Listen to Advocacy Matters for September 11, 2018: Emergency Preparedness for Hurricane Florence

For decades, disability advocates have worked with federal, state and local emergency management and first responders to ensure that people with disabilities are not left behind when disaster strikes. We have worked to ensure that Red Cross shelters are accessible, group residences have emergency evacuation plans in place, transportation is available to evacuate all people, including people with disabilities, and emergency preparedness guides are written and distributed so we know how to prepare for emergency situations.

Listen to Advocacy Matters: September 11, 2018

Each week, DRP CEO Peri Jude Radecic will appear on Disability Matters with Host Joyce Bender, about halfway through the show, to discuss a topic of importance to the rights of individuals with disabilities.

Download Partial Transcript: September 11, 2018

Relevant links

www.DisasterAssistance.gov has a brief questionnaire that will help provide a list of places to call for local assistance.

In North Carolina, the Department of Public Safety has activated a website for information about Hurricane Florence – https://ncdps.gov/florence

The South Carolina emergency management website is – https://www.scemd.org. There you can find mandatory evacuation routs, a list of open emergency shelters, and the latest news and information.

In Virginia, emergency management can be found at -www.vaemergency.gov

The disability community has put a lot of time and effort into writing guides and kits to help us prepare for emergencies.

The Southeast ADA Center has prepared an Emergency Preparedness Resource Guide for Persons with Disabilities. We have a link to that resources on our website. The guide includes information for South and North Carolina. You can find the guide at

The Federal Emergency Management Agency published a guide in April 2018. https://www.fema.gov/news-release/2018/04/13/disaster-preparedness-people-disabilities

Virginia Commonwealth University has also published a guide.
https://partnership.vcu.edu/media/partner/documents/Emergency_Prep_Toolkit__FINAL_April_2007.pdf

Finally, if you find barriers on your path to safety, please report those barriers to our disability rights network.

Protection and Advocacy for People with Disabilities, Inc. South Carolina
Call 866-275-7273 or email info@pandasc.org

Disability Rights North Carolina
Call 877-235-4210
Email info@disabilityrightsnc.org

Disability Law Center for Virginia
Call 800-552-3962
Email info@dlcv.org

All of this information and links to these resources can be found on our website at disabilityrightspa.org.