Categories
Accessibility

CONTESTS: Breaking the Six-Inch Reach Barrier

Gas Pump

Over a trillion photographs are taken every year. And on an average day, 95 million photos are uploaded on Instagram and more than 300 million photos are uploaded on Facebook. Mobile phones’ were estimated to account for 89% of these photos in 2020, only 20 years after the first mobile phone with a built-in camera was introduced.

So let’s be counted in the trillion and celebrate National Camera Day on June 29th and Social Media Day on June 30th. Have some summer fun and enter the photo and/or social media contests running in July and August.

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But instead of taking typical photos, focus on the independence people with dwarfism—and half a million others with reach disabilities—gained when the six-inch reach barrier was broken on October 8, 1997. Submit photos of yourself, or someone you know in this population, independently using an ATM, self-serve gas pump, elevator, bathroom faucet, doorbell, cashier point of sale, or anything that is touch activated. And follow the contest specs outlined below.

PHOTO CONTEST

  1. GRAND PRIZE: US$100 digital Amazon gift card and a free e-book of “Always An Advocate: Champions of Change for People with Dwarfism and Disabilities.”
  2. Contestants must own the rights to the photo and can be either the model, photographer, or both.
  3. Contestants must obtain a written photo release (email or text) from photo models agreeing to their image being entered in the contest and, if selected, used in social and print media marketing campaigns for “Always an Advocate.”
  4. Photographers will receive a photo credit if their entry is used in a marketing campaign.
  5. Photo entries can date anywhere between 2000 and 2021.
  6. Specifications: 1200 x 1500 dpi.
  7. Increase your chance of winning, by entering photos with different models, or the same model using different devices.
  8. Write a caption naming the device depicted, the town or city and State of the photo location, and the photo model’s first name. 
  9. Enter your photo with a post on social media with the hashtag #AlwaysAnAdvocate and email to angela@angelamuirvanetten.com.
  10. The Van Ettens reserve the right to cancel the contest if there are fewer than ten entries.

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTEST

  1. PRIZE: US$25 digital Amazon gift card and e-book of “Always an Advocate.”
  2. Request a copy of the “Always an Advocate” book cover from angela@angelamuirvanetten.com.
  3. Post, share, tweet, and/or comment on the book cover with the goal of making it go viral on your social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
  4. Mark your posts with the hashtag #AlwaysAnAdvocate.
  5. All entrants will be entered into a drawing with a chance to win.

RULES APPLICABLE TO BOTH CONTESTS

  1. Eligibility: contestants and photo models must be age 18 or older.
  2. DATES: begins June 28 and ends August 30, 2021.
  3. Winners will be selected by the author, Angela Muir Van Etten and her husband, Robert Van Etten.
  4. Winners will be posted on
    a. Angela’s website at https://angelamuirvanetten.com on September 6, 2021, the date pre-orders begin for the “Always An Advocate” e-book edition; and b. Angela’s social media platforms: Amazon Author page, Facebook, Instagram, Goodreads, and Pinterest.
  5. All contest decisions are final and cannot be appealed.

This post enhances Chapter 15, Breaking the Six-Inch Reach Barrier, in “ALWAYS AN ADVOCATE: Champions of Change for People with Dwarfism and Disabilities” releasing in October 2021.

Categories
Disability Rights Guest

Will Congress Disenfranchise Voters with Disabilities?

Congress

Twenty-six national disability rights organizations, including Little People of America, are deeply concerned over the paper ballot mandate included in the For the People Act of 2021 (H.R. 1/S. 1). The bill addresses many barriers to voting in America, but mandates the use of paper ballots in both in-person and remote voting, which undermines the goals of the bill by restricting access for many voters with disabilities.

Any mandate of a paper-based voting system will inevitably harm voters with print disabilities as it would:

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(1) end all voting system innovation and advancement to produce a fully accessible voting system that provides enhanced security;

(2) limit voters with disabilities’ federal right to privately and independently verify and cast their ballots, and;

(3) prohibit digital voting which allows voters to read, mark, verify, and return their ballot completely electronically.

Although paper-based ballot voting options have become the preferred voting system to people who believe mandating the use of paper ballots is necessary to ensure the security of elections, it must be made abundantly clear that the ability to privately and independently hand mark, verify, and cast a paper ballot is impossible for many voters with print disabilities.

On March 11, 2021, the United States House of Representatives passed the For the People Act, and the legislation is now being considered in the U.S. Senate. In late March, the Senate held its first hearing on the bill and prior to the Senate’s May markup, national disability organizations once again outlined their concerns and offered necessary improvements and changes to the bill’s paper ballot mandate. Unfortunately, the fears of disability advocates on how the paper mandate will impact voters with print disabilities have not been addressed and only minimal changes have been made to the mandate to protect the rights of voters with disabilities.

The National Disability Rights Network urges Congress to make changes to the For the People Act to exclude voters with disabilities, covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, from having to use a voter-verified paper ballot for both in-person and remote voting. Until fully accessible paper-ballot voting systems are available and ready for widespread use, accessible in-person and vote-by-mail voting options must be offered to ensure all voters in America can receive, mark, verify, and cast a private and independent ballot. The For the People Act cannot eliminate the only accessible voting options for many voters with disabilities, such as Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines and electronic absentee or vote-by-mail systems.

Although For the People Act includes some provisions to improve voter access for voters with disabilities, such as ensuring that drop boxes are fully accessible, these advances don’t mitigate the unintended consequence of the paper ballot mandate. Simply put, the current paper ballot mandate will exclude many voters from the ballot box, counteracting the purpose of this well-intended and important legislation.

Before paper-based voting systems become the law of the land, the concerns of voters with disabilities must be addressed.

Share this concern with your Senator today.

This post is a condensed version of “Disability Advocates Warn the For the People Act’s PaperBallot Mandate Will Disenfranchise Voters with Disabilities.” National Disability Rights Network. June 15, 2021. https://www.ndrn.org/resource/disability-advocates-warn-the-for-the-people-acts-paper-ballot-mandate-will-disenfranchise-voters-with-disabilities/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=1fbfcf73-7460-4276-a9cc-2e18b815bfe5.

Categories
Transportation

Funding Crisis Called For Action

A Call for Action
Image by Christian Dorn from Pixabay 

A crisis exploded after state and federal transit funding for FY2008 (fiscal year) took a 31% cut and forced a reduction from 27 to 18 transit routes in Martin County, Florida. When the county proposed an additional 20% in budget cuts in FY2009, those unable to drive due to brain injuries, cognitive limitations, epilepsy, vision loss, and a myriad of other impairments took action.

As an advocate for people with disabilities at a Center for Independent Living, I recruited, trained, and organized transit riders to plead with the Martin Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) not to cut any funds from public transit.

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As someone who had been driving since age 18, I wasn’t the most critical person to speak. More important spokespeople were those directly affected by the cuts. We joined forces to educate Commissioners on how lives would be negatively impacted if riders couldn’t take the bus to medical appointments, work, stores, and the like. Further reduction in public transit would result in medical emergencies, unemployment, and malnutrition.

Riders dependent on public transit were trained to confront commissioners with emails, letters, individual appointments, personal impact statements, and public comments at weekly BOCC televised meetings. One rider was applauded in the BOCC chamber after telling how she was forced to ride her bike seven miles to her doctor’s office in a heat index of 107℉. This was bad enough, but what about the majority of riders who were unable to compensate by riding a bike.

The action climaxed on June 17, 2008, when 17 Community Coach public transit riders and advocates followed through on their plan to picket at the Martin County Administrative Center.  The picketers were blind or visually impaired, brain injured, mentally ill, and wheelchair users carrying hand-made pickets that read:

■ MARTIN NEEDS COACH ■ SAVE THE COACH, SAVE JOBS ■ LET ME RIDE ■ COACH IS MY LIFELINE ■ COACH IS CRITICAL ■ FULLY FUND COACH ■ NO COACH NO ALTERNATIVE ■ NO COACH NO WAY OUT

Three of the five commissioners responded to my request that they talk to individual picketers during a break from the BOCC meeting. The commissioners responded favorably to the demonstration and went on the record assuring riders that funding for the bus service would remain. Two commissioners agreed that cutting bus funding would threaten the jobs of both riders and bus drivers.

Several media reports spotlighted how proposed budget cuts negatively affected people with disabilities:

  • Daphne Duret, “Elderly and disabled ask Martin commission not to cut buses.” Palm Beach Post (June 17, 2008).
  • George Andreassi, “Disabled fight for Stuart public transit.” Stuart News (June 17, 2008).
  • R.J. Harrington, “Community Coach riders protest to keep a slice of Martin budget.” Stuart News (June 18, 2008).

Despite the warm reception at the demonstration, riders continued advocacy at the July budget workshop to be sure the commissioners didn’t renege on their agreement to spare transit from budget cuts. And the commissioners were true to their word.

So what action have you taken in response to a funding crisis? This post is a condensed version of Chapter 18, Transit Funding and Public Participation, in “ALWAYS AN ADVOCATE: Champions of Change for People with Dwarfism and Disabilities” coming in October 2021. Go to my website for book updates, https://angelamuirvanetten.com/books.

Categories
Education

Not All Advocacy Is About Disability

When I graduated from the University of Auckland in New Zealand with a Bachelor of Laws, I never dreamed that seven years later I’d be sitting in a law school classroom in Baltimore, Maryland. But my decision to marry an American and emigrate from New Zealand to the United States made further study necessary. In order to practice law in the US, I needed the American juris doctorate degree and a license to practice law in each state where I worked as a lawyer.

The University of Maryland School of Law accepted my application for admission without Law School Admission Test (LSAT) results when the administration agreed that my NZ law degree and five years law practice demonstrated the skills the LSAT was measuring—those essential for success in law school.

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However, the school denied my request for two-thirds credit for my NZ law degree even though New Zealand, like the US, was based in common law. I appealed the decision.

The assistant dean informed me of my right to bring a petition for review to the admissions committee, but warned that I was wasting my time. As the committee chairperson, he didn’t foresee a different outcome to the one-third credit the committee had approved. I told the dean it was my time to waste.

When presenting my petition, I addressed the committee members with the same respect given to an appellate panel of judges. At the end of the review hearing, the law professor who appeared to have the greatest influence on the members commented, “Well, you do act like a lawyer.” What did he expect from someone with thousands of court hours under her belt?

Despite the dean’s prediction, I did persuade the committee to change its decision. Even though I didn’t get the two-thirds credit requested, the committee compromised and gave me credit for half my NZ law degree. This reduced my law school attendance from four semesters to three and saved a significant amount in tuition fees.

I never knew if my dwarfism factored into the school’s decision-making, but they had no hesitation in providing me with reasonable accommodations for parking, an elevator key, a locker and mailbox within my reach, and a stool in the library.

In an unexpected twist, Robert began a job in Cleveland, Ohio when I still had one semester of law school to complete. Thankfully, when I presented my dilemma to the dean and chair of the administrative committee, he said they were not so callous as to expect a husband and wife to live separately. I was allowed to study at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law—an American Bar Association approved law school—and count the credits toward my Maryland law degree. (It helped that I had already completed all the required courses in Maryland.) As a reasonable accommodation, the Cleveland law library bought the best stool I’ve ever seen—one with wide steps, hand-rails, and a platform at the top.

So what battles have you fought that are unrelated to your disability?

This post is excerpted from Chapter 5, Baltimore Beginning and Chapter 7, Cleveland Changes in “Pass Me Your Shoes.” For a full account, go to https://angelamuirvanetten.com for several retail links to the book and the opportunity to subscribe to my weekly blog.

Categories
Accessibility Accommodations

Why Did You Buy a House With a Dead Tree in Front?

Norma & Angela

In our first two years living in Rochester, New York we rented a one-and-a-half bedroom apartment with windows so high that we could only see the sky on one side and the carport roof on the other side. We bypassed properties with a view and rented a cheaper unit so we could save for a deposit on our own home. We hated not seeing out the windows, but it was the only way to accomplish our goal of home ownership.

So after being married five years, we bought a modest two-bedroom home with window views accessible to our 35-inch line of sight.

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However, our delight was not understood by our young niece who couldn’t understand why we bought a house with a dead tree in the front. As a Florida girl, she didn’t know about deciduous trees.

Among other things, we chose the house because of its accessible features and potential:

  • The attached two-car garage eliminated the need to scrape winter snow and ice off the cars.
  • The short driveway reduced the snow shoveling volume.
  • The steep steps from the garage into the kitchen could be modified with a handrail and five low-rise steps.
  • A platform lift could ride us down the stairs to the basement laundry.
  • A ramp could be placed over the steps at the front door.
  • The large kitchen could be gutted and modified to our specifications.

After a year of saving for the kitchen modifications, we retired the platforms built for our Baltimore apartment. The renovations began during a three-week visit from Eric, a contractor friend from New Zealand, when he ripped out the inaccessible cabinets before recovering from jet lag. Eric built the custom cabinet frames; inset a stovetop into one of the cabinets; painted, plastered, wallpapered, and replaced missing floor tiles.

After Eric’s departure, we hired a carpenter who was visually-impaired to design, build, and install the pullout drawers and cabinet doors. Robert recognized the carpenter’s talent when he provided his rehabilitation engineering services to equip the carpenter with assistive technology to access the design program on his computer.

Snow covered the yard when we made an offer on the house, so when the snow melted it uncovered too much garden for us to manage. But instead of returning the garden to lawn, we accepted a sharecropping offer from my co-worker, David, and enjoyed an abundance of fresh vegetables.

Instead of hiring a contractor to mow the lawns, we bought a riding mower with a grass catcher that we could slide on and off and added a foot pedal extension. Robert’s job was to maintain the mower and mine was to ride it. The novelty of mowing lawns for the first time in my life quickly wore off when the hose kept disconnecting from the catcher spraying grass everywhere, and the vibration distressed every joint in my body. And we won’t even talk about all the leaves that “dead tree” dropped in the Fall.

So tell me about modifications you’ve made in your home.

This post is excerpted from chapter 9, Home At Last, in “Pass Me Your Shoes.” For a full account, go to https://angelamuirvanetten.com for several retail links to the book and the opportunity to subscribe to my weekly blog.

Categories
FAQs

Are You Disabled?

Frequently Asked Questions
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

As much as people love to wear designer labels, many are uncomfortable wearing the disability label. This is often true of people who acquire disabling conditions as they age. I saw this when I worked as an advocacy specialist for a center for independent living and the intake paperwork required me to document the individual’s disability. A 92-year-old woman who ambulated with a walker surprised me when I asked what to record for her disability. She said, “I don’t have one.” Clearly she met the ADA definition of disability as one having a substantial limitation on the major life activity of walking. But once she understood only people with disabilities qualified for my help, she conceded that the disability label suited her.

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Actually many people with disabilities reject the disability label. Despite having substantial limitations in major life activities—breathing, hearing, learning, reaching, sleeping, or talking, to name a few—they reject the limitations associated with disability and in so doing reject the label. They have adapted and are able to do whatever they set their sights on. It’s the attitudes of others towards them they see as disabling.

In the post ADA era, it’s generally unlawful to ask someone if they have a disability and people with disabilities are not obligated to disclose their disability. The exceptions being if a reasonable accommodation is requested or disability is a qualification for the service offered.

In the employment context, the dilemma comes when completing job applications which include a check box for disability. Should the applicant leave the box blank or check yes? It’s a personal choice with pros and cons for each decision.

The downside to leaving the box blank is that you miss the employers who are open-minded or looking to increase diversity and favor people with a disability. It also means, that to be consistent, you scrub your Curriculum Vitae clean of volunteer activities that suggest you have a disability. So it’s important to do your homework on the employer before making a decision. You need to know if diversity is encouraged; this is often the case in higher education and larger companies.

The upside to not answering the question is that you remove the opportunity for the employer to trash your application based on preconceived notions that people with disabilities make staff and customers uncomfortable, have more accidents on the job, and need costly accommodations. Of course, an employer who weeds out applications based on a disability identification is discriminating, but finding evidence to prove it is near impossible.

In the case of dwarfism, nondisclosure is moot once you get to the interview. Even though employers cannot lawfully ask if you’re disabled, they can ask how you will perform the job duties. This is the time to request a reasonable accommodation if you need one to make your performance possible. It’s also a good time to share the disability volunteer experience you may have scrubbed from your CV.      

So how do you answer the question, “Are you are disabled?”

For more of my writings on employment discrimination, check out the first two books in my dwarfism trilogy, Dwarfs Don’t Live in Doll Houses and Pass Me Your Shoes, at https://angelamuirvanetten.com/books.

Categories
Disability Rights

Advocacy Makes Change Possible

Boarding bus

Seventeen years ago today, God granted me the desire of my heart when the Coalition for Independent Living Options, Inc. (CILO) hired me as an advocacy specialist in Stuart, Florida.Only in hindsight could I see how—all through the years—God had prepared me for this position:

  • As a dwarf, I lived the disability experience, and advocated for my own acceptance as an equal contributing member of society.
  • I had law degrees in New Zealand and Maryland and admission to the bar in New Zealand, Ohio, and New York.

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  • As a lawyer in New Zealand, I advocated for clients in civil and criminal courts.
  • As a project editor for Thomson Reuters, I wrote disability civil rights law books for lawyers.
  • As a volunteer, I served as a board member of Centers for Independent Living in Ohio and New York.
  • As an LPA volunteer, I was a leader in banning dwarf tossing in licensed establishments in New York and Florida, and breaking the six-inch reach barrier in buildings and facilities open to the public throughout America.
  • As a staff writer for the Christian Law Association, I wrote religious liberty articles and training materials for nonlawyers.

Although I retired from CILO three years ago, I now work as an author and voice for people with dwarfism and disability. I write a weekly blog and have written two books. The third book in my dwarfism trilogy—ALWAYS AN ADVOCATE: Champions of Change for People with Dwarfism and Disabilities—is due to release in the Fall of 2021. My purpose is to offer hope to those who are skeptical about changing society’s discriminatory treatment of people with dwarfism and other disabilities.

I believe that advocacy makes change possible when people call out what is wrong, care enough to stand up for what is right, commit to the cause for as long as it takes, and choose the right forum. Just as important is collaborating in coalitions with like-minded people and organizations, communicating with honesty and respect, and having confidence in God’s power to change hearts.

Always An Advocate repeatedly demonstrates the power of advocacy:

  • Titans of industry were required to lower ATMs, gas pumps, and elevator buttons to be within reach of people previously ignored.
  • Public transportation must be accessible.
  • Cheering crowds applauding dwarf tossing contests were silenced.
  • Volunteer leaders successfully fought for organizational change and civility.
  • Homeowners received reasonable accommodations to override discriminatory rules associations made about pavers, parking, service animals, and the like. 
  • Voters used accessible equipment in accessible facilities served by staff trained in disability sensitivity.
  • Emergency service plans included people with disabilities.
  • People whose disability made them unable to work were successfully represented and approved for social security benefits.
  • School children received an Individual Education Plan providing them with a free and appropriate public education.

Put this book on your “want to read” list and be inspired to advocate for the changes you—and others—need. It can be done.

For information on “Always an Advocate,” go to https://angelamuirvanetten.com/always-an-advocate/. Please subscribe to my blog and receive automatic delivery of weekly posts to your email inbox.

Categories
Celebrations

Not Your Typical Mother’s Day Story

Mother's Day

Mother’s Day is a bittersweet day for Robert and me. The sweet memory is our 1981 engagement announcement on Mother’s Day and the bitter is that only one year earlier my mother lived her last full day on earth. Barbara Mary Muir died at age 45 of melanoma cancer, the deadliest form of skin cancer. And Robert’s mother only lived to see six of our almost 40 years of married life. Irene Maria Van Etten died at age 73 of lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women.

Every Mother’s Day we remember them both with love and gratitude for all they did for us. At the same time, we regret that they didn’t live longer to enjoy the adventures of their adult children and grandchildren. And maybe they would have lived longer if they knew then what we know now.

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May is Melanoma Awareness Month which stresses the importance of skin protection and early detection. In honor of my mother, please allow me to share tips from the American Academy of Dermatology to protect your skin from the sun’s damaging ultraviolet rays and reduce your risk of skin cancer:

  • Seek shade when appropriate, especially when the sun’s rays are strongest between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
  • Wear sun-protective clothing, such as a long-sleeved shirt with an ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) label, pants, a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses with UV protection.
  • Apply a broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher, even on cloudy days.
  • Reapply sunscreen every two hours, or after swimming or sweating.
  • Avoid tanning beds. 
  • Perform regular skin self-exams to detect skin cancer early, when it’s most treatable. See a board-certified dermatologist if you notice new or suspicious spots on your skin, or anything changing, itching or bleeding.

November is officially Lung Cancer Awareness Month, but Robert and I remember it on Mother’s Day. Robert’s mother smoked cigarettes which, in the United States, is the number one risk factor for lung cancer and is linked to about 90% of lung cancer deaths. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention people who smoke cigarettes are 15 to 30 times more likely to die from lung cancer than people who do not smoke.

In honor of Robert’s mother, please listen to medical advice and stop smoking or, better yet, never start. But if smoking has already put you at risk, don’t despair—it’s never too late to stop.  Quitting smoking at any age lowers the risk. And know that when lung cancer is caught early, successful treatment is possible. Those at high risk for developing lung cancer are urged to take preventive measures with annual screening using low-dose CT scans.

It’s understood that God determines our length of days on this earth, but let’s do our part not to cut them short by poor choices.

What are you doing to honor your mother?

For more of my writings, check out my website at angelamuirvanetten.com.

Categories
God's protection

America’s Heritage of Prayer Continues

Women in prayer
Image by Candelario Gomez Lopez from Pixabay

The National Day of Prayer invites people of all faiths to pray for America on the first Thursday of each May. Although President Harry S. Truman signed a joint resolution of the United States Congress reserving this annual date in 1952, public prayer and national days of prayer were not new. In 1775, the Continental Congress asked the colonies to pray for wisdom in forming a nation and to establish America’s peace and freedom upon a solid and lasting foundation. And in four consecutive centuries, Presidents have declared national days of prayer for various reasons: 

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  • Expressing gratitude to “Almighty God in peaceably allowing a form of government for the safety and happiness of the people.” George Washington (October 3, 1789)
  • Encouraging humility before God and seeking His Divine mercy during a cholera epidemic. Zachary Taylor (July 3, 1849)
  • Acknowledging “our dependence on Almighty God and to implore His aid and protection” during World War I.Woodrow Wilson (May 11, 1918)
  • Honoring the memory of the September 11, 2001 victims and comforting those who lost loved ones. George W. Bush (September 14, 2001)
  • Rededicating ourselves to extending religious freedom to all people. Barak Obama (May 5, 2016)

Thankfully prayers are not limited to national days. People pray every day of the year and people with dwarfism are no exception. Although we pray about the same concerns as all humanity, we have more than our share of medical requests.

In a private Facebook group to which I belong, many seek and appreciate prayers. An inclusive request invites positive thoughts from those who do not pray.

The requests range from looking for a diagnosis or a qualified physician with dwarfism experience, a helpful doctor’s appointment, successful surgeries, good physical therapy results, to pain management. Some pray for a first time surgery and others that a surgery will be the last in a long succession. Prayer for unbearable, chronic pain which reduces quality of life to nothing is common.

Group members commit to pray, share good thoughts, and send get well wishes with a generous dose of emojis. Prayers are offered for surgeries with excellent results, quick recoveries, healing, daytime pain reduction, pain free nights, sleep, peace, courage, and perseverance.

Along with the prayers comes love, hugs, encouragement, advice and comfort from those with similar experiences. It helps to know we are not alone. We accept advice from someone who feels our pain, concedes that the road is tough, encourages us to set little goals at first, reminds us to take one day a time, and confidently asserts “you’ll get there!”

“God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”  2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (New Living Translation).

Categories
Awareness

Plan to Stay Safe

Firemen
Image by Matthias Groeneveld from Pixabay

What words come to mind when you read the following list: earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornados, tsunamis, volcanoes, wildfires, winter storms? I think of danger, death, and destruction. But on April 30, National PrepareAthon! Day, we can plan so that death is not a consequence of any of these disasters.

Thankfully we don’t have to plan for every kind of disaster where we live. But we do need to be aware of, and ready for, potential hazards in our locale. The first step is to be informed when disaster is imminent. Signing up for emergency phone alerts gives us life-saving information targeted to our area.

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This emergency alert system will also broadcast on TV and radio. But a battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert are essential when the power goes out.

Safety should drive our decision whether to shelter in place or evacuate. Follow advice of emergency management officials on this one. For example, if your home is built to withstand hurricane force winds, it’s okay to hunker down behind shuttered windows. But don’t wait until the last minute to ask someone for help with your shutters. They’ll be too busy with their own place and you’ll be left blowing in the wind.

If your home can’t be made safe, decide whether you’ll evacuate to family or friends in a safe area or go to a general population shelter. Check in advance which one works for your disability and plan how you’ll get there. Do you have enough gas in the car? If you don’t have a vehicle and need accessible transportation to a shelter, make sure you’re on the manifest for a ride in an emergency. If you have medical equipment that requires electricity and you don’t have a generator at home, plan on going to a special needs shelter where you can stay connected to a power source. Find out if pre-registration is required. Those dependent on dialysis or other life-sustaining treatment need to find out where they should go.

If evacuation is ordered, learn the evacuation routes. Safeguard important and valuable papers, including model numbers and providers of assistive technologies so it can be replaced if lost or destroyed. Withdraw some cash.

Update your emergency supply kit, both at home and in the car, that includes water, nonperishable people and animal food, first aid supplies, and Bible. This is critical for survival if you lose power or get stranded in your car.

If separated from family during an emergency, know how you’ll contact one another afterwards. Establish a family meeting place that’s easy to find. Create phone contact lists for family members so you can text them with your location. Help rescue workers reach your loved ones if you’re incapacitated; type “ICE,” the acronym for “in case of emergency,” before a person’s name in your cell phone so they know who to call.

So how far along are you in your emergency planning? Procrastination could be a costly mistake.

This post highlights FEMA guidance at https://www.ready.gov/plan and should be consulted for other important details. Also see Emergency Management. National Council on Disability, accessed April 20, 2021. https://ncd.gov/policy/emergency-management and An ADA Guide for Local Governments. Making Community Emergency Preparedness and Response Programs Accessible to People with Disabilities, accessed April 20, 2021. https://www.ada.gov/emergencyprepguide.htm