My Dalliance with Irene - a Failure in Emergency
Disability Planning
By Dan Winchester
In this post, I relate my experiences as an individual with a
disability who uses a wheelchair, manual or powered, when Hurricane Irene hit
New York City with a ferocious vengeance. I reside in the Kips Bay/Murray Hill
section of the city, roughly 3 blocks from the East River, near the vulnerable,
low-lying areas classified as "Zone A" by NYC Office of Emergency Management
(OEM) in an eighth floor apartment with an elevator.
The issue was whether to remain in my apartment to ride
out the storm or to seek local designated emergency shelter in this instance,
Baruch College. On the morning of August 28th, Sunday, we were waiting for
Mayor Michael Bloomberg to issue a mandatory evacuation order.
At that point, I noted Facebook post by Susan Dooha, the
executive director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled of New York,
known by its acronym, CIDNY, a seasoned advocacy agency (started in 1978 by
Patricio Figueroa, and others), stating that emergency shelters run by OEM were
inaccessible for people with disabilities, particularly those using wheelchairs
and/or were run by volunteers poorly trained to accommodate such need. Reading
this item made me realize that it was best to remain in the apartment and that
was an attitude of benign neglect within the Bloomberg administration when it
comes to emergency disability planning for such and other contingencies.
Bloomberg himself compounded the situation with a major
gaffe: he urged citizens to take taxis to nearest shelters without mentioning
the needs of citizens with disabilities. If one needed further proof of the
systemic devaluation of people with disabilities, this is it! If they were
valued, emergent planning for his sector of the population would have been
factored in from the beginning. There needs to be greater depth of
communication between OEM and the disability community from here on so that
this chaotic situation would not repeat itself.
Dan Winchester, has a doctorate in developmental
psychology from Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology within the Bronx campus
of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, part of Yeshiva University In New York
City. He was also born with cerebral palsy, a brain injury since birth which
affects my coordination. Winchester’s blog can be found on the home page
of www.ilusa.com.
Reprinted with written permission from the author.
Postscript to Hurrcane Irene and Failure in Emergency
Disability Planning
Click
here for more
Disability groups sue city, claims its emergency
planning is subpar
Click
here for article. |
