University of Kansas Launches New Interactive Disability Preparedness Website

University of Kansas Launches New Interactive Disability Preparedness Website

http://www.disabilityprepared.ku.edu/

In the fields of health, safety, and disabilities the need to collect and disseminate best practices on addressing the disaster-related needs of people with disabilities is frequently discussed but rarely attempted due to difficulties in obtaining, presenting, and updating the information.  In hopes of addressing these challenges, the Research and Training Center on Independent Living at the University of Kansas has developed a new interactive website and corresponding social media sites.  The website and corresponding Facebook and Twitter pages were launched October 2010. The purposes are to highlight and seek out best practices and be a stimulus for addressing unmet needs and identifying possible solutions. To do this requires interaction and contributions from people in the three fields (health, safety, disability) through the website’s forum or social media features.  Our research team had previously studied the impacts of disasters on people with disabilities through two research grants. We are now translating this information into educational efforts, and leadership roles in local preparedness efforts.  These efforts include assisting in 1) creating a county-level information center with emphasis on vulnerable populations, including a call center to be activated during county-level disasters, 2) organizing a community coalition to foster preparedness through various projects designed to minimize the impact of disasters on vulnerable populations, and 3) creating online training through the TRAIN system and other resources on important topics such as seasonal flu and pandemic preparedness.  We have highlighted these practices on the home page of the new website.