As the CEO of Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies, a nonprofit organization that works with people who have disabilities, Marcie Roth spent the past few weeks coordinating response efforts with local, state, and federal groups and managing the organization's response to emergency assistance calls logged to its toll-free hotline.

These calls came from parents whose children couldn't get essential medical supplies, life-saving drugs, and hospital-grade formula. They came from nursing home residents with disabilities who needed rescuing. They came from evacuees who fled to a shelter only to discover it didn't or wouldn't accommodate people with disabilities as required by federal law. Out of 650 requests for urgent aid related to Harvey's destruction, the organization has been able to resolve 77 percent of the calls.

Just a few days out from coordinating a dramatic helicopter drop of medicine for an epileptic child in Lumberton, Texas, Roth is now watching Hurricane Irma barrel through the Caribbean and threaten to pummel Miami and southern Florida. She's working with hundreds of stakeholders to help communities in Irma's projected path prepare for and respond to the storm. Her focus is on ensuring that people with disabilities lead the way in advocating for their needs and that local officials sufficiently address those requirements.

People with disabilities are more likely to be killed or injured in natural disasters, but that's not because of physical or psychological constraints themselves, according to Roth.

"We are extremely resourceful," she says. "We're actually quite good at solving complex problems; however, when physical accessibility isn’t provided, and communication isn’t accessible, we have a much more difficult time accessing the same services and supports everyone else gets."

Read the source article at Mashable