The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies (The Partnership) is the only U.S. disability-led nonprofit focused exclusively on equity for disabled people before, during, and after disasters. We work nationwide with disability-led organizations, community stakeholders, emergency managers, and public health partners to close systemic access gaps, and protect and support the rights and needs of people with disabilities before, during, and after disasters and emergencies.

We recognize that LA County is exploring a registry aimed at evacuating disabled people and older adults following recent deadly fires and evacuation failures. The Board motion to “explore creating a registry” was introduced on April 2, 2025, after the Eaton and Palisades fires, with Supervisors citing urgent evacuation barriers for disabled residents. Public reporting has since confirmed that LA County previously operated the Specific Needs Awareness Planning (SNAP) registry, discontinued in 2016 due to low community adoption and technical failures.

National stance

For decades, disaster registries have been promoted as a quick fix but they consistently fail, cause real harm, and are rejected by communities. They create a false sense of security, where people believe being “on the list” means help will come, while agencies are burdened with data they cannot operationalize in a fast-moving major disaster. Enrollment is consistently low and information becomes outdated almost immediately. The result is wasted resources and unmet promises, while disabled people remain at disproportionate risk.

Registries also shift responsibility away from government systems that should be universally accessible and onto disabled people forced to sign up for segregated services to receive help. This approach isolates disabled people rather than ensuring they are served equitably with the whole community. Los Angeles' attempt with SNAP failed in the past, as have similar efforts across the country. Nationally, disability and inclusive emergency management leaders oppose registries and instead support proven, community-driven approaches. Our guidance, Redirecting Emergency Registries: Community-Driven Solutions, details these harms and outlines stronger, community-supported alternatives.

We also strongly endorse the expert testimony submitted locally by disability policy consultant June Isaacson Kailes, which catalogues registries’ fatal flaws and offers concrete recommendations.

In brief, registries fail due to:

• False sense of security and unrealistic expectations for registrants and agencies, especially when events unfold outside home addresses or outside business hours.
• Low enrollment, quickly outdated data, privacy concerns, and distorted needs assessment, which can mislead planning.
• High cost with low impact (LA County’s own experience with SNAP).

Actionable alternatives:

• Invest in accessible, multi-channel warning and evacuation systems that work for everyone (auditory, visual, vibration, and alternate formats), with triggers integrated to NWS/USGS data and hyper-local hazard sensors; expand Alert L.A. County accessibility and two-way functionality.
• Contract with disability-led community-based organizations(CBOs) like Independent Living Centers to deliver personal emergency planning at scale, such as power-dependent equipment continuity, transportation plans, communications plans, and shelter access needs. 
• Compensate and strengthen partnerships with disability-led organizations, CBOs, providers, and trusted community partners to conduct outreach, co-develop resources, and deliver preparedness education and vital information that reaches people where they are, through multiple channels and languages.
• Build deployable evacuation capacity by establishing memorandums of understanding with accessible transportation providers; just-in-time surge staffing for personal assistance; clear policies for service animals and durable medical equipment in shelters.
• Design shelters and temporary housing with accessibility as a priority (physical, programmatic, and communication access) to prevent institutionalization during recovery. Track and publicly report accessibility metrics after every activation.
• Use better data for planning, not lists of names: Census and disability prevalence data, community mapping, power-dependency estimates, and real-time situational awareness to project services needed, not individuals to be “found.”
• Be transparent with the public about what the government can and cannot do in a fast-moving disaster; replace “registry guarantees” with honest preparedness messaging and neighbor-to-neighbor support models.
• Establish an Access and Functional Needs Advisory Group led by disability community members to co-design evacuation drills, evaluate gaps, and drive continuous improvement, including compensation for lived-experience expertise.

Questions we urge the County to answer before proceeding

• What specific life-saving outcomes would a registry achieve that cannot be achieved faster and more safely by improving warnings, transportation, and shelters? (Please cite evidence.)
• How would a registry solve the “knowing where I live doesn’t tell you where I am” problem during evacuations?
• What is the five-year total registry cost of ownership (staffing, development, maintenance, security, multilingual access, outreach) and how would you measure success beyond sign-ups?
• Why revisit a model LA County already discontinued for low return on  investment in 2016?

Next steps

Los Angeles County should not re-create a program it already found ineffective and unsafe. Registries have been proven to fail in LA and across the nation. Throughout the country, we must instead invest in the hard work that delivers measurable and equitable outcomes that save lives, reduce harm, and maintain health and independence.

The Partnership is ready, as a national disability-led partner, to work alongside LA County and local disability leaders to operationalize community supported solutions that ensure no one is left behind in the next disaster.

EMAIL:

Dear Supervisor NAME,

We're writing on behalf of The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies (the only U.S. disability-led nonprofit focused on equity before, during, and after disasters.

We appreciate the Board’s attention to evacuation failures following recent wildfires. We strongly urge you not to pursue a disability disaster registry and instead invest in solutions that work for everyone. 

Please find attached and further below our public comment opposing disability disaster registries, which have consistently failed and caused harm, including LA County’s own SNAP program. Instead, we urge investment in proven solutions such as, accessible alerts and evacuations, MOUs with Independent Living Centers, deployable accessible transportation and shelter capacity, and disability-led advisory leadership.

We respectfully ask you to oppose any registry proposal and support these real, community-driven strategies that save lives and prevent institutionalization.

We are ready to assist your office and County staff to operationalize these steps quickly.

Could we schedule a 30-minute briefing with you and the relevant staff in the next two weeks? We’ll hold time and gladly adjust to your availability.

With appreciation for your leadership,