-
Eec%ve Advocacy in Emergency Management and
Planning Neil McDevi8
Execu%ve Director, DHCC
-
Why are we talking about this?
9/11 Hurricane Katrina Superstorm Sandy Wildres
and more widespread disasters are quickly becoming normal due to
climate change & other factors.
-
I get it. So what?
In almost every situa%on, Deaf & hard of hearing people were
the most nega%vely impacted.
-
To be a truly eec%ve advocate
you must know the language that is being spoken.
you must have an apprecia%on for the work that occurs at dierent
%mes.
you need to work at the right %me with the right people!
-
The Emergency Management Cycle
Preparedness
Response
Recovery
Mi%ga%on
-
Dening the Cycle
Preparedness: Community eorts to build awareness and develop
plans to respond to likely disasters
Response: The actual response to the incident. Focuses on
immediate life-saving and preven%on of further damage.
-
Dening the Cycle (2)
Recovery: Various federal, state, local and non-governmental
organiza%ons help people recover by providing food, water, funds,
and resources.
Mi1ga1on: Refers to improving physical resources to reduce eect
of disaster (example: building a levee to prevent ooding).
-
Who are the players?
Na%onal Local
Local Gov.
State Gov.
NGOs
FEMA
NGOs
-
Who is responsible?
Local Gov
State Government FEMA/Federal Government
-
Incident Command System
A standardized management tool that allows uniform capaci%es for
small and large disasters alike.
Incident Command
Opera%ons Planning Logis%cs Finance/Admin
Public Informa%on
Ocer Liaison Ocer
Safety ocer
-
Eec%ve Advocacy Requires:
The Right People:
Remember: FEMA supports the local/state governments. They cannot
mandate or require agencies do things certain ways.
Most of advocacy focus will be on state/local Oces of Emergency
Management within the ICS structure.
The Right Time:
The %me to be an advocate is during Preparedness and Mi%ga%on
periods.
Response and Recovery periods are dictated by the plans that
were developed earlier.
-
Eec%ve Advocacy Requires:
The Right Knowledge:
Knowing the legisla%on, both on federal/state levels will help
you tremendously
Using eec%ve language will help you relate easier within EM
groups, which are notoriously closed-o to outsiders
The Right Expecta1ons:
Flexibility is required during disasters. Incident sta have to
come up with solu%ons on-the-y to resolve problems. We need to help
them do that!
-
What are the hotbu8on issues?
Accessibility of no%ca%ons Lack of interpreters at press/media
briengs Lack of accessibility for N-1-1 disaster warning and
recovery systems
Lack of accessibility in Disaster Recovery Centers
Need greater involvement in emergency management by D/HH
individuals
-
Lets pick one: Interpreters in Press Briengs
Issue really came to front during Hurricane Sandy in NYC
Parodies: h8ps://youtu.be/nhZmYfxLGJQ
-
Whats happened since then?
-
Greater use of interpreters in emergencies: Massachuse8s
Philadelphia & Pennsylvania New Jersey New York City
Houston
Greater use of Cer%ed Deaf Interpreters
-
Not without challenges!
-
h8ps://youtu.be/WDkbxc1OepU?t=7m30s
-
Discussion:
Does your community use interpreters during press
conferences/media briengs?
Using what weve discussed today, who would you approach to
advocate for an interpreter in media briengs?
-
Discussion
How would you handle situa%ons that weve discussed above where
the interpreter is not posi%oned correctly?
What other ways can the community help Emergency Managers and
other members of the community?
-
Key Partners
FEMA Oce of Disability Integra%on and Coordina%on -
h8ps://www.fema.gov/oce-disability-integra%on-and-coordina%on
NCD Leading federal policy agency providing insight and guidance
: h8ps://www.ncd.gov/policy/emergency-management
-
Whats next?
NADs Emergency Management Expert Group is developing advocacy
guides for all of the issues noted here.
Within the next several months, guidance will be released to
chapters.
-
Ques%ons? Discussion?
Neil McDevi8 [email protected]
