Published October 5, 2026

After leadership transitions within FEMA’s Office of Disability Integration and Coordination (ODIC) in March 2025 and another in June 2026, we lost the direct lines of communication we had with the Office. Since then, we at The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies (The Partnership) and stakeholders have been working for over a year to understand the status of ODIC and reestablish direct communication with the staff fulfilling the Disability Coordinator role, as defined in the Stafford Act amendment in the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (PKEMRA). 

In the timeline document here we demonstrate the effort and time it took to understand the current status of ODIC, the leadership structure, and current points of contact.

After repeated attempts, inquiries to multiple people, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, and members of Congress making inquiries, we eventually received an invitation from FEMA’s Office of Civil Rights Director to meet and discuss our shared goals and to strengthen our collaboration.

On August 6, 2026 The Partnership’s Co-Executive Directors met at FEMA’s Headquarters in Washington, D.C. with representatives from the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), the Integration and Coordination Division (ICD), and Individual Assistance (IA), including Michael Butkovich, OCR Director; Dr. LaShonda Mui, Dr. Wendy Sproul and Reese Dolbin from ICD; and Everett Sedgwick and Amanda Poland from IA.

We entered the meeting focused on ensuring people have the supports they need to remain in their homes and communities, and preventing the institutionalization of disabled people before, during, and after disasters.

During our meeting we discussed and confirmed:

• FEMA’s Office of Disability Integration and Coordination (ODIC), previously a standalone office within FEMA, is now a division within FEMA’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR), known as the Integration and Coordination Division (ICD).
• FEMA’s commitment to an open line of communication with The Partnership.
• FEMA’s commitment to having representation at The Partnership’s weekly stakeholder call.
• FEMA confirmed that Shila Cooch is the Disability Coordinator.
  • FEMA shared that Shila has delegated the direct line of communication to the Administrator to Director Butkovich, and that Shila and the Administrator are frequently in communication with each other.
  • FEMA confirmed Dr. LaShonda Mui as the Integration and Coordination Division (ICD) lead.
• We discussed FEMA’s Public Assistance (PA) program and Centers for Independent Living (CILs) being recognized as eligible private nonprofits for reimbursement.
  • FEMA mentioned new resources in development to support the work The Partnership, FEMA, and other partners, including the National Council on Disability, did together in 2020 on this with the FEMA Public Assistance Addendum: Delivering Personal Assistance Services in Congregate and Non-Congregate Sheltering.
• We discussed reviving facilitated roundtable discussion on high level policy issues. 
• FEMA confirmed the Individual Assistance (IA) reforms made in 2024 are still in place, and there is an ongoing need to educate about the disability-related home repair reforms.
• We discussed the Regional Disability Integration Specialist (RDIS) positions needing to be filled in all 10 regions.
• FEMA confirmed the Disability Inclusion Advisors (DIAD) are now part of the whole Civil Rights Cadre, and there are about 151 people in the cadre with around 80 being active at that time. 
• FEMA confirmed training is being updated, both internal training and external facing training.
• We discussed opportunities for The Partnership to provide feedback on materials, including updates to the Commonly Used Sheltering Items (CUSI) list, and to share promising practices and insights from the field 
• We discussed working collaboratively during disaster response activations to share identified needs we know from on the ground and patterns emerging through the Disability & Disaster Hotline and our local partners.

We at The Partnership left the meeting feeling encouraged by the openness of the conversation and FEMA's continued commitment to strengthening disability integration across the agency. 

Since our meeting in August 2026, the following has occurred: 

• The Partnership and stakeholders provided feedback on the CUSI list. 
• The Partnership and FEMA ICD had a follow up meeting on September 17, 2026. 
  • FEMA shared they are planning a webinar in early 2027 to update stakeholders on ICD. We agreed that FEMA would notify The Partnership once the webinar is scheduled so we can help spread the word and encourage participation across our networks.
• FEMA ICD staff have been present at The Partnership’s weekly stakeholder call. 
• The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on September 30, 2026 on Disaster Assistance: FEMA Actions Needed to Better Support People with Disabilities in Disasters.

We at The Partnership are encouraged by the renewed communication with FEMA and look forward to building on these conversations. Our work will continue to center the experiences and priorities of disabled disaster survivors and local partners as we follow up on the commitments discussed, and advocate for changes where barriers remain. We will keep our community informed of progress and opportunities to help shape this work.