FCC has announced that it plans to upgrade the capabilities of the 9-1-1 emergency system by allowing texting, video streaming and data sharing as part of the National Broadband Plan's Next Generation 9-1-1. Many people, particularly those with disabilities, depend on texting as their primary means of communication. In some emergency situations -- especially in circumstances where a call could further jeopardize someone’s life and safety -- texting is the only way to reach out for help.
For more information visit this link: http://www.disability.gov/technology/news_%26_events
Monday, December 6, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
"Getting Real" The 2010 Inclusive Emergency Management National Capacity Building Training Conference
September 22 - 24 FEMA held "Getting Real" The 2010 Inclusive Emergency Management National Capacity Building Training Conference in Baltimore. It was a three-day interactive training conference bringing the disability and emergency management community leaders together from across the country to build national capacity for inclusive emergency management practices. This has been such a hot topic and of course not everyone could attend, so they made a web cast of the whole conference, and it is now up to be shared with others. The link is below. There was great information. Marcie Roth & David Garrett from FEMA, Richard Devylder from US DOT, William Lynch from US DOJ and Administrator Fugate were among the wonderful & knowledgeable presenters.
Please share this link and materials with your colleagues.
Please share this link and materials with your colleagues.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Disaster Readiness Planning Guide available from the Inclusive Preparedness Center
www.inclusivepreparedness.org
The Planning Guide explains how to use the Disaster Readiness Planner to help others get ready for a disaster. This Guide refers to the people you are planning with as “your partner(s)”, they could be a family member, friend, or someone who needs help in planning.
Almost everyone makes better plans when they work with someone else. The Planner helps people plan together. By following the steps in the Planner and taking action, you will do more than share information: you will help your planning partners become better prepared.
This Guide takes you through each step of the Planner, giving suggestions on how to use each step. You don’t have to be an expert or cover everything at once. Start with the first segments of the Planner and then do a few more steps each time you meet. Help the people you are working with get engaged in the planning process; don’t just give them information and hope they will somehow get ready later. Do things together, like going to the store for supplies, or set up a schedule you can check later. Make phone calls to coordinate activities with others, and so on.
Be patient, planning works best if you don’t hurry. Don’t tell your planning partners what they should prepare for or how to do it. Ask them what they think at each step, and then figure out together what is important to do next.
When large disasters occur, it is easy to panic and forget what to do, help your partner develop a habit of being ready. By keeping the Planner visible in the house people will be reminded to practice and make disaster planning part of their regular routine.
Almost everyone makes better plans when they work with someone else. The Planner helps people plan together. By following the steps in the Planner and taking action, you will do more than share information: you will help your planning partners become better prepared.
This Guide takes you through each step of the Planner, giving suggestions on how to use each step. You don’t have to be an expert or cover everything at once. Start with the first segments of the Planner and then do a few more steps each time you meet. Help the people you are working with get engaged in the planning process; don’t just give them information and hope they will somehow get ready later. Do things together, like going to the store for supplies, or set up a schedule you can check later. Make phone calls to coordinate activities with others, and so on.
Be patient, planning works best if you don’t hurry. Don’t tell your planning partners what they should prepare for or how to do it. Ask them what they think at each step, and then figure out together what is important to do next.
When large disasters occur, it is easy to panic and forget what to do, help your partner develop a habit of being ready. By keeping the Planner visible in the house people will be reminded to practice and make disaster planning part of their regular routine.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Getting Real - The 2010 Inclusive Emergency Management National Capacity Building Training Conference
On Sept 24, Marcie Roth and her incredible team from the Office of Disability Integration and Coordination (ODIC) but on the Getting Real - The 2010 Inclusive Emergency Management National Capacity Building Training Conference in Baltimore, Maryland.
If you are not familiar with this FEMA group please follow the following link to learn more:
(http://www.fema.gov/about/odic/)
You can download an agenda of the conference at:
(http://www.fema.gov/pdf/about/odic/odic_getting_real_agenda.pdf )
From what I observed, the audience was a good mixture of emergency management, disability advocates, government agency members, along with new people just entering the "arena" of functional needs and emergency management planning. The entire group was in the range of 250 people, which made it quite manageable to connect with people over the 3 days of the conference.
The high point of the conference, for me, was the presentation and the Q & A period of FEMA Administrator Craig Frugate. If it was not for him having to catch a plane, I think he would stayed and continued the discussion in the late hours of the evening.
The conference was built around other great presentations with Q & A sessions to match such as Dave Garret from FEMA National Headquarters, Bill Lynch from the Department of Justice and a joint presentation from Richard Devylder and Gary Talbot.
The lion share of the activities were breakout sessions by FEMA regions, which was a great way to interact with others within your region and make much needed connections.
The overall mantra of the conference was "Getting Real" which was referencing we need to plan for real not easy, which a frequent statement by Craig Frugate. Planning for real is referencing emergency planning for our local communities, with emphasis on knowing who is in our communities regarding the general population and people with functional needs.
What this means for us, in the disability advocacy and services fields is that it is time to "step up" and engage with the emergency management system. The burden for responsibility of learning what this system is OURS!!! The information is there for the asking and in most cases for free.
There are free on line courses from FEMA's Emergency Management Institute, National Incident Management System (NIMS) would be great starting point!)
(http://training.fema.gov/is/crslist.asp)
The National Response Framework can be found at http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nrf/
If you are not familiar with this FEMA group please follow the following link to learn more:
(http://www.fema.gov/about/odic/)
You can download an agenda of the conference at:
(http://www.fema.gov/pdf/about/odic/odic_getting_real_agenda.pdf )
From what I observed, the audience was a good mixture of emergency management, disability advocates, government agency members, along with new people just entering the "arena" of functional needs and emergency management planning. The entire group was in the range of 250 people, which made it quite manageable to connect with people over the 3 days of the conference.
The high point of the conference, for me, was the presentation and the Q & A period of FEMA Administrator Craig Frugate. If it was not for him having to catch a plane, I think he would stayed and continued the discussion in the late hours of the evening.
The conference was built around other great presentations with Q & A sessions to match such as Dave Garret from FEMA National Headquarters, Bill Lynch from the Department of Justice and a joint presentation from Richard Devylder and Gary Talbot.
The lion share of the activities were breakout sessions by FEMA regions, which was a great way to interact with others within your region and make much needed connections.
The overall mantra of the conference was "Getting Real" which was referencing we need to plan for real not easy, which a frequent statement by Craig Frugate. Planning for real is referencing emergency planning for our local communities, with emphasis on knowing who is in our communities regarding the general population and people with functional needs.
What this means for us, in the disability advocacy and services fields is that it is time to "step up" and engage with the emergency management system. The burden for responsibility of learning what this system is OURS!!! The information is there for the asking and in most cases for free.
There are free on line courses from FEMA's Emergency Management Institute, National Incident Management System (NIMS) would be great starting point!)
(http://training.fema.gov/is/crslist.asp)
The National Response Framework can be found at http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nrf/
Emergency Communication Technologies for the Deaf
Wireless RERC partner, the Center for Advanced Communication Policy (CACP) at Georgia Tech was interviewed by the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) contractor, Galain Solutions. IPAWS has contracted Galain to assist with outreach and awareness efforts and sought expertise on how to “engage communities of interest.” CACP Executive Director, Helena Mitchell, explained the different notification needs of people who are deaf and hard of hearing, noting that people whose primary language is American Sign Language, prefer to communicate in ASL, as opposed to text. Sign language does not translate directly into words, but leans more towards capturing the general conception of the meaning. As such, information can be ‘lost in translation’, especially when idiomatic expressions are used. Two resources that can potentially be utilized to send ASL alerts are DeafLink and Signtel. Signtel offers direct translation of text into sign language almost automatically, whereas DeafLink offers sign language support. Galain Solutions reported on the interview in their Emergency Notification Blog (October 11, 2010) in Emergency Management Magazine. [Source: Emergency Management]
Additional Information:
Friday, November 5, 2010
FEMA Issues New Guidance to Support People with Disabilities During Disasters
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced new guidelines on emergency sheltering to help state planners and non-profit organizations ensure that people with access and functional needs receive lawful and equitable assistance in the aftermath of a disaster.
http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=53174
http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=53174
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Planning for Integration of Functional Needs Support in General Population Shelters
The final Guidance on Planning for Integration of Functional Needs Support Services in General Population Shelters (a large file - 7 MB) is finally posted on the FEMA website: http://www.fema.gov/about/odic/
New Emergency System Website Launched
HHS Launches: Emergency System for Advance Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals (ESAR-VHP) Website http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2010pres/09/20100907a.htmlTo make volunteering in an emergency easier for health professionals, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response launched a national website for the Emergency System for Advance Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals (ESAR-VHP).
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
FCC Seeks Nominations for Membership on Two Emergency Access Advisory Committees
The FCC today has released two Public Notices seeking nominations for membership on two new advisory committees, the Emergency Access Advisory Committee (EAAC) and the Video Programming and Emergency Access Advisory Committee (VPEAAC).
The EAAC will conduct a national survey of individuals with disabilities to determine the most effective and efficient technologies and methods by which to enable access to emergency services by individuals with disabilities and will develop and submit to the Commission recommendations to implement such technologies and methods.
For the EAAC, the Commission is seeking nominations of persons with disabilities and advocates associated with organizations representative of persons with disabilities, emergency responder and emergency management representatives, elected and appointed officials of state, local or tribal governments and subject matter experts that are interested in participating on the EAAC.
The VPEAAC will develop recommendations for the provision of closed captioning of Internet programming previously captioned on television, video description of television programming, accessible emergency information for people with vision disabilities, compatibility of accessibility features and new video programming devices, and accessible user interfaces on video programming devices.
For the VPEAAC, the Commission is seeking nominations of persons with disabilities, advocates associated with organizations representative of persons with disabilities and senior citizens, captioning providers, distributors and providers of video programming or national organization representing such distributors, vendors, developer, and manufacturers of systems, facilities, equipment and capabilities for the provision of video programming delivered using Internet protocol or national organizations representing such interests, manufacturers of consumer electronics or information technology equipment or national organizations representing such manufacturers, video programming producers or national organizations representing such producers, representatives of the broadcast television industry or national organizations representing broadcasters, other individuals with appropriate technical and engineering expertise.
Both Committees are being established to implement the provisions of the Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010.
Further details, including instructions on how to nominate committee members, are included in the Public Notices.
The EAAC will conduct a national survey of individuals with disabilities to determine the most effective and efficient technologies and methods by which to enable access to emergency services by individuals with disabilities and will develop and submit to the Commission recommendations to implement such technologies and methods.
For the EAAC, the Commission is seeking nominations of persons with disabilities and advocates associated with organizations representative of persons with disabilities, emergency responder and emergency management representatives, elected and appointed officials of state, local or tribal governments and subject matter experts that are interested in participating on the EAAC.
The VPEAAC will develop recommendations for the provision of closed captioning of Internet programming previously captioned on television, video description of television programming, accessible emergency information for people with vision disabilities, compatibility of accessibility features and new video programming devices, and accessible user interfaces on video programming devices.
For the VPEAAC, the Commission is seeking nominations of persons with disabilities, advocates associated with organizations representative of persons with disabilities and senior citizens, captioning providers, distributors and providers of video programming or national organization representing such distributors, vendors, developer, and manufacturers of systems, facilities, equipment and capabilities for the provision of video programming delivered using Internet protocol or national organizations representing such interests, manufacturers of consumer electronics or information technology equipment or national organizations representing such manufacturers, video programming producers or national organizations representing such producers, representatives of the broadcast television industry or national organizations representing broadcasters, other individuals with appropriate technical and engineering expertise.
Both Committees are being established to implement the provisions of the Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010.
Further details, including instructions on how to nominate committee members, are included in the Public Notices.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
September is Preparedness Month: Be positive, and Get Involved!
September is national preparedness month and this is a great time to get involved! If your organization is interested in becoming a National Preparedness Month Coalition Member please go to: http://www.ready.gov/america/npm10/index.html and follow the instructions.
Another good resource on the Ready.Gov website is http://www.ready.gov/america/npm09/,
They have good list of activities across the United States listed.
I would also encourage you to contact your state emergency management office to inquire about all inclusive and accessible preparedness month activities.
If there is a challenge finding accessible activities, may I strongly encourage you to advocate in helping developing them. Be part of the solution an start developing a strong relationship with your state contact.
I would recommend inquiring about funding for both 2010 activities and 2011.
A list of all state emergency management agencies can be found at http://www.fema.gov/about/contact/statedr.shtm.
The state agencies are a great starting point. Most agencies will have a Functional Needs Coordinator that will be responsible for coordination of most outreach activities within the state.
Another great idea is partnering with another activity that might is already set up. The main idea is to DO something. Reach out to who ever you are comfortable with. Some examples could be:
- Local Fire Company
- Local Police Department
- Local School District
- Local University or Community College
- Salvation Army
- American Red Cross
- Faith based organizations
If you need any assistance in terms of outreach, please feel free to contact us at info@passitoncenter.org
Good Luck and if you have any comments please post them!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Welcome to the Pass It On Center's Emergency Management Blog!
Hi Everyone,
We am very excited to launch the new blog for Emergency Management here at the Pass It On Center. Your feedback, comments and suggestions are both welcomed and encouraged. This blog will continue the collaborative spirit that has been the cornerstone of the Pass It On Center work.
If you would like to suggest topics for discussion, you may submit them directly to me at following email address: info@passitoncenter.org.
We look forward to hearing from you!
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