Recommendations

Incorporate any required equipment, assistive devices, or service animals used by people with disabilities in drills or exercises, because these can pose challenges during disaster response.
Target Agencies/Organizations: ( ARC DHS DOD FEMA HHS HUD STATES )

Set specific, measurable goals for meeting the needs of individuals with disabilities when planning emergency drills and exercises.
Target Agencies/Organizations: ( ARC DHS DOD FEMA HHS HUD STATES )

Include a well-developed mental health component in all disaster drills and exercises.
Target Agencies/Organizations: ( ARC DHS DOD FEMA HHS HUD STATES )

Include disability experts and individuals with disabilities in the planning of disaster drills and exercises. Actively recruit individuals who are deaf-blind, deaf, hard of hearing, late deafened, and oral deaf to test available communication techniques and communication equipment and to troubleshoot any unforeseen problems.
Target Agencies/Organizations: ( ARC DHS DOD FEMA HHS HUD STATES )

Include individuals with disabilities, not only as disaster victims, but also as observers or data controllers to effectively evaluate drills and exercises.
Target Agencies/Organizations: ( ARC DHS DOD FEMA HHS HUD STATES )

Ensure that locations of disaster drills and exercises are compliant with ADA rules for accessibility (can be accessed at http://www.access-board.gov/ADAABA/summary.htm
Target Agencies/Organizations: ( ARC DHS DOD EXEC HHS HUD STATES )

Include as a required component of all after action reports (AAR) a disabilities section to assess the incorporation of the needs of person with disabilities in the drill.
Target Agencies/Organizations: ( ARC DHS DOD FEMA HHS HUD STATES )

Congress should give federal agencies explicit authority to take actions to prepare for all types of catastrophic disasters when there is warning.
Target Agencies/Organizations: ( CONGRESS )

Congress should give federal agencies explicit authority to take actions to prepare for all types of catastrophic disasters when there is warning.
Target Agencies/Organizations: ( CONGRESS )

We recommend new ways to increase knowledge, relevance, and participation in disaster preparation and emergency response education and training.  As part of this recommendation, course builders for first responders could develop a section on persons with disabilities and get this module introduced into the U.S. Fire Administration’s National Fire Academy career track 2-week residency course.
Target Agencies/Organizations: ( ARC DHS FEMA HHS STATES )

Federal attention needed for providing assistance to school districts that have enrolled large numbers of evacuee children.
Target Agencies/Organizations: ( DHS EDU FEMA )

Evidence-based research findings that are user-friendly must be made available to assist CILs, other community-based organizations and interested people with disabilities to help them understand how existing emergency planning and response systems from around the country operate.
Target Agencies/Organizations: ( ARC DHS FEMA HHS STATES )

Provide training opportunities for mental and behavioral health professionals and other primary care providers on the psychological impact of disaster on vulnerable populations.

"...[t]he Secretary of HHS [should] ensure that the department serve as a clearinghouse for sharing among the states altered standards of care guidelines developed by individual states or medical experts."

States should conduct verification of volunteers' medical qualifications at "the level that most completely identifie[s] volunteers' skills and capabilities for providing care in a hospital."