Emergency Preparedness

Effective Communication For People With Disabilities (The FAND Community):

Lessons Learned After California Lawsuit

Graham SissonExecutive DirectorGeneral CounselGovernor’s Office on DisabilityDeputy General CounselAlabama Department of Rehabilitation

ServicesState ADA Coordinator

800-205-9986 ADA Hotline888-879-3582 GOOD Toll Free334-293-7189 (Mont’gy Office)205-290-4540 (B’ham Office)Graham.sisson@good.alabama.govwww.good.alabama.govGraham.sisson@rehab.alabama.gov

OverviewAll information provided is non-binding.Ultra-Reader’s Digest versionEffective Communication best practicesDisability populations for whom effective

communication practices are vital

Target Populations Effective Communication best practices should

be targeted toward the following populations:DeafHard of hearingBlindLow visionDeaf/BlindCognitive disabilitiesSevere speech disabilities

Legal Considerations Communities Actively Living Independent and Free v.

City of Los Angeles and County of Los Angeles ADA- (Title II or III).

Prohibits discrimination on basis of disability in the provision of programs, services, and activities.

Emergency preparedness is a program of a governmental entity.

Must provide equal opportunity or benefit for persons with disabilities

Include PWD in organizational plans and make reasonable accommodation for a disability.

Rehabilitation Act, Section 504 is same as ADA Title II.

Top Ten Tips (not in order of importance)

1. Mass Shelter and Care must be accessible to PWD. 2. Include input from the disability community when creating emergency

plans 3. Identify in advance the needs of and resources for pwd during an

emergency 4. Develop a plan for notifying pwd 5. Provide assistance to pwd, if required to shelter in place. 6. Provide for needs of pwd in providing evacuation and transportation to

shelters 7. Mass evacuation plans should include provisions to meet the needs

of pwd 8. Plan for emergency housing 9. Recovery plan should provide any assistance (provide resources for long

term recovery needs) 10. Provide remediation (removing barriers)

Accessible Shelters and Care Architectural and care accessibility Survey existing shelters Evaluate medical supplies (medicine, DME, CME (foley

catheters, testing strips, etc.) Refrigeration capabilities Service animal needs Inclusive shelter policies (pwd remain with families and

or caregivers, no pets) Advertise in accessible formats location of

accessible shelters and care- still allow personal choice

Accessible Shelters This is an area where improvement is needed, but great

strides are being made. Shelters operated by state or local governments would

be covered by Title II of the ADA. Shelters operated by private entities would be covered

by Title III. These shelters would also be covered by Section 504 of

the Rehabilitation Act where federal funding is received. Shelters must provide effective communication

under ADA Titles II and III

Disability Community InputGOOD has local advisory committees

around the state and contact with disability organizations

We can assist with contacting pwd for purposes of input.

Identify Needs and Resources Identify accessible shelter and

transportation*Learn general location or areas of

concentration of pwd needing assistance**Have agreements (MOUs) with disability

organizations to identify their roles Identify support resources for effective

communication like interpreters, Brailling, etc.**

Develop Notification Plan for PWD

Ensure accessible formats*Test for effectivenessUse appropriate auxiliary aids and

services

Effective Communication The ADA requires that communication with pwd be just as effective

as that with persons without disabilities. Emergency or disaster warnings should be communicated in a

format that is accessible to persons who are deaf or blind or otherwise unable to receive warnings by usual methods.

Examples: auditory warnings for those who cannot see and text messages for those who cannot hear.

Emergency broadcast messages on television should be closed captioned.

Others (see next slides) Want to ensure that communication with PWD is as effective as that

with those without disabilities.

Effective CommunicationCovered entities may require reasonable

advance notice from people requesting aids or services, based on the length of time needed to acquire the aid or service

But they may not impose excessive advance notice requirements

Walk-in requests for aids and services must also be honored to the extent possible

Parts of Emergency Message All should be in accessible formats

What happened? Should persons affected do? Where can persons affected get more information?

3 modes of emergency messages (need to do all three) Active-alarm, siren, EAS (Emergency Alert System) Passive- e-mail, signs, billboards. leaflets Individual- text, phone calls

Auxiliary Aids and ServicesWays to facilitate effective communication

with those with disabilities.For people who are blind, have vision loss

or are deaf/blind includes qualified reader, electronic use with a screen reader program, audio recording of printed material

Auxiliary Aids and ServicesFor people who are deaf, have hearing

loss or are deaf/blind includes:Qualified notetaker, qualified sign language interpreter, oral interpreter, cued-speech interpreter, or tactile interpreter, real-time captioning, written materials

Other ServicesFor deaf/blind includes support service

providers (SSPs) (not aids and services under the ADA)

They provide mobility, orientation and informal communication services for deaf/blind individuals and are a critical link to enable them to independently access the community at large.

Print on Palm (POP) method

Auxiliary Aids and ServicesFor people who have speech difficulties,

may include qualified speech-to-speech transliterator, allowing use of paper and pencil to write out

speech that cannot be understood

Assistive Technology Assistive technology that can be used to facilitate

effective communication includes Assistive listening devices Open captioning, closed captioning, real-time captioning, closed

caption decoders and devices Telephone handset amplifiers, hearing-aid compatible phones,

TTYs, videophones, captioned telephones Videotext displays Screen reader software, magnification software, and optical

readers Video description, video relay, video remote interpreting

Strategies for Effective Communication

Use a combination of several methods rather than just one method

Combine visual and audible methods Telephone calls, auto-dialed TTY messages, text

messaging, e-mails Direct door-to-door contact with pre-regitered

individuals Use simple words that are universal in scope

(avoid abbreviations that SOP, EOP, etc.)

Strategies Create a voluntary, confidential registry of PWD who

need individualized notification Make sure shelters have a plan for effective

communication by providing alternative forms of communication such as both written and auditory forms of communication like large print forms, reading of printed material, interpreters, video remote interpreting, video relay

Adopt procedures to provide accessible communication to those who are deaf or hard of hearing and for people with severe speech disabilities.

StrategiesTrain staff on basic steps or procedures for

providing accessible communication, including exchanging notes or posting written announcements that go along with spoken ones.

Train personnel to read printed information, upon request, to persons who are blind or have low vision.

StrategiesCaptioning on video broadcast

Use crawling messages that do not block closed captioning

Use sign language interpreter in the video of spoken message

Should frequently repeat emergency information

Resources Consulted U.S. DOJ Effective Communication Fact Sheet Helen Keller National Center Brochure on Interaction with People

who are Deaf/Blind FEMA Emergency Planning for Special Needs Communities

Participant Guide FEMA Guidance on Planning for Integration of Functional Needs

Support Services in General Population Shelters (November 2010) Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report 150:

Communication with Vulnerable Populations: A Transportation and Emergency Management Toolkit (2011)

The EndAny Questions?Thank you.