I once lived on the 26th floor of an apartment building across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. That was before Sept. 11, 2001.
Today I live in a ground-level apartment where, after a long and steady rain, rivulets of water rush past my front door. Before Hurricane Katrina, I would never have given that a second thought.
In the past few months, hours of TV talk and countless barrels of ink have been devoted to once again examining the seemingly unanswerable question: Are we ready for the next big disaster? But all the talk about government plans and policies, all the complaining of where Homeland Security dollars are being spent never seem to answer this question:
Do the rescue plans include Americans like me?
On Sept. 11, 2001, there were people with disabilities who didn’t make it out of the Twin Towers. After Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, many elderly and disabled residents never made it out of their homes. Or they got to shelters that couldn’t accommodate their needs — they couldn’t get in, they couldn’t use the restrooms, they couldn’t get their medications.
That much we know.
What we don’t know, and what the incessant debate never tells us, is what about next time? Who will rescue those who use wheelchairs or other mobility devices, who have sight or hearing impairments, mental or psychiatric disabilities or other disabling conditions?
Plans have been drawn up that outline how to assist citizens with disabilities during emergencies. But do first-responders on the local level know about them? Have they been trained to implement them?
For curious reporters, the stories are just ripe for the picking. What could possibly be more compelling than writing a piece about what could happen to real people in times of real need — when there is chaos, confusion and destruction all around? What could possibly be more compelling than interviewing the people today who fear they will be left behind tomorrow?
Where to begin?
The Justice Department’s guide for making emergency preparedness accessible to people with disabilities contains a blueprint by explaining that the “issues that have the greatest impact on people with disabilities include notification; evacuation; emergency transportation; sheltering; access to medications, refrigeration and backup power; access to their mobility devices or service animals while in transit or in shelters, and access to information.”
After Katrina, once it was well established by media reports that the rescue of just about everyone had been botched up, stories began to surface about how bad the conditions had been for people with disabilities. Evacuees had been taken to shelters that weren’t accessible; shelter staff had not been trained to assist people with disabilities, and in some cases, those with mental disabilities were banned from shelters. There were also instances of “no pets” policies at shelters wrongly applied to people with service animals, and some evacuees with disabilities were segregated or told to go to “special” shelters.
I worry that the situation won’t be much better the next time a disaster strikes, but then I think about the media’s mission to be the watchdogs of our communities.
And, so, today I challenge you to take that role seriously and investigate how your community will protect its citizens with disabilities.
Find out what the plan is and how it will be implemented. Check with citizens who have disabilities to see if they have been asked to give input into the emergency plan that is supposed to keep them out of harm’s way. Most importantly, when and if chaos ensues, who is the specific person charged with implementing the plan and does he or she have the tools to successfully implement it?
Dig hard and dig deep. The stories you write may literally save lives.
