2022: Year-in-Review
Updated: February 5, 2024 by admin
2022 was another busy year for us! Join us in celebrating many accomplishments as we face the ever growing challenges brought forth by climate change and disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic, and political disasters like the russian invasion in Ukraine.
We:
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- Grew our Community’s understanding of disability disaster equity
- Responded to hundreds of disabled people calling our Disability and Disaster Hotline
- Supported Disability-led organizations in the U.S., Haiti and Ukraine
- Reached 1,000 consecutive Daily COVID-19 Disability Rights and Disasters Calls
- Continue to build lasting relationships with federal partners, academia, and throughout the community
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2023 is off to a dangerous start for Disabled people with the extreme winter storms in the West coast, tornadoes, and now with the looming end of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.
We strive to achieve Disability Justice throughout the disaster phases – thanks to your support, collaborations, and donations. We hope you enjoy our 2022 Year-in-Review.
Please click on the expandable menu below to learn more about the far-reaching work we did in 2022.
- We helped Centers for Independent Living (CILs) strengthen their preparedness and community resilience through trainings, exercis
es, and technical assistance.
- We helped CILs strengthen their public health emergency resiliency in Arkansas, Missouri, Montana, Idaho, Ohio, and Louisiana.
- We helped emergency management agencies and governments to be inclusive of people with disabilities through trainings, technical assistance, and subject matter expertise.
Through the Connecticut State Independent Living Council (SILC) we provided training to emergency management and response agencies in Connecticut.- United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) San Francisco District invited us to present at their internal conference and provide recommendations to integrate and improve disability justice and equity considerations in USACE's approaches, conversations, and panel discussions.
- We helped organizations and businesses ensure they are incorporating disability inclusive emergency management and public health practices in their work.
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Image of Justice Shorter, a Black woman, smiling wearing a dark blouse, sunglasses, with short hair in two-strand twists. With the Great Lakes ADA Center, The Partnership brought Disability emergency management sharply into focus with a training module for the Kennedy Center, titled “Including People with Disabilities in Emergency Management.” Community experts brought their perspectives to the discussion via video, including Justice Shorter, June Kailes, Vance Taylor, Amy Nicholas, Marcie Roth, and Melissa Marshall. Geared for arts centers, museums, theatres, and entertainment organizations open to the public, the topics centered around sheltering or evacuating during an emergency, and preparing to include People with Disability in this process every step of the way, from planning to recovery.
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- We strengthened education on COVID-19, vaccine access, and health equity through:
Project ALIVE (Accessible Life-saving Vaccine Equity) with the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL).- Strategies for Equitable Access to Vaccinations and Inclusive Disaster Response with the World Institute on Disability (WID).
- Disability Information Access Line (DIAL) with USAging and national partners.
- Disability Vaccine Access Opportunities (DVAO) Center with Able South Carolina and the Independent Living Research Utilization (ILRU).
- We provided subject matter expertise in academics.
- Brandeis University
- Georgetown University
- McMaster University
- San Diego State University
- Tulane University Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy
- University of Washington
Our core values of equitable access, inclusion, independence, and commitment to civil and human rights protections continually guide our work towards a future where community readiness is achieved and sustained for everyone.
This year we strengthened community-wide resilience by:
- Providing ongoing education and leading advocacy for inclusive emergency management and public health policies, programs, services, and procedures.
- Educating about the harms and ineffectiveness of registries for people with disabilities in disasters.
- California Disaster Coalition Meeting: Emergency Registries: A Misleading, Harmful & Non-Inclusive Fix
- Part 1 (9/8/22)
- Part 2 (10/13/22)
- Redirecting Emergency Registries: Community Driven Solutions
- California Disaster Coalition Meeting: Emergency Registries: A Misleading, Harmful & Non-Inclusive Fix
- Supporting disability-led organizations in their preparedness, response, and recovery work.
- Ongoing technical assistance and peer support before, during, and after disasters and emergencies.
- We assisted in the coordination of tens of pallets of donated sanitation supplies to CILs and Community-Based Organizations (CBO’s) in Delaware, Florida, and Pennsylvania.
- On March 30th, we hosted a Congressional briefing to highlight the reintroduction of the REAADI for Disasters Act and the Disaster Relief Medicaid Act. See below for videos from our champion: Congressman Jim Langevin, who spoke about the urgency to get REAADI and DRMA "across the finish line;" and María Palacios, poet, author, spoken word performer, and workshop facilitator, who spoke on the importance of Disability Justice in disasters.
Learn more about REAADI and DRMA here
- 100 organizations support solar power for people with disabilities in Puerto Rico
Image of tweet of a satellite image of the island of Puerto Rico at night. Bright spots of light like stars line the coast and dot many locations. A bright cluster of lights illuminate the Metro Area along the northeast coastline. - For the first day of National Preparedness Month, on September 1st we conducted and facilitated a national table-top exercise where the scenario was multiple cities being impacted by Improvised Nuclear Devices (IND). People were prompted to check-in by replying to a text or email with the word "SAFE" if they were in a decontaminated area. We then debriefed and discussed on our Daily COVID-19 Disability Rights and Disasters Call where Mary Casey-Lockyer from the American Red Cross, talked us through different potential scenarios, how to prepare, and what to expect in a nuclear and radiological disaster.
- Out of 61 people who received the exercise alert, 37 people checked-in and 24 did not, and 27 people joined us for the debrief and discussion. We had participation from across all 10 Regions.
- If you would like to participate in the next exercise please sign up here.
- Out of 61 people who received the exercise alert, 37 people checked-in and 24 did not, and 27 people joined us for the debrief and discussion. We had participation from across all 10 Regions.
Daily COVID-19 Disability Rights and Disasters Calls reached 1,000 consecutive calls on Thanksgiving Day, and continues to build Disability Community resilience for infectious disease and concurrent disasters.
What some daily call participants say in reflection of 2022:
- “These calls help me as an emergency manager work with my local communities to build upon and strengthen our work in inclusive emergency management. It is an opportunity and very helpful to learn from everyone and how they're doing this work with limited resources, especially in rural communities.”
- “These calls have been a safe place to ask questions I wouldn’t ask in other groups, and have helped me as an advocate to strengthen my confidence and build my connections in the field.”
- “I’m thankful for the consistency of these calls and this group being available every day. Because of my engagement in these calls I was able to pitch an idea about emergency preparedness for city staff, which influenced further accessibility practices throughout the city’s operations, where we now have an intranet site that includes a lot more resources than anything this jurisdiction had seen before. I’ve also been able to influence my local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) trainings and our city’s exercise practices to be more inclusive because of the advice from these calls. The willingness of the group to be open to questions and feedback, and the generous sharing of expertise has had ripples in my neighborhood – thank you so much for that.”
- “There is so much power in these calls and coming together every day to support each other, to discuss and navigate the hard problems, to tackle the systemic barriers, and celebrate the little victories together.”
Weekly National Stakeholder Calls bring stakeholders across the country, throughout sectors and different levels of government - together every Tuesday to address systemic barriers and share resources and good practices for people with disability before, during, and after disasters and emergencies.
Daily Call Spotlight
Mary Casey-Lockyer, from the American Red Cross National Headquarters has been integral since The Partnership’s inception. Mary has been a pillar to our Daily COVID-19 Disability Rights and Disasters Calls providing insights to concurrent disaster operations and infectious disease data and information, as well as high-level expertise in disaster health services and operations. Mary helps us navigate complex questions and brainstorm better solutions for moving forward collaboratively. We’re thankful for allies like Mary Casey-Lockyer, who work tirelessly to integrate Disability throughout all aspects of disaster preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery. The community is thankful for you, each and every day, Mary!
In loving memory of Sheryl Grossman
December 30, 1975 - March 28, 2022
On March 28, 2022 Sheryl Grossman passed away. For those that did not have the opportunity to know Sheryl, she was a fierce and strong advocate for disability and human rights in the U.S. and worldwide. For all that had the good fortune to have known her, Sheryl’s memory will be a blessing.
Sheryl was a regular active participant on our Daily COVID-19 Disability Rights and Disasters Calls, and we are deeply honored that Sheryl chose to join us and share with us as she frequently did. Many of us got to know her better on the calls and some of us only knew her through the calls, and she taught us all so much every time she joined. Through her local advocacy she would share resources and good practices, and we would brainstorm and navigate barriers together. Mostly, we will remember her for generously sharing about her disability, her history, and Orthodox Judaism. Her contributions were a gift we all cherish.
Sheryl leaves an unpatchable hole in our daily calls, and her legacy ripples in the fight for change for the disability community. We will continue to amplify the light Sheryl lit in all of us.
– The Partnership Daily Call Community
Ukraine
On February 26th, 2022 - two days after the russian invasion of Ukraine officially began, through our (now) Global Research and Response Lead, Anna Landre and Avery Horne, we immediately connected with Fight for Right, a disability-led, women-led nongovernmental organization in Ukraine. For the past 11 months, and until Ukraine’s VICTORY, we have been supporting Fight for Right with operational coordination, resource acquisition, operational and logistical support, fundraising, advocacy, and peer support in their emergency response efforts.
As an organization led by disabled people and with a mission on the human rights of our community, Fight for Right immediately pivoted their daily operations to a full-fledged emergency response operation for the Disability Community in Ukraine.
They have been working nonstop for the past 11 months to help Ukrainians with Disability access resources, safety, and maintain their independence during the war.
Fight for Right Key Outcomes:
- 7595 persons with disabilities in urgent need of assistance have received it
- 1633 persons can fall asleep in a warm bed, not in the basement, without hearing explosions and shooting thanks to evacuations
- 35 persons from 9 different countries joined the Fight for Right team
- €480,000 has been raised on GoFundMe to save people with disabilities, with most donations coming from the community
Highlights from our work together:
Fight for Right has helped 7595 people and is in process of helping more than 3138 people
Fight for Right has spread awareness, shared stories, and the realities that people with disabilities are living in during the russian invasion of Ukraine.
Fight for Right came to the U.S. in June for the United Nations Conference of State Parties on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Big thank you to Senator Casey for helping get the Fight for Right team's visas expedited!
At the end of June, 75 organizations urged the U.S. government to protect the rights of people with disabilities and older people in Ukraine.
Disability Equipment Makes It To Ukraine
From April - October we worked to get over 1000 pieces of disability equipment that was donated by the Maryland Department of Aging Durable Medical Equipment (DME) Re-Use program from Maryland to Fight for Right’s warehouse in Ukraine.
Since October, Fight for Right has been distributing wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, commodes, and other disability equipment and supplies to people with disabilities in Ukraine who need replaced equipment and to newly disabled people in need.
Thank you Choose Love Foundation, Borealis Philanthropy, Google, Nippon Foundation, thousands of donors, and so many more for your support!
Our partner, colleague, and now family, Yuliia Sachuk, Head of Fight for Right was named in BBC’s 100 Women in 2022!
We are honored to work alongside and amplify such fearless leaders like Yuliia and the Fight for Right team.
We will continue to support Fight for Right until and beyond Ukraine's VICTORY.
Haiti
The Association à I’Intégration des Personnes Handicapées (ASSIPHA) is a Haitian Disabled Persons Organization operating since the 2010 earthquake. Following the August 14, 2021 earthquake, with a generous donation from JPMorgan Chase & Co. ASSIPHA has
- supported hundreds of survivors with Disability
- replaced lost and damaged essentials
- provided trainings on disaster preparedness and disability rights
- increased disaster community resilience, and more!
As co-founders of the Global Alliance for Disaster Resource Acceleration (GADRA), we thank all donors and supporters for disrupting the traditional humanitarian response to focus on the survival of disabled people.
Yellowstone National Park Flooding
In addition to bolstering inclusive emergency management and our Disability & Disaster Hotline response, we also supported our partner, Becky Coombs with the Wyoming Statewide Independent Living Council (SILC) as she deployed to the impacted flooded area to assess and support any disability-related needs that arose. Through her deployment, Becky connected with emergency managers and FEMA officials to further elevate the rights and needs of the disability community in Montana.
Thank you Ford Foundation, hundreds of donors, and so many more for your support!
Hurricane Ian Response with Florida Independent Living Council (FILC) and the Florida Center Independent Living (CIL) Network.
Before Hurricane Ian made landfall, we began collaborating daily with our partners at FILC to prepare for Hurricane Ian’s impact on the Disability Community.
As our Disability & Disaster Hotline began receiving calls prior to the storm, we worked with FILC and the Florida CILs throughout the state to connect Disabled survivors to immediate resources and shelters near them.
During the hurricane’s impact, our Disability & Disaster Hotline served as a lifeline for CIL consumers and community members to reach their CIL and additional services to meet their needs. We participated on daily FILC calls and provided technical assistance specific to Independent Living, and critical to successfully navigate systemic barriers. Daily, we provided hands-on technical assistance as the CILs worked to navigate the emergency management systems and support to their community.
After the immediate threat of Hurricane Ian we provided ongoing rapid assistance to CILs in the impacted areas, and worked to elevate and alleviate the systemic barriers people with disabilities faced throughout hurricane’s impact. While also working with our CIL partners and FCIL to navigate and resolve ongoing Hotline requests.
We responded to over 100 Hotline calls from Hurricane Ian survivors.
We responded to requests such as:
- Shelter information
- FEMA Individual Assistance (IA) application information
- FEMA Temporary Sheltering Assistance (TSA) information
- Housing and rental assistance information
- Food and water resources
- Durable medical equipment coordination
- Connecting callers to their local CIL
The Partnership works as a convener in disasters, and we brought together local, state, and federal partners responding to Hurricane Ian to address the systemic barriers and urgent needs of the Disability Community in Florida.
Systemic gaps identified and discussed:
- Hospital systems
- Turning people away without resources during the storm
- Discharging people after the storm to inhabitable homes
- Discharging people who were severely injured during the storm
- FEMA Individual Assistance (IA)
- People were unable to wait the extremely long wait times when calling FEMA IA due to lack of power to charge phones
- One of our Hotline callers told us they had a 300+ minute hold
- People received application denials due to clicking “homeless” on the application, even though they owned their home or rented prior to the storm damaging it
- People were unable to wait the extremely long wait times when calling FEMA IA due to lack of power to charge phones
- Temporary Sheltering Assistance (TSA)
- There were systemic and technical difficulties with the TSA website
- Most hotels listed on the TSA website were no less than 30 miles (or hours away) from people’s areas
- Last minute extensions of the TSA program can cause high anxiety and added stress to survivors' livelihood when they have no notice of the program ending and there is no permanent accessible housing available
- Shelters
- Lack of coordination with local community based organizations
- A large shelter opening with no running water or power, being over populated, and lack of COVID-19 precautions
- Lack of fully integrated shelters with ADA compliance
- Monitoring and enforcement of civil rights obligations
- There is no enforcement of the civil rights of people with disabilities in shelters and other programs receiving federal funding
- CILs and other community based organizations do not have a clear mechanism to receive financial support or reimbursement for the emergency protective measures and services they provide during disasters
Stories from Ian
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Damaged side of a house due to Ian Several individuals with disabilities in a trailer park community in New Smyrna Beach, in Volusia County, needed assistance to evacuate to shelters. One person was sleeping in her van with her Deaf husband for a week outside her flooded apartment; she had oxygen needs and was running out of oxygen. No one had power. We mobilized our network of partners to evacuate individuals to accessible shelters, and to meet their oxygen and medication needs.
- One of the women had to sit and sleep in her wheelchair for 10 days, and developed severe edema in her legs. The Partnership was able to assist in the delivery of an appropriate bed for her, provided by the American Red Cross.
- One disabled man needed to charge his wheelchair after the storm, but had no power in his home. He didn’t want to stay in a shelter since his home was not terribly damaged, he was just without power and was needing a charge for his chair so he could stay mobile while the power was restored. With our Florida partners, we were able to assist in the coordination of accessible transportation to a shelter to charge his chair and back home. His power finally returned less than a week after, and he was able to stay independent in his home the whole time.
- In Fort Myers, The Partnership and our Florida CIL Partners successfully intervened when a woman in her 60s, who is disabled and uses a walker, was discharged from the hospital after injuries during the storm. She was sent back to her home, which was in shambles. The house had no power, and she struggled to navigate her walker over the debris on her floors. She was unable to get to her bathroom, and unfortunately had to establish a makeshift toilet area on the floor in another room. When a volunteer responder with The Resilience Resource contacted our Hotline on her behalf, in the midst of the storm, a state worker was going to send her to an assisted living facility. In cooperation with our Florida partners, the person was able to relocate to a hotel with ongoing supports. The added bonus was that the hotel was near the hospital where her husband remained due to injuries he sustained during Ian.
Thank you Ford Foundation, hundreds of donors, and so many more for your support!
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2022 saw tremendous growth to The Partnership’s social media presence. Here are highlights from our accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
At the beginning of 2022, we decided to begin to post regularly to LinkedIn, and cultivate our visibility there. This can be seen clearly in our numbers: at the close of 2022, we had 984 followers, with 886 of them added within the last 364 days. All staff participated in growing this audience, by regularly sharing LinkedIn content, and inviting their connections. Results were 100% organic, with no budget invested in promotions.
The Partnership’s Facebook page reach, as well, grew exponentially. The graph below shows that, overall, 68,694 individuals engaged with our Facebook platform in 2022, up 35.5% over the previous year. The graph lines indicate a steady and sure increase between January and December, from 0 to over 68,000. Our total page Likes/follows stands at 1,935.
We got onto Instagram on December 21st, 2022, and are actively building our reach to this unique audience. As of January 27, 2023, our number of followers already stands at 82.
By far our most long-established social channel, Twitter, continued to grow this year in followers, engagements, and impressions.
We closed out 2022 with 3,894 Twitter followers, with 729 new followers added during the year. Our profile was visited 114,871 times over the year.
Our original tweets during the course of the year earned 722.9K (722,900) impressions, which means there were 722,900 times our message was received and processed by other Twitter users.
Top Tweets of 2022
This year Sins Invalid, along with 26 other organizations joined our list of partners! Your organization can too - learn more here!
Sins Invalid is a Disability Justice based performance project that incubates and celebrates artists with disabilities, centralizing artists of color and LGBTQ / gender-variant artists as communities who have been historically marginalized. Sins Invalid is well known for their involvement in creating and demonstrating the Disability Justice Principles. This year, Sins Invalid created the Crip Survival Network that we’ve been actively involved in and supporting and can’t wait to share more about in 2023!
C. Jean Grover
This year we gained a new team member, C. Jean Grover, as our Director of Communications!
Perhaps over this year you’ve noticed more output from us and more creative looking materials, which is all thanks to Jean! Jean is a disabled award winning graphic designer who is able to take our team’s ideas, thoughts, and the abundance of our words into beautiful works of art and education. Our team is grateful for Jean’s work with us this year and for the years to come!
Anna Landre
There’s so much to say about our Anna Landre. Over the past few years of Anna’s involvement at The Partnership she has grown from our Fellow, to our Focal Point for Ukraine, to our now Global Research and Response Lead. This year, Anna finished her Masters degree at The London School of Economics and Political Science as a Truman and Marshall Scholar, and she is now onto her PhD at the University College London’s (UCL) Global Disability Innovation Hub.
Anna helps us connect with local disability-led organizations outside of the U.S. before, during, and after disasters and emergencies. She is the reason we were able to connect with Fight for Right so quickly at the beginning of the russian invasion on Ukraine, and she has been working throughout her studies to support and amplify Fight for Right’s work. To that end, Anna was named in the Top 4 on the Shaw Trust Disability Power 100 List which highlights and celebrates Britain’s most influential disabled people and organizations. We are looking forward to another year of growth with Anna as part of our team!
In-the-News Highlights
Al Jazeera: War in Ukraine: What support do people with disabilities need?
Al Jazeera: Why are people with disabilities left out of disaster planning?
- The Washington Post: From Ukrainians with disabilities comes a desperate plea: ‘We have no chance without help’
- MSNBC: Humanitarian efforts aren't doing enough to evacuate Ukrainians with disabilities
- Accuweather: Delivery driver goes above and beyond to help Hurricane Ian survivor
- Lens15 Media: Was Sandy a Wake Up Call?
- Statewide Independent Living Council (SILC) of Illinois Emergency Preparedness for Immigrants with Disabilities Webinar
- California Foundation for Independent Living Centers (CFILC) Assistive Technology Conference: “ClimATe Change”
- Colorado Annual Access and Functional Needs Conference
- Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL) Conference 2022: The Power of Peer Support
- Sins Invalid’s Crip Survival Network
- Know Your Rights Campaign led by the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL)
- Georgetown University’s Disability and Climate Change: A Public Archive Project
- The Partnership was listed as partners with CDC Emergency Partners Information Connection (EPIC)
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Image of three women wearing masks posing for a photo together, Melissa Marshall sitting in her scooter on the left, Meg Traci in the middle, and JoAnn Thierry on the right Our Director of Operations, Melissa Marshall attended and presented a poster about The Partnership at the Annual American Public Health Association (APHA) Conference on November 6th. Melissa met with colleagues we have known virtually and collaborated with for a number of years now, Meg Traci from the University of Montana Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities and JoAnn Thierry from the CDC.
We and some of our partners were part of setting Rob Oliver's Guinness World Record of the longest interview marathon.
Climate chaos is targeting marginalized communities the most, and Disabled people continue to be left behind in disasters, emergencies, and crises.
TOGETHER, we're interrupting the status quo and elevating Disability Justice in humanitarian action. Your support allows us to continue building Resistant Disability Communities through our Disability Justice partners like Sins Invalid, Independent Living partners across the nation, and international partners like Fight for Right in Ukraine.
We are eager to hit the ground rolling in the New Year with you all by our side. Thank you to our hundreds of donors and sponsors for your support in 2022 to people with disabilities impacted by disasters, emergencies, and crises. We thank each and everyone one of you for all you do each day to increase disability-equity throughout emergency management and disaster risk reduction.
2023 is already off to a busy start!
Take a scroll through to see what has kept us busy these first couple months!
- A summary of a Study that Shows People with Disability Experience More Severe COVID-19 Cases than People without Disability
- Distributing a Global Survey for Persons with Disability in Disaster-Prone Areas
- Analyzing New Census Data that Shows U.S. Fails Disabled People After Disasters
- Celebrating Puerto Rico: Major Victory for People who are Electricity-Dependent
- Preparing for the Ending of the COVID Emergency is a Disaster for Disabled People
- Informing on What is Title 42?
- Amplifying the need for Fixing and Replacing Power Mobility Devices – Making It Work by June Kailes
- Preparing with Winter Weather Tips
- Shari Myers joined our team in February 2023 as our Disaster Operations Coordinator
2022 would not have been successful without you and your support.
Lets make 2023 a year where we begin changing the paradigm so that Disabled people are viewed as assets to emergency management operations, and we are Not Left Behind.
Involvement Opportunities:
- Join the Weekly National Stakeholder Call - Tuesdays at 3pm ET
- Join the Daily COVID-19 Disability Rights and Disasters Call - any day of the week at 6pm ET
- Contact us and learn more about the services we offer
Volunteer Opportunities:
- Submit a blog
- Be a Hotline Operator
- Offer your subject matter expertise
The Partnership’s 2022 Year-In-Review is a well documented testimony to the relentless pursuit for inclusion and equity for people with disabilities and others with Access and Functional needs (AFN) in all aspects of disasters and public health emergencies!
There is no other organization like the Partnership in the U.S. though I would graciously welcome more. The growth in membership and professional relationship is remarkable. The true beauty of empowering a community of people who often feel invisible and voiceless is the passion it ignites in the Whole Community! The secret of this organizations success clearly resides in a welcoming environment that fosters hope and the belief that together we win!
The representation that the Partnership provides on the World stage illustrates the power of unity, inclusion, and equity as a true human value. Together with WID and GADRA, this Partnership excludes no one anywhere! This is a future I can believe in and fight for. Everyone, everywhere should take a long reflective look at how well this organization represents their values and vision!