Yesterday, July 22nd, National Public Radio published an article and aired an audio piece on disasters and disability, entitled,  “Disaster Relief for the Elderly and Disabled is Already Hard, Now Add A Pandemic.” [Check it out here and the transcript.]

The four-minute audio piece is an excellent primer on disabilities and disasters and introduces FEMA’s Office of Disability Integration and Coordination.  Congressman Donald Payne Jr describes the on-going problematic relationship with FEMA, despite last year’s hearings. 

The written article goes more in-depth and features our Co-Executive Directors, Shaylin Sluzalis and Germán Parodi,

“The increase in COVID spread will be deadly… and people with disabilities once again will be the least prioritized,” warns Germán Parodi… Parodi and his co-director, Shaylin Sluzalis, say those agencies have failed to do adequate planning to assure that even masks and other personal protective equipment will be available at shelters.

—

“We are not seeing the urgency,” says Sluzalis of the Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies. Agencies, she says based on her group’s briefings with them, don’t have clear policies “for ensuring the safety of people, trying not to cross-contaminate and spread the infection.”

The article also features our former Director and current Board Member, Marcie Roth.

The story premiered at #5 for NPR audience engagement and continues to grow!