Guest Blog: Paul Timmons – It’s Time to Stop Playing Nice With the Emergency Management Community After Continued Failure to Serve Disabled Disaster Victims

 Shortly after posting Susan Dooha’s blog post on the lack of accessibility she encountered in emergency shelters during Hurricane Irene, I asked a friend and colleague if he’d be interested in writing a reaction/followup to Susan’s post.  Paul Timmons has a lot of experience with disaster relief – what entities such as the Red Cross do  and don’t do, and the areas in which “fall short” would be too kind a description for FEMA‘s performance.  Paul’s response follows directly below, but there is more information about Paul and ways in which you can help people in disaster situations that FEMA and the Red Cross don’t reach effectively or consistently, to say the least.  Please read my afterword.

Now, here’s Paul Timmons:
The problem with disaster preparedness and response work is that it is extremely difficult to get people to care until we have an event at hand.

But if you’re one of the crips who can’t access one of those shelters Susan Dooha told us about, you’re gonna care a lot….right up to the point you die in the storm.

In countless media appearances after hurricane Ike, I said that the biggest lesson we learned from Ike was that we hadn’t learned anything from Katrina, three years earlier.  Not a single ‘special needs shelter’ in Houston was accessible. Well, another three years have passed and…here we go again.

I guess there’s supposed to be some solace knowing they don’t call them ‘special needs shelters’ anymore.  But, frankly, I’d be willing to give that up if crips could actually get into them and take, well, shelter.

Millions of dollars have been spent on the subject since Katrina.   Seriously…millions.   Conferences have been held…conference calls have been had…’plans’ have been laid….press releases have been released….promissory ‘contracts’ have been signed, amidst great fanfare….and it’s been discussed ad nauseum.  And yet, just a few days ago, a leader in our greatest city finds that, as a practical matter, it has all been for naught.

And it’s not just Irene.  We have seen it in every domestic disaster to which we’ve responded.  Alabama, North Georgia, Joplin, the Florida and Mid-Western floods.  There’s always a lot of talk and posturing from FEMA and state and local emergency response types…while crips suffer…and die.

I had high hopes that FEMA would become an effective bully pulpit on this issue.  But it hasn’t happened.  My view is that FEMA is so hopelessly dysfunctional that even the best intentioned people can’t really do much with it.  In fact, all the vapid chest thumping on this issue is dangerous.  It creates a false sense of accomplishment.

The fact that there’s somebody in a wheelchair sitting in on the meetings makes everybody feel all warm and fuzzy.  But almost always, any attention to people with disabilities stops there.

And there’s this:  Every time somebody throws us a bone…we go hide in the corner and quietly play with it.

So….What’s to be done?

Well….we have to stop playing nice. 

Some of this stuff is probably actionable.  So let’s sue somebody.

Let’s engage in direct action on the issue.  And let’s start at FEMA HQ in DC. And local, state and national Red Cross offices.  And city, county and state emergency management offices.

Let’s create our own infrastructure…operate our own shelters……..take care of ourselves.

We have the people power and networks to fix this.  What we don’t have, yet, is an understanding of this fact:  The Overlords of the emergency management community have shown to an indisputable certainty that they don’t really care whether we live or die. 

And ya know what?  As I wrote that last line, it occurred to me: it’s not entirely accurate.  The reality is…they’re actually trying to kill us.

Afterword: 
 
I think readers should know that Paul’s outrage is a result of extensive experience.  See, Paul doesn’t just express his outrage about the inefficiencies and ineptitudes of government agencies and “helping” organizations – he spends a lot of time and effort trying to do something to make the lives of the overlooked victims of natural disasters easier.

 

For almost ten years, Paul has been working tirelessly with Portlight Strategies, Inc., a  501c3 organization that is dedicated to “meeting specific needs of the underserved, unserved and forgotten people.”  It turns out that there are significant groups of people in disasters and emergency situations who that get overlooked, get minimal help, or don’t receive aid that is actually “helpful.”  People with disabilities is just one of these groups.  That’s where Portlight Strategies comes in.

 

If you want to know more about Portlight Strategies, check the “Our Story” section of their site.

Please also check the FAQ section, for instructions on how to contact and/or donate to Portlight Strategies; This link lets you access a copy of the organization’s 2010 financial report so you can see how they spend their resources.

 

Please take the time to learn more about the organization and if you want to help out with disaster relief efforts – past, present and future – please consider giving to Portlight Strategies – which concentrates on getting to those getting the least with those things they need the most.
 

5 thoughts on “Guest Blog: Paul Timmons – It’s Time to Stop Playing Nice With the Emergency Management Community After Continued Failure to Serve Disabled Disaster Victims

  1. This is the plan…study, discuss, plan, all soaking up whatever money being allocated to help solve the problem….yet NEVER apply any actual effort or MONEY to actually DO IT….not only with regards to disasters…with regards to EVERY so called relief effort made ….including aiding the poor, disabled and elderly…talk talk talk …all at a PRICE…and NO DOING….absolutely evil is what it is and nothing short of evil…

  2. September, meaning now, is a great month to put this out there high profile since one of FEMA’s latest emails today was titled……

    Happy National Preparedness Month!

    Hey, have you all stumbled upon Patch.com yet..? It’s been showing up a lot in the Google news alerts that come into my inbox.. Right now it’s covering just a portion of the United States..There’s a map on their homepage that gives an idea of their coverage area..

    The reason I’m sharing is that Patch is coming across as actively wanting to hear about stories just like this, any stories really to build their credibility.. Anyway, just throwing it out there since, like I said, they seem to be getting picked up well by Internet search engine spiders and appear to be genuinely interested in things just like this..

    Cyber hugs from Talking Rock.. 🙂

  3. The Center for Independent Living, where I serve as Director of Advocacy, is interested in collaborating with other disability organizations in addressing this. I can be reached at mdubin@pobox.com.
    I formerly served as a Senior Trial Attorney at the Justice Department, in the Disability Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division, from 1993-2005. I would be interested in hearing from anyone interested in trying to address the failure of emergency management and the Red Cross to serve people with disabilities.

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