Postscript to Hurrcane Irene and Failure in Emergency Disability Planning

Hi Again:

In my last post, I described my individual experiences and the unmistakeable reality that while experiencing the devastating onslaught of Hurricane Irene at the end of August, there were literally no other viable option left but to remain in my apartment after being alerted to the fact that no accessible accommodations were available for people with disabilities under the auspices of the New York City's Office of Emergency Management within the Bloomberg administration.

According to the latest Facebook posting by Susan Dooha, Executive Director of CIDNY(Center for Independence of the Disabled in New York - an advocacy agency:

"Major disasters in New York City such as the September 11th terrorist attack and more recently Hurricane Irene, have shown that the city is not prepared to meet the needs of people with disabilities during disasters. A lawsuit filed today in Federal District Court alleges that the City of New York discriminates against men, women, and children with disabilities by failing to include their unique needs in emergency planning."

This means that by virtue of pure negligence, the federally-run agency within the city boundaries failed to include its citizens with disabilities in the planning and implementation process therefore violating the equal access provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act. It also put that segment of the population at a greater than chance probability of health risks or injury that's disaster- related. Simply making it mandatory that a person with a disability be accompanied by a hired personal assistant as a precondition for acceptance into an emergency shelter is not sufficient to address the need for adequate temporary shelter. There are usually extenuating circumstances pertinent to each individual with a disability.

Unless these factors are taken into account and facilitated through honest and thorough communication between OEM and the disability community, such missteps are bound o occur. Let's hope and trust it does not happen again the next time a disaster strikes.

Reality & Rhetoric in the Disability Wold: Dissonance

Hi there! Today I'm examining the disconnect between the day to day reality experienced by people with disabilities and the public perception of the rights of people with disabilities which are codified in enabling legislations that are considered rhetoric in that they are ideals or final benchmarks to aspire towards. The ideals of equal access are codified in national enabling legislation such as the Americans with disabilities Act (employment, architectural barriers, transportation and recreation), Individuals with Disabilities Education Act(early intervention from birth to 5 years and free appropriate public education through the elementary and secondary grade levels in public and private schools), Fair Housing Act(nondiscriminatory rent practices), Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (colleges and universities that receive federal funding for their programs and its international counterpart the United Nattions Convention on the Dignity and Rights of People with Disabilities(all-encompassing universal declaration mandate mandating equality and comprehensive access atall levels In the community.

The reality remains that all these laws are by and large honored in the breach: rarely followed in the the spirit in which it was intended by the disabled community. For example, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is twice the national average, public transportation options for travelers with disabilities are increasingly limited in NYC with less than 10% of the existing taxi fleet accessible to wheelchairs and scooters (a situation disability activists are fighting to rectify the disparity) with the complication that the Metropolitan Transit Authority recently eliminated about 15% of its fixed bus and subway routes forcing its riders to use paratransit vans(notoriously unreliable and highly inflexible, unable to modify reservations made the day before and manufacture of both power and manual standards used for mobility needs ar not held to stringent quality control standards as to the same degree as before with the consequence that frequent breakdowns occur on a regular basis. Loaners often are of inferior quality.

All these fact suggest that there isa systemic devaluing of people with disabilities that hark back to the eugenic era of the 19th century. I will explore it's roots in my next post.

To be continued...