps we found in our local plan. After that, then we’ll use the Workbook to count the number of gaps. Then we’ll set priorities and decide what gap to close first.
EM is leading this part of the meeting.
What follows are from discussions based on real life Community Stakeholder Meetings.
Scope of the Local Emergency Plan
Rafe: Hmm…about that emergency plan summary we just heard. The scope seems narrow. It only takes residents into account. What about people who work or shop here? What about visitors to Disasterville Amusement Park?
Maryam: You know, people with disabilities aren’t just residents either. They might be working here, shopping at the mall, at the amusement park or visiting the library. Kids with disabilities from outside the county go to Disasterville’s public schools’ inclusive after school programs.
EM: Got it. The plan needs to accommodate people besides residents. The plan needs to assume that there will be people with and without disabilities in any place, at any time, who might be impacted when disaster strikes.
Disability Community Needs
Elisa: Here’s what I want to know. How do we get a better feel for disability community needs? Do we even know how many people with disabilities live here?
Jane: I’m with the local Council on Aging. We keep a list of program participants. And the public housing agency has a list of residents in accessible units. There may be a way to remove names and other private info from these lists and share only the numbers (aggregate data) without names and other personally identifiable information. That would be helpful for planning purposes.
Rachel: I’m a researcher from Disasterville University. You know, the U.S. Census (American Community Survey) has data on the functional needs of people with disabilities in counties. You can get it online for free. One of my students could get you the data for Disasterville.
Jane: Just remember that these data on who lives here, or demographics, won’t tell the whole story. But this is a beginning to get some idea of numbers. You also should connect with disability organizations. They can tell you generally about what people with disabilities who participate in their programs often need. They can likely do this without personally identifiable information to keep everyone’s information private and safe.
Carrie: Great! We can use multiple data sources in addition to connecting with disability provider agencies to learn about the people they serve. This all paints a sharper picture of local needs. We’ll remember that a sharper picture won’t be the whole picture. It’s impossible to know the exact number of people with disabilities in a community, and it wouldn’t even be worth trying to find out.
Disaster Resources
Barrett: These checklists are intense. Are we REALLY going to have to buy expensive equipment like Hoyer lifts (used by some people with physical disabilities to move off and on toilets or in and out of bathtubs) for our local emergency shelter? What about the budget?
Reuben: I’m the special education administrator at Disasterville High. Why can’t you just borrow our Hoyer lift during an emergency? School’s likely to be closed anyway. We could bring it to you since the shelter is down the road.
César: It’s not about buying all this stuff in advance. It’s about knowing how to get resources fast. You’ll need to know if you will borrow, trade, or purchase needed items. It’s about sharing community resources like expertise, materials, or equipment.
Disaster Resources
Reuben: As long as we’re talking resources, why can’t we ask the library to borrow the CCTV low vision magnifier so people with low vision could use it to read or complete registration forms at the COVID-19 test center?
Allen: Well, that’s great for the magnifier. But what if we need information in Braille?
Jane: The Council on Aging has a resource for you. We’ll be happy to share.
Disaster Resources
Franny [Signing]: I’m from Disasterville General Hospital. You mentioned needing non-English and sign language interpreters. We can share with the County during an emergency. Let’s develop a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to spell things out.
Sondra: Do we have contact with local businesses? Remember last winter when we had that terrible ice storm and everyone lost power? You know Disasterville Fish & Chips on Lowell St. that everyone loves? Freddy, the owner, was about to lose his inventory so he brought it all down to the emergency shelter and we had the biggest, best fish fry ever.
César: I’m on the Disasterville Business Council. At our next meeting, we can discuss how the business community could partner with the County to address disasters and emergencies, including COVID-19.
Inclusive Disaster Drills and Exercises
Lynn: I’m a community member. Can I be in a drill?
Carrie: Sure you can. I was at a hospital HazMat decontamination drill. People with and without disabilities played “volunteer disaster survivors.”
A “volunteer disaster survivor” with an intellectual disability had trouble understanding the instructions. By having a real person to practice with, the responders and hospital staff realized that they needed to give directions in multiple ways. You don’t get real reactions from the inflatable dummies they used to use for drills.
PJ: Great idea, Lynn! Having volunteer survivors would give responders a better idea of who’s in the community, what their needs are, increase disability awareness, and it might even highlight gaps in the local plan.
EM: I’d like to thank you all for the great discussion so far. While our recorder tallies our checkmarks and blank spaces using Tool 2 to set priorities, I’ll recap.
We found a number of areas for improvement:
– Broadening the emergency plan scope
– Understanding disability community needs
– Getting resources
– Drills
We thought of some quick fixes and fairly easy next steps to handle these issues.
PJ: Communication always emerges as a big issue. There were lots of blank spaces in the checklist about communication. Please add it to the list.
We talked about:
– A need to increase communication between Disasterville emergency management, public health planners, and the disability community
– A need for better public education for the disability community
– Better, more actionable, and accessible emergency instructions for the public
– A need for American Sign Language and other non-English language interpreters. Thanks to Disasterville General Hospital we made some progress on that one.
After discussion and a vote, Mina recorded our Action Plan. Mina, would you please project Priority 1 onto the screen?
EM: The rest of the Action Plan is now complete. Before we close, I want to thank my colleagues from Disasterville County government. I want to thank the Prepared4ALL Action Team and other residents for their hard work today.
We’ll send out the notes from this meeting.
Then we’ll send reminders of action items and timelines. We’ll also keep tabs on progress and report back to the group.
The conversations are taken from actual successful Community Stakeholder Meetings held in Massachusetts several years ago. Can you see how the meeting participants think about dealing with challenges? Can you see that there is back and forth to solve a problem and then someone sums up the problem and the solution?
Did you notice that they haven’t yet talked about COVID-19?
PJ: EM, you forgot something. We have to add a COVID-19 Vaccine Annex (attachment) to the Emergency Dispensing Site (EDS) Plan. I’d like to ask the Action Team and others a big question. What are some access and functional needs issues we should be thinking about?
Lynn: I want to know EVERYTHING that will happen when I get the shot.
PJ: That reminds me that we need plain language public information and easy-to-read and understand signage in the EDS.
Carrie: I’ll remind you about registration and consent formats in accessible formats. Maybe we also need the forms on computers for people who use screen reader software.
Oh, and the aisles in the space need to be wide enough to accommodate people with mobility equipment and service animals.
Maryam: I’m concerned about social distancing and masking at the EDS. People my age may get sick more easily.
PJ: I’ll work with the partners from the Disasterville Community Health Center to set up those protocols or guidelines to keep people safe.
Rafe: Like the young lady, I want to know each step of what’s going to happen. What about a flow chart or diagram with all of the steps in the process? And what if the noise, lights, and people make me anxious? Is there going to be a quiet area?
EM: We have someone in the office who knows how to make infographics, PJ. And we need a big enough space so there can be quiet areas. Hmm…maybe we should hold a drive-thru EDS. Or, maybe we should have indoor and outdoor EDS sites. We want to move people through quickly, don’t we PJ?
PJ: I think we’re going to need an indoor and outdoor EDS. I better check on personnel to give the vaccines. We may have to see if Medical Reserve Corps medical professionals and public school nurses are available to help.
Jane: What about vaccine hesitancy? You know, people who are afraid or worried and don’t want the vaccine?
Carrie: You raise an important issue. Some people are very concerned about the vaccine. People ask: “Is it safe?” “Can I trust the government?” “What aren’t they telling us?” I’d like to see if some experts on vaccine hesitancy could meet with us.
PJ: This is so helpful. Thanks, everyone. There’s so much to talk about with COVID that we should hold a separate COVID-19 vaccine distribution public meeting. As you all know, the vaccines will be coming soon. We’re providing the vaccines in phases. While we use our yearly flu clinics as practice for an EDS, this year we can use the Phase 1 vaccine group, health care workers, and first responders, as a drill as well. I’d like to talk about that at the COVID-19 vaccine meeting.
…And now, this meeting can finally be adjourned. Good night everyone. Thank you all.
EM: The Active Planning Workbook guides the Community Stakeholder Meeting. Participants collaborate to complete 3 steps using 3 tools in the Workbook.
The Active Planning Workbook
3 Steps to Follow
1. Where are we now?
2. Where do we want to be?
3. How do we get there?
3 Tools to Complete
1. Needs Assessment/Gap Analysis
2. Set Priorities
3. Close the gap with an Action Plan
Marco [Signing]: As Community Stakeholder Meeting participants collaborate to complete the Active Planning Workbook, group discussion will identify gaps and lead to strategies for closing the gaps. Once the Workbook is complete the community will have a blueprint to make the local emergency plan (and any response practices not in the plan) more inclusive.
If you’d like, take a quick look at the workbook now and then come back to talk some more. [Link to Workbook PDF] You’ll be able to download the entire Workbook as a PDF as you leave Disasterville.
Let’s go over the 3 Steps in more detail.
Step 1: The Meeting Facilitator reads Tool 1, Where are we now? Needs Assessment and Gap Analysis, a checklist of standards, out loud, item by item. Participants decide together whether the community meets each standard described. The Recorder makes a checkmark in the Workbook if standards are met and leaves a blank if standards aren’t met. Some communities choose to give themselves partial credit.
The checklist is meant to start a discussion about people with disabilities and other populations with access and functional needs, local emergency services, resources, and individual responsibility to self-prepare.
As items are read aloud, participants share ideas, knowledge, expertise, and resources. As the discussion continues, gaps and areas for improvement become clear, and participants begin to think of strategies to address the gaps.
Checkmarks mean a standard has been met. Unchecked lines mean gaps or areas for improvement.
If the checklist seems overwhelming, remember it’s a discussion starter. Some items may not apply to every community.
PJ: Think of your community as you look at examples from the Workbook’s Tool 1 checklist below.
From: Tool 1 – Where are we now?
Transportation and evacuation
Mass Care Sheltering
Emergency Dispensing Site (EDS)
Recovery
PJ: The key is to focus on your community when using Tool 1, the checklist. Some parts of the checklist may be more important for your community than others.
Allen:
Step 2: The Recorder tallies the checkmarks and blank spaces from Tool 1 and announces the results. The meeting participants decide on 5 gaps or areas for improvement with simple, quick, and/or inexpensive solutions. The group then selects 3 gaps that will need more extensive or expensive solutions.
Rachel:
Step 3: The Facilitator leads the group to complete an Action Plan which describes the main gaps identified, proposed strategies to address those gaps, people responsible for implementation, and a timeline. The Action Plan is based on the results of the checklist and discussions at the Community Stakeholder Meeting.
💭 Just for practice, Terrye, think about a potential priority for your community. Consider using the template below from Tool 3 below to think through how to fill this gap. (If you can’t think of a priority, you might use accessible communication for sending out important public information since this is a common gap.)
Action Plan
| Priority | Describe Gap | Proposed Solution | Responsible persons | Start and End Dates |
| 1 | Example: accessible communication to send out important public information | Local disability organization offered to lead workshop on accessible communication for public health planning office. Local self-advocate group offered to review materials for plain text readability. | Shaniqua Wilson Blane Smith | Start: May, 2021 End: Sept, 2021 |
EM: Now you’ll be ready for the Disasterville Community Stakeholder Meeting in a few weeks.
PJ: Terrye, you remember our Prepared4ALL Action Team, right? You met them on an earlier visit. We plan Community Stakeholder Meetings together with the Prepared4ALL Action Team. The goal of a Community Stakeholder Meeting is for community stakeholders to review the local emergency plan(s) with emergency and public health preparedness planners to find and close any gaps.
Folks, we’d better get moving…the Community Stakeholder Meeting is about 6 weeks away. We have the agenda from our last meeting. We kept notes of what went well and what didn’t.
Here’s what we need to do:
💭Think about what to consider when setting the Community Stakeholder Meeting date and time. We want to make sure as many people as possible can attend the meeting. What are some things we should think about?
People who work during the day may want to have evening meetings but people with children may have childcare issues at night. People who work on shifts may not have the same free time as others.
Some people who work can’t get time off to meet during the day. Local government staff may have so many meetings that they don’t have a lot of available time. Some local government staff may have union rules to follow.
💭 Again, we want to make sure as many people as possible can easily get to the meeting. What should we consider about the meeting location?
Meetings should be near public transportation, which many people rely on. The meeting building must have accessible entrances, exits, restrooms and meeting rooms, etc. This is the law for public meetings.
The meeting room must be set up in an accessible way. For example, remove some chairs to make room for wheelchairs and scooters at the table. Make sure there is a clear path to move around the room. Remove obstacles on the floor. Make sure there is space at the table for sign language and non-English language translators, as needed.
If there’s going to be a presentation make sure it is accessible, with large enough text, proper use of headings, and is available in other accessible formats. Images should have “alt text” descriptions. If the meeting is held remotely, use an accessible online meeting tool.
If remote, make sure the meeting is accessible by smartphones, landline phones, computers, and tablets. Remember that some people do not have computers or smartphones.
Send out meeting invitations far enough in advance. Remember that some people may not have computers and may need to receive an invitation by mail or phone call. Some people may need a paper copy of the meetings materials to read in advance.
The meeting invitation should include a statement that the meeting will be in an accessible location and that reasonable modifications (accommodations) will be available upon request. Provide a contact name and phone number/email to ask for modifications (accommodations).
Meetings may be held in person when it’s safe and health to do so, remotely using technology, and/or by phone. Some people may prefer to join a meeting by phone instead of coming in person or being on a computer.
Which of the following are reasonable meeting modifications (accommodations)?
– Preferential seating
– Extra space at the meeting table for needed equipment or technology
– Notetakers
– Extra space in the meeting room for support persons
– Phone call before the meeting to answer questions
– Moving the meeting to someone’s house
Rafe: The above, except for moving the meeting to someone’s house, are all likely to be reasonable modifications (accommodations).
Moving the meeting to someone’s house is an unreasonable modification and may actually introduce additional accessibility barriers.
💭What about remote meetings? Should reasonable modifications (accommodations) be offered for remote online meetings?
Reasonable modifications (accommodations) should be offered for remote online meetings.
For example, note-takers may be needed and print may need to be enlarged for on-screen viewing. There may be unique modifications for these meetings.
Allen: Look at the meeting role description, Terrye.
Community Stakeholder Meeting Roles:
Consider how to prepare participants in advance and who will act as:
1. Meeting facilitator to lead the discussion. Most often the local emergency or public health preparedness planner will call the meeting, which must be held in a public building. They may also lead the discussion. Some communities find it helpful for someone from a disability or other community-based organization to run the meeting.
2. •Timekeeper to keep the meeting moving and end discussion, if needed. To keep track of important information that isn’t relevant to the meeting, use a “parking lot” list. A parking lot is a handwritten or computer list of other important information that the group wants to remember. Often the parking lot list is posted on a wall so that others can see it, and it is shared after the meeting.
3. Recorder to record responses in the Workbook. This person is the key to capturing all the good ideas that come from the meeting.
4. Disability community experts (with lived and professional expertise)
5. Other community members (with lived and professional expertise)
6. Emergency plan expert to summarize the plan at the beginning of the meeting and refer back to the plan as needed. This should be someone who knows the local emergency plan well. They should also know about local emergency response practices that may not be in the plan.
Carrie: Send out the agenda, emergency plan, and Workbook in advance for people to review if they can. Here’s a sample agenda.
Community Stakeholder Meeting Sample Agenda
1. Introductions (including Community Stakeholder Meeting roles: facilitator, timekeeper, recorder, plan expert, other experts)
2. Review meeting goals
3. Briefly review the Workbook and meeting process
4. Summarize the local emergency plan and emergency response practices (sometimes common practices aren’t recorded in the plan)
5. Complete the Workbook
6. Determine next steps and responsibilities. How will meeting notes be shared?
7. Share handouts and resources
–Self-preparedness handouts for disability community member participants and other community and organizational representatives
–Disability awareness-raising handouts for emergency planners, managers, responders and community officials
Carrie: Think about this agenda for a minute.
During the meeting, you can use the Prepared4ALL wheel to find strengths and make a plan to close gaps.
As you hear from Rachel and others on the Action Team and Disasterville residents, think about how what they say compares to your ideas.
Rachel: Pinpoint: Find the local disability inclusion issue. The first issue is finding gaps and areas of strength in the local emergency plan. The emergency management and public health agencies are already pinpointed. Now the planners need to pinpoint the other local government agencies to involve.
Relate: Find local organizations with related goals for collaboration.
Engage: The Prepared4ALL Action Team members and other community representatives can think about which other groups to involve and then engage with them. This is also an opportunity for the local planners to engage with them.
Positive: While reviewing the workbook, be positive and think about the strengths in the local plan, positive emergency response practices, and the local community’s strengths. Think about what you can do.
Advance opportunities: When prioritizing which gaps to close, choose some gaps which can be closed easily. “Fast and easy wins” will move the group forward. Think about collaborator strengths and leverage them to decide on gap closing strategies.
Reflect: At the beginning of the meeting, reflect about what brought the group together. During the meeting, think about how solutions to other challenges might be used to close emergency plan gaps. Before setting priorities, reflect about what needs to be dealt with immediately. Reflect on the number and kinds of gaps and strengths identified. Look for patterns related to strengths, gaps, and solutions. At the end of the Community Stakeholder Meeting, reflect on what the participants accomplished.
Envision: During the discussion, envision more than one way to close a gap. Then envision the best way to close that gap. Who would be the best person or people to implement the gap closing solution? What resources do they already have and what else do they need to be successful?
Deploy: Make an Action Plan to put the gap closing solutions into action. Be ready to review and revise action steps moving forward.
Rachel: Remember “4All.” At the meeting ask whether the solutions meet the STATE test. Do the solutions give “Same Time Access To Everyone?” Do all local partners own and share the issue?
EM: Let’s move from talking about planning to a closer look at the Active Planning Workbook. The Workbook is a guide to lead you through the Community Stakeholder Meeting.
EM: Terrye, you’ve been here a while. You know how we work, using Prepared4ALL as our guide. We’re going to put it all together for you today and show you our Active Planning Workbook and Community Stakeholder Meeting process.
A Community Stakeholder Meeting is a tool for whole community planning. It brings together for collaboration local people with disabilities, families, support networks, disability organizations, and service providers with emergency planners, responders, and local government officials.
At a Community Stakeholder Meeting, stakeholders:
– Find gaps and areas of strength related to people with disabilities
– Discuss the local emergency plan and emergency response practices (which may not be written in the plan)
– Think of strategies and make an action plan to build on strengths and close the gaps. A Community Stakeholder Meeting takes time, planning, and coordination. But the benefits can be big: sharing information, expertise and resources, legal compliance, and building a stronger community.
💭 Terrye, think about a community’s emergency plan and some gaps that you might find in a local plan. What are some physical access, program access and effective communication gaps you might find?
Every Community Stakeholder Meeting to date has found gaps in these three areas. Here are examples of the kinds of gaps a Community Stakeholder Meetings might identify:
♿ Physical Access:
– Aisles wide enough for people using wheelchairs, walkers, and white canes to easily move through
– The accessible path through the COVID-19 emergency dispensing site
👩🦽🐕🦺🏠Program Access:
– Equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines
– Accessible evacuation transportation 4ALL
💬Effective Communication:
– Signage is easy to read and understand
– More than one way to share information
-COVID-19 communication is 4ALL
It’s about having the right people at the same place at the same time.
Here’s an example of something that happened at a Massachusetts Community Stakeholder Meeting a couple of years ago. The people at the meeting felt that the town needed extra wheelchairs for natural disasters. They thought that people might be hurt or might lose their adaptive equipment. They were trying to figure out where they could find the budget for those wheelchairs. The Council on Aging director was at the meeting. She let everyone know her office had extra wheelchairs and offered them for town emergency use. She even offered to store them until needed.
At another real-life Community Stakeholder Meeting the partners identified the need for an accessible local government website. A local government official mentioned a tech company that had asked how they could help the community. The official turned the company away. He didn’t know what to ask the company for! The group urged a return call to the tech company to ask for help making the website accessible.
Problems solved. No extra cost!
The Community Stakeholder Meeting deepens community knowledge and expertise. Community Stakeholder Meetings may encourage community members and organizations to become more active locally.
PJ: At some point during each Community Stakeholder Meeting meeting, there is an “Aha!” moment that happens to help move the group from identifying gaps to gap-closing strategies.
💡 Community Stakeholder Meeting participants work as a group to ask and answer questions like:
– Do we understand local disability community emergency needs? Have we addressed CMIST and functional and access needs in our plan?
– Where are our plan’s areas of strength?
– Does our plan or response practice have any gaps or areas for improvement related to the emergency needs of people with disabilities?
– What are the priority gaps we want to address?
– What are strategies for closing the gaps? How should we implement those strategies?
Carrie: What? You’re wondering where this Community Stakeholder Meeting idea came from? And what about the workbook guide?
The Community Stakeholder Meetings come from a FEMA-funded project that was developed at the E.K. Shriver Center, University of Massachusetts Medical School. When the FEMA funding ended, the project continued. Community Stakeholder Meetings were held in approximately 21 Massachusetts towns, cities and one county. All of the Community Stakeholder Meetings were successful. Participants found at least five gaps in each local emergency plan, and some communities found more. They also found areas of strength in the local emergency plans and response practices. Using the workbook as a guide, all the communities made an action plan to close the gaps they found.
PJ: So, you wonder, how often do we hold Community Stakeholder Meetings? Who do we invite?
We hold Community Stakeholder Meetings one to two times a year. Each meeting lasts about three hours. Like EM said, the best Community Stakeholder Meetings happen when lots of different people contribute. Ideally, a Community Stakeholder Meeting results in sharing resources, information, and expertise. These meetings are focused meetings that require all attendees to work together collaboratively. Community Stakeholder Meetings address disasters, pandemics, and emergencies—they are not designed to voice other community concerns.
🧑🤝🧑The people at Disasterville’s Community Stakeholder Meetings include:
– EM, the local emergency manager and me, the public health preparedness planner
– Carrie, our local ADA coordinator
– Several other local government staff like the representatives from the Council on Aging, Human Services Department, and Public Works Department
– The Prepared4ALL Action Team who you met on your second visit here. (There may already be a community coalition in your community. If there is one, ask to join it.)
– Representatives from disability organizations (including staff, Board Members and/or program participants)
– Representatives from community organizations like the local food pantry, houses of worship, social service organizations, volunteer organizations, etc. (including staff, Board Members, and/or program participants).
There are no right or wrong answers here, Terrye. The group should be as diverse as possible. Think creatively about whom to invite. Community Stakeholder Meetings make the most of the strengths and resources that already exist in the community. To do that we need to extend broad invitations to folks who might not immediately spring to mind.
There is no ideal number of participants. As a working meeting there need to be enough people for discussion, but not so many that work can’t get done. Too many people can mean that it’s hard to be efficient. So sometimes we hold a larger meeting first and then later a smaller follow-up meeting.
A planning meeting before the Community Stakeholder Meeting is also helpful. This way you can set the stage and make sure the meeting will be 4ALL.
EM: Here are some other organizations to think about inviting, in addition to the Action Team and disability and other community organizations in local emergency planning.
Some states, counties, or cities have Access and Functional Needs Coordinators. If your community has a Coordinator, then there may already be an emergency planning community coalition. Contact the Coordinator. You know Carrie as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Coordinator here in Disasterville, but she also plays the role of Access and Functional Needs Coordinator during emergencies, disasters and pandemics.
Some communities may already have these coalitions. Community Organizations Active in a Disaster (COADs) and Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOADs) are voluntary organizations that may serve this function.
These groups may also be called “Community Advisory Groups.” Rather than re-inventing the wheel, Prepared4ALL Action Teams should partner.
Your community may have a Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT), or Citizens Corps Program (CCP). These are groups of volunteer responders.
The groups may be natural allies with many interested volunteers.
For example, Connecticut reports approximately 100 CCP teams (including an MRC consisting of about 4,000 people).
ASPR formed regional hospital and health care coalitions within states. While these coalitions focus mainly on health care, your regional coalition may have an interest in partnering. Find your ASRP region.
Each of FEMA’s 10 regions has Disability Integration Specialists. They may help you access other networks. They may also have helpful resources.
In addition to being thoughtful about who to invite to a Community Stakeholder Meeting, it’s important to have enough time to follow the workbook guide and talk during the meeting. It’s the discussion that’s the important part of each meeting.
Now we’ve got to get ready for the next Community Stakeholder Meeting. It’s coming up soon…
EM: Hey, Terrye. We’re going to wrap up today with a list of whole community promising practices. The list comes from a review of about 100 state and local emergency plans, planning guidance, whole community guides, court decisions, and U.S. Department of Justice legal settlements, plus interviews with experts.
Whole community emergency plans should include:
And maybe the most important thing. Make sure that local governments add whole community planning and access and functional needs issues into the local budget cycle from the beginning. There are knowable and plannable inclusion costs.
Some local planners may not understand their responsibility for whole community planning and so they don’t do it. Then when they learn about this responsibility there may be no funding in the local government budget. Don’t let funding concerns become an excuse.
Click the quiz link below to check your learning and continue.
Carrie: We hope today’s visit has been useful. We’re excited to share more information with you that you can take back to Tornado Gap. We look forward to seeing you back here soon.
Your next Disasterville visit can happen now or you can come back when it works for you.
When you’re ready, we’ll talk about Active Planning and Community Stakeholder Meetings. These are whole community meetings where emergency planners collaborate with people with disabilities, disability organizations and other community representatives to review the local emergency plan for strengths and gaps.
We’ll save your progress along the way because we’re rooting for you to get that Prepared4ALL Certificate after your last visit. At your last visit we’ll give you a Resource List so you don’t have to worry about taking notes or writing down links during your visits here.
See ya soon!
Carrie: We’ve been talking about access needs and function needs. Someone with access needs faces challenges accessing disaster or emergency resources or services. Someone with functional needs faces challenges with everyday functioning, like communication, staying healthy by taking medicine or maintaining their independence by using medical equipment, mobility equipment, assistive devices, service animals, or with support from someone else.
We said that the CMIST framework is useful for describing and planning for access and functional needs. First we’ll talk about this framework. Then we’ll give you some examples to think about.
The CMIST framework breaks access and functional needs into 5 categories. An emergency plan that addresses CMIST needs is likely to be 4ALL.
The CMIST framework assumes that there are 5 broad categories of access and functional needs: communication, maintaining health, independence, support & safety, and transportation. CMIST can be used for temporary and permanent conditions. Someone with a broken leg and someone without a car may benefit from CMIST. It’s not about a label or diagnosis. It’s about needs someone may have during an emergency.
Here is how the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) describes CMIST:
“Individuals who speak sign language, who have limited English proficiency, or who have limited ability to speak, see, hear, or understand.”
“People with communication needs may have limited ability to hear announcements, see signs, understand messages, or verbalize their concerns.”
“Individuals who may require specific medications, supplies, services, durable medical equipment, electricity for life-maintaining equipment, breastfeeding and infant/childcare, or nutrition, etc.”
“Early identification and planning for AFN can help to reduce the negative impacts of a disaster on individuals’ health. This includes:
• Maintaining chronic health conditions
• Minimizing preventable medical conditions
• Avoiding making an individual’s health status worse”
“Individuals who function independently with assistance from mobility devices or assistive technology, vision and communication aids, service animals, etc.”
“Independence is the outcome of ensuring that a person’s access and functional needs are addressed as long as they are not separated from their devices, assistive technology, service animals, etc.”
“Some individuals may become separated from caregivers and need additional personal care assistance; experience higher levels of distress and need support for anxiety, psychological, or behavioral health needs; or require a trauma-informed approach or support for personal safety.”
“Early identification and planning for AFN can help to reduce the negative impacts of a disaster on individuals’ wellbeing. Some people may have lost caregiver assistance and require additional support; some individuals may find it difficult to cope in a new or strange environment or have difficulty understanding or remembering; and some individuals may have experienced trauma or be victims of abuse.”
“Individuals who lack access to personal transportation, are unable to drive due to decreased or impaired mobility that may come with age and/or disability, temporary conditions, injury, or legal restriction.”
“Disasters can significantly reduce transportation options, inhibiting individuals from accessing services, staying connected, etc. Disaster planning requires coordination with mass transit and accessible transportation services providers.”
(ASPR, 2020)
Carrie: Look at some emergency items and supports to meet CMIST needs. Whole community emergency plans should include information about CMIST resources and where to find them if needed during an emergency.
PJ: You remember these folks, right? They’ve agreed to talk to you about their CMIST needs.
Click the quiz link below to speak to each person about their CMIST needs.
Marco [Signing]: Now that you know the basics about whole community, we should talk about “access and functional needs” and the “CMIST framework,” which can be useful in thinking about how to meet those needs during emergencies.
PJ: According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), about half the people in the U.S. have temporary or permanent conditions that limit their ability to act during a disaster. These people have access and functional needs (AFN).
Rachel: ASPR says that regardless of a specific diagnosis or label some people have access or functional needs that may interfere with their ability to access or receive medical or emergency services before, during, or after a disaster or pandemic, like COVID-19.
“Access-based needs: All people must have access to certain resources, such as social services, accommodations, information, transportation, medications to maintain health, and so on. People with access needs face challenges accessing emergency services or resources.
Function-based needs: Function-based needs refer to restrictions or limitations an individual may have that requires assistance before, during, and/or after a disaster or public health emergency.
People with functional needs may need help to function during emergencies, disasters, or pandemics like COVID-19.”
(ASPR, 2021 https://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/planning/abc/Pages/atrisk.aspx)
Due to COVID-19, there are additional people who may have access and functional needs, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
– Racial and ethnic minorities
– People who have intellectual/developmental disabilities
– People living in rural communities
– People in correctional and detention facilities
– Newly resettled refugee populations
Rachel: Take me, for example. I have Type 1 diabetes. Diabetes is a chronic health condition where I need constant medicine and medical equipment to stay alive and healthy. During a disaster, I need ongoing access to my insulin pump and glucose monitor as well as access to a power outlet if I need to charge my medical devices. These are functional needs related to my diabetes. My personal emergency plan includes extra supplies, but if I run out during a disaster it’s a problem. Having diabetes also makes me more susceptible to COVID-19 complications. I need to know that my community’s emergency plan includes strategies to help me get my medical supplies if I need them.
PJ: Also, think about me. I identify as gender non-conforming. I face bias a lot. I’m concerned about being comfortable if I have to stay in an emergency shelter or if I interact with a responder or clinician who’s biased and not knowledgeable. I also sometimes use a cane when my arthritis acts up. In terms of functional needs, I need my cane (medical equipment) all the time. Because of bias and knowledge gaps, I can have access needs. Whole community planning should include planning for and with people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs.
EM: The CMIST framework is useful for describing and planning for access and functional needs. We’ll talk about that next. But I’d like you to take time to reflect first.
Click the quiz link below to check your learning and continue.
Carrie: Welcome! As early as your first visit we started talking about “whole community” planning, which is an attitude and way of doing things. Whole community plans apply to an entire community, strengthen community resilience, and help communities bounce back quickly after disaster strikes.
Good communication is an important part of whole community.
FEMA says the phrase “whole community” means involving people in the development of national preparedness document and ensuring their roles and responsibilities are reflected in the content of the materials.
As you work on whole community planning, you may get to know community members or groups that you didn’t know before. Part of respectful collaboration is checking with community groups about how they prefer to be identified.
One partner that may be new to you is the Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies, a national organization that addresses needs of people with disabilities before, during and after disasters and emergencies.
Communication is also important with partners. The Action Team will communicate with local planners before emergencies at Action Team meetings and other times. Using our Kick Start Directory tool may help you create and sustain stronger community partnerships. But what about when disaster strikes?
Communication between a disability organization and local emergency management and public health during an emergency may be different for each community. For example, some communities may give emergency instructions by radio. Some communities may want to use a communication type besides 9-1-1.
Disability organizations should ask local planners:
· How will you be sharing information with community organization like ours during a disaster, disaster and pandemic?
· How would you like community organizations like ours to communicate with you during an emergency, disaster or pandemic?
Disability organizations should ask local planners: We know that you would like everyone to be ready for an emergency, disaster, or pandemic. But if a person with a disability needs help during an emergency, disaster or pandemic, who should they contact? The answer to this question may be different in each community.
EM: Remember when you met César when we were out and about? He told us that he was on vacation in Faraway County when disaster struck. He made it to the emergency shelter, but they didn’t allow his service animal, Ginger, to stay with him. He asked you to imagine the impact of separating him from Ginger.
César said he was usually very independent. He lives alone, rides public transit to and from work and all over the city. He’s used to a lot of independence. Without Ginger, he lost a lot of his independence. He needed a lot more help than usual. César said he was humiliated. He had to get help to go to the bathroom and lunchroom. The shelter workers were so busy they didn’t have time to help him. He had to wait an hour to go to the bathroom. He was right to be angry.
Think about César and Ginger again. Separating people from their service animals in shelters was a Faraway County emergency policy. The policy protects people with animal allergies or fears.
Not quite. Wouldn’t separating Cèsar and Ginger cause Cèsar to lose a support he relied on to maintain his independence? Would that be equitable?
Not quite. Wouldn’t separating Cèsar and Ginger cause Cèsar to lose the support he relied on to maintain his independence? Would that be equitable?
Not quite. Wouldn’t separating Cèsar and Ginger cause Cèsar to lose a support he relied on to maintain his independence? Would that be equitable?
That’s right. A policy that separates disaster survivors from their service animals is not an example of whole community planning. The whole community means planning by everyone, including the general public, businesses, non-profit organizations, and all levels of government to increase coordination and better working relationships. The whole community means planning with functional and access needs in mind. It violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to separate an owner from their service animal and it deprives Cèsar of support that helps him maintain his independence.
EM: A policy that separates disaster survivors from their service animals is not an example of whole community planning.
The whole community means planning by everyone, including the general public, businesses, non-profit organizations, and all levels of government to increase coordination and better working relationships.
PJ: Participation of the whole community means equal access to local, state and national preparedness activities and programs without discrimination. It means meeting the equal access and functional needs of all individuals. And it also means consistent and active participation in all aspects of planning.
Community and individual readiness for emergencies are key.
Carrie: We said that this policy violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the key civil rights law for people with disabilities. Under the ADA, state and local governments must provide physical access, program access, and access to effective communication in their services, including emergency planning. All of these must be included in emergency planning.
That’s right. Under the ADA, people with disabilities are entitled to program and physical access and access to effective communication. Think about César’s situation. Program access means that a state or local government’s services, programs, and activities, when viewed in their entirety, must be readily accessible to and useable by individuals with disabilities. This means that program access decisions are made by looking at the whole service, program or activity, not just one part of it.
Without Ginger, César wasn’t able to move around independently. He couldn’t participate in the services the emergency shelter offered, such as meals in the lunchroom, with his usual level of independence.
That’s also right. We could also say that while the emergency shelter building and spaces inside may have been physically accessible when Ginger couldn’t be with him he lost his ability to independently access them. So without Ginger, César couldn’t keep his usual level of independence. We could also say that while the emergency shelter building and spaces inside may have been physically accessible, when Ginger couldn’t be with him, he lost his ability to independently access them.
Not quite. In our scenario César was able to understand when he was told that Ginger couldn’t be with him in the shelter. He would have been able to protest that decision by speaking with shelter officials.
Now think about a new situation. Suppose there was smoke in the emergency shelter, but the alarm was broken and didn’t sound. Nobody told César about the smoke and he couldn’t smell it. If Ginger were with him and was trained to alert him to smoke, then in a sense Ginger would be needed for his access to effective communication.
Not quite, try again. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, equal access accommodations should be free.
That’s right. An example of a whole community policy would be: It is the policy of Faraway County to keep people together with their service animals in emergency shelters.
Not quite. A written request isn’t required to keep someone together with their service animal.
Allen: Some counties, cities, and towns include a statement of whole community philosophy in their emergency plans.
Here are three examples:
To Monterey County, California, “whole community” means a strong community with residents, community leaders and government officials who actively participate in emergency planning. It means understanding community needs and how to make the community strong. The county works with different groups to strengthen what their everyday good work.
From their plan: “Monterey County has embraced FEMA’s whole community approach to creating engaged and resilient communities by which residents, emergency management practitioners, community leaders, and government officials can understand and assess the needs of their respective communities and determine the best ways to organize and strengthen their assets, capabilities, and interests. By engaging communities, we can understand the unique and diverse needs of a population…. Local capacity is built on the empowering of community members, social and service groups, faith-based and disability groups, academia, professional, private and nonprofit sectors to strengthen what works in their communities on a daily basis.”
Boulder, Colorado focuses on whole community disaster recovery. Boulder County feels that it’s important to plan for long-term recovery and that all stakeholders should work together on building an even stronger community.
From their plan: “By incorporating the Whole Community concept into the recovery process, communities in Boulder County can address long-term recovery in a more effective and efficient manner. All aspects of a community are needed to effectively recover….It is critical that all stakeholders work together to enable communities to develop collective, mutually supporting local capabilities to withstand the potential initial impacts of these incidents, respond quickly, and recover as rapidly as possible in a way that sustains or improves the community’s overall well-being.”
Miami-Dade County, Florida focuses on community partners working together to understand community needs and organize resources to meet those needs. Miami-Dade wants to make the community stronger, with the capacity to deal with disasters.
From their plan: “The ‘Whole Community’ approach is a means by which residents, emergency management, local officials, private businesses, non-profit organizations, and faith-based organizations can collectively understand and assess the needs of their respective communities, determine the best ways to organize resources and be ready when an emergency occurs. The goal of the ‘Whole Community’ approach is to build community resilience and nurture capacity building.”
Public health and emergency management federal and most state guidance call for whole community planning.
Partnering with local organizations is key for whole community local emergency planning.
Community organizations can:
– Provide “situational awareness” (information about what’s happening at their organization or with their stakeholders at a specific time)
– Serve as trusted communication hubs to share important emergency messages
– Host self-preparedness training
– Serve as points of distribution for emergency supplies
– Provide staging areas and reception sites (to receive disaster survivors for example)
– Support mobile feeding and transport resources
– Share COVID-19 testing and vaccine information with people served
– Provide social services such as counseling
– Provide pastoral care
– Conduct community welfare checks
Local planners benefit from:
– Shared ideas: Planners, people with disabilities, and disability organizations can learn from each other
– Shared capability: Planners can benefit from new ideas given by people with disabilities and disability organizations
– Identifying untapped community resources
Rachel: Let’s talk about some real-life situations. See the table below for some issues experienced by people with disabilities in emergency situations and whole community solutions to address the issues.
| What happened? | Why? | Whole community solution |
| People who are Deaf didn’t understand important safety information. | The local emergency plan calls for warnings by radio and bullhorn. | Multiple communication modalities for disaster warnings: • Radio • Bullhorn • County website • Texts • Qualified American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter • Closed Captioning (CC) |
| People with intellectual disabilities were evacuated to an emergency shelter. Shelter workers took away the people’s money for their own safety. | The shelter workers didn’t know that people with intellectual disabilities lead independent lives and could keep their own money. The shelter workers thought the people with intellectual disabilities needed to be protected. | Training for shelter workers so they would know to support independence for people with intellectual disabilities. |
| People were not evacuated with their wheelchairs. | The local emergency plan didn’t state the importance of keeping people together with mobility and other vital equipment. | Training for planners and first responders. Change the emergency plan to state that people with disabilities should be evacuated with their key equipment. |
| People who have sensory issues (like social anxiety or Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD) find the emergency shelter too noisy and crowded. They may feel overwhelmed. | The shelter plan does not provide a separate quiet space in the shelter. | Planning to have a separate quiet room is an important part of a shelter plan. |
Carrie: Nice to see you again, Terrye. Hope you have a good visit today!
We’ll take a closer look at “whole community” or “inclusive” emergency planning. We’ll look at promising practices and talk about access and functional needs again. Let’s meet with the Action Team again.
Let’s meet with the Action Team again.
Allen: Local disability organizations can choose a strategy to help local governments understand what they must do under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Besides direct persuasion and education by speaking with planners, disability organizations might start an email writing or phone call campaign, contact the media, ask for support from other groups, or think about legal strategies. Action Teams should reflect on which strategies are best and why. They should assess their strategies from time to time to see which ones are most successful.
On the other hand, local governments can’t just say “we have no money, no time and no personnel” and end the conversation. A limited budget is not an excuse to take no action. The Prepared4ALL approach is one way to keep the conversation going.
It’s important that local emergency plans include specific strategies for addressing disability and other access and functional needs. And that local budgets include whole community planning from the beginning.
Local planners may be more receptive if they understand how whole community planning benefits them. In smaller communities, local public health and emergency management offices will have limited funding and personnel. Hearing from Action Teams about the benefits of leveraging community resources might strengthen their interest.
Action Teams that approach local planners with an offer of help and interest in their work, in addition to “an ask,” may be more successful. But this doesn’t mean that the local disability community is responsible for doing the work that emergency and public health preparedness planners are supposed to do.
Americans are frequently active in their communities. Offering information, technical assistance and referral to local planners can be part of an organization’s community commitment. It can also yield positive public opinion and recognition of the organization’s hard work and importance.
PJ: Action Teams may offer informational resources to their local government partners.
Tips for First Responders is a quick reference about appropriate interaction with people with different disability and other functional and access needs. There is a free online version and a low cost printed version.
The ADA National Network is a terrific free and confidential ADA resource. It provides information, guidance and training on how to implement the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and information about emergencies, disasters and pandemics.
The Georgia Tech Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation (CIDI) adapts COVID-19 materials into accessible formats for people with disabilities. There is a webinar series on the microsite and you can request embossed Braille documents, download accessible Word documents and PDFs, and register for the upcoming webinars.
More information about these free resources and others is in the Resource List that you will get after your last visit to Disasterville. Sharing resources is an important way for your community to be Prepared4ALL.
Click the quiz link below to check your learning and continue.
Carrie: We hope today’s visit has been useful. We look forward to seeing you again soon.
Your next Disasterville visit can happen now or you can come back when it works for you. On your next visit we’ll talk more about people with “access and functional needs” and the “CMIST” framework and talk about inclusive emergency plans.
We’ll save your progress along the way because we’re rooting for you to get that Prepared4ALL Certificate after your last visit. You’ll also get a Resource List so you don’t have to worry about taking notes or writing down links during your visits here.
Only 2 more visits to go. See ya soon!
EM: Let’s turn to COVID-19. So many people have gotten sick. So many have died. On an earlier visit we talked about the vulnerability of people with disabilities, and in particular People of Color or Indigenous Peoples.
There are some Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) issues with COVID-19.
Allen: Under the ADA people with disabilities should have equal access to COVID-19 services, treatments, and effective communication. Spaces for COVID-19 related services and treatments must be physically accessible.
💭 Under the ADA, equal access and effective communication related to COVID-19 would include:
That’s right, accessible sites are required.
That’s right, a qualified sign language interpreter should be available.
This is not required. But if the site provided telephone service to people without disabilities who were receiving the vaccine, then they would need to do the same for people with disabilities.
That’s right. Service animals should be permitted.
That’s right, providing plain language documents is required.
One situation related to the ADA and COVID-19 is allowing companions to be with people with disabilities during medical treatment.
Tariq’s friend Monique wasn’t allowed to bring both parents to a painful medical procedure, even though it took both parents to help her keep her mask on and to keep her calm during the procedure. The doctor knew her and understood her needs, but hospital rules did not allow visitors. Her parents had to fight to be with her during the procedure. Luckily her parents came, the procedure went well, and she was fine.
Many health care organizations and providers have now changed these rules, based on the ADA rights to equal access and effective communication.
Rachel: Wearing face masks has been another issue.
The Disability Rights and Defense Fund (DREDF) and Disability Rights California give these examples of people who can’t wear masks at all or can’t wear them for a long time:
“… universal mask requirements present difficulties for some people with disabilities who cannot wear masks either at all or for an extended period of time. Examples include: individuals with developmental or intellectual disabilities, including autistic people, who cannot tolerate masks; people with mobility impairments who cannot independently put on or take off a mask; people with seizure disorders who may be in danger if they experience a seizure while wearing a mask (the mask may obstruct breathing or cause choking); people with lung diseases or breathing difficulties; and people with anxiety disorders who experience panic attacks while wearing masks. Some people use ventilators to support breathing and may not be able to safely wear a face mask.
In addition, some people with disabilities cannot communicate effectively with another person if the other person is wearing a mask. Examples include deaf and people with hearing issues and some people with intellectual, developmental, or processing disabilities.
Further, many people of color and particularly black people are deterred from wearing face masks because of racial profiling and harassment by police.”(Disability Rights and Defense Fund (DREDF) and Disability Rights California, July 23, 2020)
💭 So, does this mean that all people with disabilities are exempt from wearing face masks during COVID-19?
There is no such thing as a universal waiver that says that people with disabilities don’t have to wear masks.
According to federal regulations, government programs, services and activities must be “readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities.” What does this mean for COVID-19?
According to the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) and Disability Rights California:
“Government programs must take affirmative steps to include and protect all disabled people during the pandemic, whether or not they can wear a mask, communicate with other people wearing masks, or be around other people. Such steps include providing:
• Free face masks and hand sanitizer for any employees or members of the public who need to interact in person
• Accessible remote (on-line, video, telephonic, and mail) service, whenever reasonable and equally effective
• Individualized service
• Curbside service
• Waivers or extensions of time for required appointments
• Flexibility, patience, repeating information, writing notes, and using speech-to-text programs
• Auxiliary aids and services including sign language interpreting and real-time captioning
• Use of alternatives to cloth face masks for communication, such as clear masks, face shields, or plexiglass barriers.”(Disability Rights and Defense Fund (DREDF) and Disability Rights California, July 23, 2020)
PJ: Medical rationing is another really important issue. When there isn’t enough medicine, vaccines, or other medical care for everyone who needs them, then hospitals and health provider organizations may be forced to decide who should receive care and who shouldn’t.
Medical rationing based on disability is not legal under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. Also, some state laws prohibit medical rationing based on disability.
Health care providers can’t limit or deny care to a person with a disability because of their disability or need for reasonable modifications. They can’t limit or deny care because a person with a disability may require more intensive care or is less likely to survive. Providers should provide the medical care to people with disabilities that they provide to everyone else.
Click the quiz link below to check your learning and continue.
Carrie: We get a lot of questions about our service animal policies, Terrye.
Look at this draft policy:
Emergency Shelter Pet Policy
Disasterville’s disaster shelters do not allow pets. Shelters do allow service animals in all areas. However, each shelter will have an “animal free” area so that people with dog allergies or phobias can have as little contact with the animals as possible.
This policy is:
This is good practice, in accordance with the ADA, and an example of whole community planning. Keep the policy.
Fear of dogs or allergies aren’t valid reasons for denying access or refusing to serve people with service animals, or separating owners from their service animals. The policy accommodates both the needs of people with allergies or phobias and the needs of people with service animals.
Actually, this is good practice. Some emergency and public health planners get confused about the differences among service animals, comfort animals, and pets. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), only service animals are to be permitted in emergency shelters, emergency dispensing sites, and similar areas. They are permitted to be with their owners almost everywhere the owner can go. Comfort animals may be permitted IF local or state law permits.
Actually, this is good practice. Some emergency and public health planners get confused about the differences among service animals, comfort animals, and pets. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), only service animals are to be permitted in emergency shelters, emergency dispensing sites, and similar areas. They are permitted to be with their owners almost everywhere the owner can go. Comfort animals may be permitted IF local or state law permits.
PJ: Terrye, maybe we should back up a minute and discuss service animals. Do you know how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines “service animal”?
💭 Can any animal be a service animal under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?
Not quite, try again.
Not quite, try again.
That’s right. Under the ADA only dogs and miniature horses can be service animals. The ADA doesn’t consider “service animals” to include animals that provide comfort or emotional support alone. State or local laws may vary.
What are other requirements for service animals under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?
People think that service animals need special tags, a special vest, or a certificate but they don’t. They don’t need to be registered. There are 2 requirements.
True. Anything else?
True. For example, César’s dog, Ginger, has been trained to open doors for César. Anything else?
People think that service animals need special tags, a special vest, or a certificate but they don’t. They don’t need to be registered. There are 2 requirements
PJ: People think that service animals need special tags, a special vest, or a certificate but they don’t. They don’t need to be registered. Service animals must be required because of a disability and trained to perform a specific task related to the disability.
For example, César’s dog, Ginger, has been trained to open doors for César.
Carrie: I use a service animal, Fury, trained for wayfinding. You may be surprised that a miniature horse can be a service animal.
If someone with a dog or miniature horse shows up at an Emergency Dispensing Site (EDS) to get a vaccine, the only questions staff can legally ask about the animal are: (1) Is the animal a service animal required because of a disability; and (2) What work has the animal been trained to perform?
You can’t ask the service animal owner whether they have a disability or what disability they have.
From the Rocky Mountain ADA Center:
“Under the ADA, service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless these devices interfere with the service animal’s work or the individual’s disability prevents using these devices. In that case, the individual must maintain control of the animal through voice, signal, or other effective controls.
“A person with a disability cannot be asked to remove his service animal from the premises unless:
1. The dog is out of control and the handler does not take effective action to control it
2. The dog is not housebroken.
“When there is a legitimate reason to ask that a service animal be removed, staff must offer the person with the disability the opportunity to obtain goods or services without the animal’s presence. Staff are not required to provide care or food for a service animal.”
(Rocky Mountain ADA Center, 2020.)
Carrie: Local emergency management and public health departments must ensure that their communications with people with disabilities are as effective as communications with people without disabilities. Local governments are required to provide auxiliary aids and services, like closed captioning and an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter, that promote effective communication.
With that in mind, let’s look at this policy:
Auxiliary Communication Aid Policy
When providing public emergency services, Disasterville County will provide auxiliary communication aids and accessibility services, such as American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters, upon request. The person who needs ASL interpretation will be charged a small fee to cover the interpreter’s travel costs, if any.
This policy is:
Actually, providing auxiliary communication aids and accessibility services, such as qualified sign language interpreters, is required to assure equal access to effective communication. No fee should be charged. Reject the policy.
That’s right. Providing auxiliary communication aids and accessibility services, such as qualified sign language interpreters, is required to assure equal access to effective communication. No fee should be charged. Reject the policy.
Actually, providing auxiliary communication aids and accessibility services, such as qualified sign language interpreters, is required to assure equal access to effective communication. No fee should be charged. Reject the policy.
Other aids and services which may be needed include:
–Written materials
-Notetakers
-Exchange of written notes
-Qualified sign language interpreters
-Assistive listening devices
-Audio recordings
-Hearing aid compatible phones
-Text messaging
-Video-based communication and interpreting systems
–Plain language materials
–Large print materials
–Qualified readers
-Braille materials
-Email
And there may be more. For example, a dry erase board may be useful for quick communication with someone who is Deaf or Hard of Hearing under certain circumstances.
PJ: If one auxiliary aid or service is an undue financial or administrative burden, the local government must use another auxiliary aid or service to provide effective communication. Remember, high cost alone usually doesn’t mean an undue burden.
💭 What’s the best auxiliary aid or service to use?
Not quite, try again.
Not quite, try again.
That’s right. The person’s usual communication method is best. But there may be circumstances in which that method truly isn’t available or feasible. Other factors to consider would be the communication:
– Context
– Environment
– Timeframe
– Topic
– Importance
– Length
Not quite, try again.
Marco [Signing]: Accessible communication is important in emergencies. It’s important for local governments to use more than one form of communication for emergency alerts, warnings, and public education or instruction. After all, emergency management and public health offices want to make sure everyone can get the same information at the same time and is able to communicate with public health and emergency services.
💭 Think about situations that call for accessible communication in more than one form.
Here are two examples:
– 911 call centers should have the technology to receive incoming calls from individuals with disabilities, who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Technologies include the use of video relay services and texting
– When government officials provide emergency-related information on TV, there should be real time captioning and sign language interpreters should appear in the same frame as the government officials speaking.
In general, local governments should always plan for multiple communication modalities.
Franny [Signing]: The Action Team gets a lot of questions about sign language interpreters.
Sign language is its own language and is not the same as spoken or written English. So someone who is fluent in American Sign Language is not necessarily fluent in English.
Sharing information in written English may not be a good alternative. English language information may have to be simplified.
A sign language interpreter is not required for all emergency communication situations. Sign language interpreters may be required when the information being communicated is complex or goes on for a long period of time.
Factors to consider when deciding to have an interpreter can include the context of the conversation, the number of people involved, and the importance of the communication.
Local governments can’t require someone to bring an interpreter with them. So this shouldn’t be written into an emergency plan.
Local government shouldn’t rely on an accompanying adult or child to act as an interpreter, except in emergencies “involving an imminent threat to the safety or welfare of an individual or the public where there is no interpreter available” according to the ADA.
Click the quiz link below to check your learning and continue.
Rachel: We’ve had a request to review potential emergency policies, Terrye. If they are in keeping with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), we’ll add them to our local plan. If they are not in keeping with the ADA, they will be kept out of the plan.
On an early visit, we talked about a photo of a Disasterville County emergency shelter. Remember that it looked kind of crowded and seemed like it would be noisy? Remind yourself by looking at the photo below. Then read the modifications list.
Which modifications do you think would be reasonable under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?
True. Anything else?
True. Anything else?
True. Anything else?
True. Anything else?
Providing extra storage, wayfinding help, and access to a kitchen would be reasonable modifications under the ADA. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, these program access modifications should be provided in an emergency shelter.
Rachel: Providing extra storage, wayfinding help, and access to a kitchen would be reasonable modifications under the ADA. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, these program access modifications should be provided in an emergency shelter.
Most of these things might seem easy to provide, right? But what about personal care assistance? That seems pricey, doesn’t it? It’s still a reasonable modification, though. Another reason to plan ahead.
Local governments and emergency shelter operators may not require someone to bring their own direct support professional in order to receive shelter services. But local plans could call for publicizing that direct support professionals are welcome in the local emergency shelter.
In engaging with local planners, it’s important to emphasize not just the law, not just that something is the right thing to do, but that there are practical benefits too. For example, publicizing that direct support professionals are welcome might cut down on the number of people who arrive at an emergency shelter without a direct support professional. Fewer people who need direct support help might mean lower costs and less work for shelter staff.
PJ: Take a look at some more policies, Terrye. Below is an emergency transportation policy.
Evacuation Transport Policy
Disasterville County has limited evacuation transportation and has an obligation to protect residents’ safety. Therefore, the County will not evacuate residents together with their mobility equipment (such as wheelchairs) because this kind of equipment takes valuable space in evacuation vehicles which could otherwise be occupied by people.
This policy is:
This policy is likely an ADA violation. A person won’t have equal access to emergency services without their mobility or other vital equipment. Once someone loses access to vital equipment like a wheelchair or communication device, they’re likely to lose their independence and need more help from others than usual. Reject the policy.
That’s right, this policy is likely an ADA violation. Reject the policy.
This policy is likely an ADA violation and is not a good practice. A person won’t have equal access to emergency services without their mobility or other vital equipment. Once someone loses access to vital equipment like a wheelchair or communication device, they’re likely to lose their independence and need more help from others than usual. Reject the policy.
Here’s another policy:
Disaster Shelter Admission
Any person with a diagnosed mental illness other than depression or anxiety who arrives at a Disasterville emergency shelter will be transferred to a medical facility in order to protect the safety and security of the shelter’s general population.
This policy is:
This probably violates the ADA. It’s too broad. It wrongly assumes that everyone with a diagnosed mental illness other than depression or anxiety will have needs that can’t be met in a general population shelter. People with disabilities, including mental health conditions, should receive emergency services in the least restrictive environment. Reject the policy.
That’s right, this policy is likely an ADA violation. Reject the policy.
This probably violates the ADA and is not a good practice. It’s too broad. It wrongly assumes that everyone with a diagnosed mental illness other than depression or anxiety will have needs that can’t be met in a general population shelter. People with disabilities, including mental health conditions, should receive emergency services in the least restrictive environment. Reject the policy.
EM: As we get ready to give COVID-19 vaccines, we have to think about Emergency Dispensing Sites (EDS) where many people will go to receive the vaccine. Check out this potential policy.
COVID-19 Emergency Dispensing Site (EDS) Policy
Each year, Disasterville County will assess the physical accessibility of all potential Emergency Dispensing Sites (EDS). All EDS are to be made physically accessible to people with disabilities, unless there are undue financial or administrative burdens, as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). However, at least one emergency dispensing site in this county shall be physically accessible.
This policy is:
This policy seems to be in accordance with the ADA. Keep the policy.
Actually, this policy seems to be in accordance with the ADA.
Actually, this policy seems to be in accordance with the ADA.
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EM: Nice to see you again, Terrye. You remember Disasterville’s Prepared4ALL Action Team, right?
Marco [Signing]: I speak for all of us when I say we’re so glad to see you again.
We’ve spent a lot of time talking about our community and local government’s role. One of the local government’s main roles is to keep residents and visitors safe from harm, including harm from emergencies, disasters and pandemics.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is about expanding access and opportunity to everyone. By following the ADA’s Title II, local governments provide equal access and opportunity to participate in emergency planning and other emergency, disaster and COVID-19 related government programs, services, activities and facilities.
It doesn’t matter if the local government provides these things directly or through third parties, like the American Red Cross or private nonprofit organizations. The ADA, Title II, and other parts of the ADA still apply.
There are different strategies an Action Team could use to discuss legal requirements. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Civic Access found that most communities reviewed for ADA compliance knew about their ADA obligations and were making progress towards meeting them. But there may be some communities where planners are unclear about the legal rules. These planners may need more education and explanation than those in other communities. Again, helping planners see ADA compliance as an opportunity to expand access to the whole community, rather than just as a legal checkbox they must complete, can help them see the bigger picture and get onboard with positive change.
There have been Project Civic Access compliance agreements with 206 localities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico to date. To find out if your city, town, county or state was part of a Project Civic Access compliance review, including a review of emergency management policies and procedures, go to Project Civic Access.
Local governments must follow Title II of the ADA in emergency, disaster and pandemic services. The ADA, Title II also applies to related government programs, activities, and facilities. Other parts of the ADA also apply. It doesn’t matter if the local government provides these things directly or through third parties like the American Red Cross or private nonprofit organizations. The ADA still applies.
Local governments generally may not use eligibility criteria that screen out or tend to screen out people with disabilities. This means that, for example, a county can’t make rules like “only people who can walk can come to our emergency shelters during a disaster” or “to be able to ride our emergency evacuation bus you must be able to get on and off the bus by yourself.”
Rachel: Equal access may require reasonable modifications to programs, policies, procedures, architecture, equipment, services, supplies, and/or communication.
Reasonable modifications must be made unless they would fundamentally alter the nature of the program, service or activity or impose undue financial or administrative burdens. Local governments can often easily make reasonable modifications.
High cost alone isn’t likely to be an undue financial burden. Reasonable modifications are free for the person who needs them.
Marco [Signing]: There are several key pieces to the ADA in emergencies, disasters and pandemics and they all relate to our Same Time Access To Everyone (STATE) motto.
♿ Physical space is readily accessible and usable
+
👩🦽🐕🦺🏠 Programs, activities and services are readily accessible and usable
+
💬Communication with people with disabilities is equally as effective as communication with people without disabilities
+
🤔 Reasonable modifications
=
🧑🏽🤝🧑🏽 Same Time Access To Everyone (STATE)
Marco [Signing]: Services must usually be provided in the most integrated setting appropriate to the person’s needs. This means that most people with disabilities should be sheltered in a general population disaster shelter and not sent to a separate shelter. Most people with disabilities should receive COVID-19 vaccines in the same places that people without disabilities receive them.
Allen: By definition, disasters and pandemics are unexpected events. They can overwhelm communities and systems. Because things are happening so fast and are such a surprise, it may seem to make sense to overlook the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
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Carrie: Nice to see you again, Terrye. This is your 6th visit. Only 2 more to go!!
Today we’ll talk about civil rights, disasters and COVID-19. As you may know, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities, including in all aspects of emergency and pandemic (like COVID-19) services and programs. The means that it is against the law to treat people with disabilities differently from people without disabilities before, during, and after a disaster, emergency or pandemic. Discrimination is prohibited in all emergency phases, including mitigation, planning, response and recovery.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by the federal government, federal contractors, and by entities that receive federal financial assistance. This means that entities which get money from the federal government, like the American Red Cross and many local (city, town, or county) governments, can’t discriminate based on disability.
Other federal laws also apply, like Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in certain health programs or activities. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, and later sexual orientation and gender identity.
EM: Today our discussion will focus how the ADA relates to disability inclusion and local emergency planning. But planners should also be aware that other federal or state laws and local regulations may also apply. State and local law can generally be more stringent but not less stringent than the ADA.
