National

American Red Cross has developed a comprehensive guide entitled Preparing for Disaster for People with Disabilities and other Special Needs. This guide, provided on their website free of charge, has been written to assist those with physical, visual, auditory, or cognitive disabilities prepare for natural disasters and their consequences. It provides assessment exercises, checklists and tips on how to establish a support network. The American Red Cross will send an Education Services representative to your organization to speak to anyone free of charge about emergency and disaster preparedness. They also publish several pamphlets on Preparing for Emergencies, A Checklist for People with Mobility Problems, and Family Disaster or Emergency Preparedness. Contact your local American Red Cross office by visiting their website and typing in your zip code.

Another guide by the American Red Cross is Disaster Preparedness for Seniors by Seniors. To avoid getting caught unprepared, they urge you to immediately review the information and fill in the appropriate local emergency numbers. Be sure to keep this helpful booklet in a handy place for quick reference.

Disability.gov: Emergency Preparedness includes comprehensive information on emergency preparedness, response, and recovery plans that take into account the needs of people with disabilities, as well as practical tips on how individuals, schools, and places of business can prepare for emergencies.

Disaster Assistance.gov includes comprehensive information on applying for assistance after a disaster. Enter your city and state or ZIP code to see if your area has been declared for Individual Assistance. Apply for the assistance on-line and then sheck the status of your application.

Disaster Preparedness Resources for People with Disabilities provides resources on earthquake, fire, and disaster preparedness resources, barrier removal and evacuation procedures.

Easter Seals Evacuation Planning Support created a national public education campaign, S.A.F.E.T.Y. first: Working Together for Safer Communities as a response to their growing national concern for personal safety. It's a set of key questions, resources and an excerpt from BOMA's, Are Your Tenant's Safe? that gives everyone a place to start. Their emphasis is on learning from specific solutions of people with disabilities and other special needs. Using the S.A.F.E.T.Y. first kit as a guide, the first step is for businesses to work directly with employees that have disabilities and special needs to develop a personal evacuation plan. As individual needs will vary, people with disabilities are best suited to identify their specific evacuation needs. Once identified, those needs can be integrated into existing evacuation plans — likely providing new insights and essential changes to existing plans. For more information on the S.A.F.E.T.Y. first kit, check out this website.

Electricity Emergency Preparedness for Senior Citizens and their Caretakers from Choose Energy. Power outages aren’t very common, but when they do happen in your community, do you know what to do? Preparing for power outage emergencies won’t be as easy as getting a 72-hour emergency kit ready—especially if you are an elderly or are caring for someone who is. This guide offers a few things that may help you ensure your safety or of the elderly in your care. This guide is accessible and user friendly.

Family Guide on Emergency Preparedness, developed as part of the My Safety, My Responsibility, My Plan project at Westchester Institute for Human Development, offers tools and information to help families of individuals with disabilities develop evacuation plans. The Guide provides a supplies checklist for the home and on-the-go, a "to do" checklist for family members, and blank, fillable forms to document the emergency plan, health information, daily living/mobility needs, communication/emotional needs, and a grid to draw and detail a home escape plan.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides preparedness information Preparing Makes Sense for People with Disabilities and Other Access and Functional Needs. See also Prepare for Emergencies Now: Information for People with Disabilities . Also visit Office of Disability Integration and Coordination for community planning in emergency management.

Fire Safety for Elders with Special Health Care Needs (also for people with disabilities) on AgingCare.com written by Marlo Sollitto Covers mobility impairments, vision and hearing impairments and cognitive capabilities such as Alzheimer's or dementia. The fire safety tips for elderly people with special needs are provided by the U.S. Fire Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Fire Safety for People with Disabilities by Be a Hero, Save a Hero. Millions of people live with physical and mental disabilities. It is important for them to know how to stay safe from fire! What to Know, what to plan, and some quick tips for people with disabilities.

Fire Safety for Wheelchair Users at Work and at Home is a brief pamphlet, developed by United Spinal Association, that provides guidance on addressing the evacuation needs of people with mobility disabilities. This pamphlet is useful for employers, employees and citizens with disabilities alike.

Harris Family Center for Disability and Health Policy has written, and made available via their website, the Emergency Evacuation Preparedness Guide. This guide features an ability self-assessment and lists emergency evacuation options for people with disabilities.

Inclusive Preparedness Center is focused on helping ensure that all individuals are included in the development of and inclusion in plans for protection from both natural and man-made emergencies. In almost all cases, emergency planning, including evacuations and sheltering during natural disasters, attacks of terrorism, industrial and highway accidents has not taken into consideration the communication, transportation and medical needs of persons with disabilities, and other special populations. This center provides training and other resources to help local emergency organizations plan for individuals who need specialized communications, transportation and medical supports in emergency situations.

June Isaacson Kailes- Disability Policy Consultant This is a very comprehensive website on emergency preparation and policies for preparedness and evacuation. It includes an extensive library of publications on emergency issues related to people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) offers questions and answers to assist employers who are developing or reevaluating emergency evacuation procedures. This will assist employers on requesting medical information as part of emergency evacuation procedures.

U.S. Fire Administration provides fire safety and evacuation planning.

U.S. Department of Transportation - Departmental Office of Civil Rights: Departmental Guidelines on Emergency Preparedness and Individuals with Disabilities

State Listings

California

Los Angeles City Fire Department offers fire safety education and earthquake safety programs for individuals with disabilities. The courses can be anywhere from one to four hours long depending on the group's needs. For more information about the programs, call (818) 756-9672.

Virginia