This new page addresses disability issues in disaster
prevention, planning and response. Please send relevant links and documents to Ben Wisner or Maureen
Fordham.
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"In the News: Katrina and People with Disabilities" Compiled by ADA Watch/NCDR
http://www.adawatch.org/
Thanks to Todd Reynolds for sending this compilation to RADIX (download
Word file 37kb)
Todd Reynolds, Department of
Geography, University of Oklahoma, Norman OK 73019,
E-mail: kylun@rocketmail.com. "Perception
and response to natural hazards by disabled people-a pilot study"
Disabled people are more vulnerable to natural hazards than those who are able bodied.
This is because disabled individuals, depending on the nature and extent of disability,
often have trouble perceiving warnings and escaping threatened areas. This paper presents
a small-scale pilot-study of hazard warnings for the disabled in Norman, Oklahoma. It
draws on personal interviews and existing literature to suggest three further lines of
inquiry. First, how natural hazards reveal the ways in which disabled people are
marginalized in society. Second, how people with physical disabilities, most notably
mobility impairments, often perceive natural hazards as 'Acts of God' and beyond their
control. And third, that there is much to be desired with respect to emergency management
response to the special needs of disabled citizens when disaster strikes in the form of a
natural hazard. The paper concludes by suggesting that recent developments in social
theory-notably Gleeson's (1999) concept of an 'ableist society'-might be used to
understand the way disabled people perceive and respond to natural hazards.
Key words: natural hazards, geographies of disability
See also:
"Disability and Disasters" coordinated by John Twigg at
Benfield Hazard Research Centre
http://www.benfieldhrc.org/disaster_studies/disability&disasters/d&d_index.htm
"Disability and Disaster: Victimhood and
Agency in Earthquake Risk Reduction" by Ben Wisner. Chapter for C. Rodrigue and E. Rovai
(eds.) Earthquakes, London: Routledge, 2002, forthcoming (Routledge Hazards and Disasters
Series) [download
Word file 134kb]
Afghanistan: Home care for patients with spinal cord injuries
http://wwww.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/9ca65951ee22658ec125663300408599/e3d9540871ec92e149256bbc002a6469?OpenDocument
(Violent Conflict and Afghanistan)
Disaster Preparedness for People with Disabilities
http://www.jik.com/disaster.html
Disabled People and Disaster Planning (DP2) http://www.citycent.com/dp2/
Disaster Mitigation for Persons with Disabilities:
Fostering a New Dialog http://www.its.uiowa.edu/law/publications/general/disastermitigation.htm
Leeds University Center for Disability Studies http://www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies/
Disability Archive UK http://www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies/archiveuk/titles.html
Canadian Centre on Disability Studies http://www.DisabilityStudies.ca/
Beyond Affliction: The Disability History Project http://www.npr.org/programs/disability/
Independent Living Research Utilization http://www.ILRU.org/index.htm
Disabled Village Children (by David Werner) http://www.dinf.org/doc/othr/dwe002/dwe00201.htm
National Organization On Disability's Disaster
Mobilization Initiative Will Address Post-9/11 Security Concerns http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/temp/0107-111.html
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