On April 25th, the American Council of the Blind participated in a large meeting with the Red Cross to recommend actions that we could take to better serve members of the community of people with disabilities. A couple of weeks ago, ACB, along with other members of the CCD Emergency Preparedness Task Force met with the Red Cross to discuss any progress that had been made on those recommendations. Although progress has been made over the last few months, the meeting allowed us to have a dialogue about issues that were of mutual concern.
One of the most positive initiatives was that the American Red Cross has integrated disability issues into a number of their efforts across the organization and that several staff are gaining expertise and a strong commitment to the population and the challenges. However, just as ACB supported the creation of a full-time disability coordinator within FEMA, we requested a full-time disability coordinator or liaison position within the top ranks of the Red Cross, both to ensure coordination of internal efforts and to serve as a point person on the topic of Disability.
It just makes sense to establish this natural point of collaboration and contact, both for the governmental entities and for collaborative efforts with the disability NGO community. We have worked very hard to see these positions put in place in the federal agencies and are similarly committed to the efficacy of a person who is solely devoted to the issues of disability within the American Red Cross.
As a second issue, because of the importance of local responses to meet the needs of people with disabilities during and after emergencies and disasters through well-coordinated, multi-level collaborative efforts, it is critical that the Red Cross, its chapters, regions and the local, state and regional resources coordinate and collaborate with disability organizations. To better facilitate this we asked, that the Red Cross work with us to establish a task force or working group to strategize the most effective approaches possible to strengthening the involvement of people with disabilities as volunteers and in advisory and planning capacities at local levels throughout the US.
The third issue amongst the current “gaps” and perhaps the most critical to us as individuals who are blind and visually impaired was the emphasis being placed on new Internet capabilities to deliver a significant amount of information, training and resources. Every disability organization at the table demanded that all of the services offered online comply with state-of-the-art disability access standards.
Overall, the meeting was genial and the Red Cross seemed positive and open to ongoing dialogue to address issues critical to people with disabilities, their families and supporters in emergency management.
Day Al-Mohamed
Director of Advocacy and Governmental Affairs
American Council of the Blind
1155 15th St. NW
Washington DC 20005
Tel. 202-467-5081
dalmohamed@acb.org