![](media/image1.wmf){width="6.497916666666667in"
height="6.497916666666667in"}**U.S. Department of Education**

**Emergency Management Research and\
People With Disabilities**

***A Resource Guide***

**Emergency Management Research and\
People With Disabilities**

***A Resource Guide***

**April 2008**

# Point of Contact

For more information about this resource guide or to report any errors
or omissions, contact:

Bonnie Gracer, Rehabilitation Program Specialist

National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)

Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS)

U.S. Department of Education

*Mailing Address:*

400 Maryland Ave., S.W.

Washington, DC 20202

*Physical Address/Messenger Service:*

Potomac Center Plaza

550 12th St. S.W.

Washington, DC 20202

*Telephone:* 202-245-7640

*Fax:* 202-245-7643

*E-mail*: nidrr-mailbox@ed.gov

**U.S. Department of Education**

Margaret Spellings

*Secretary*

**Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services**

Tracy R. Justesen

*Assistant Secretary*

**National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research**

Jennifer Sheehy

*Delegated the authority to perform the functions of Director*

April 2008

This report is in the public domain. Authorization to reproduce it in
whole or in part is granted. While permission to reprint this
publication is not necessary, the citation should be: U.S. Department of
Education, *Emergency Management Research and People With Disabilities:
A Resource Guide*, Washington, D.C., 2008.

No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any
product, commodity, service or enterprise mentioned in this publication
is intended or should be inferred.

This report is available on the U.S. Department of Education's Web site
at: <http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs>. It also is available on
the Interagency Committee on Disability Research (ICDR) Web site at
[http://www.icdr.us](http://www.icdr.us/), the National Center for the
Dissemination of Disability Research Web site at
<http://www.ncddr.org/new/announcements.html> and the National
Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC) Web site at
<http://www.naric.com/public/pubs.cfm>.

On request, this publication is available in alternative formats, such
as Braille, large print, audiotape or computer diskette. For more
information, contact the Department's Alternate Format Center at
202-260-0852 or 202-260-0818.

# Contents

[Point of Contact v](#point-of-contact)

[Contents iii](#contents)

[Introduction 1](#introduction)

[Research Projects 3](#research-projects)

[Federally Funded Research 3](#federally-funded-research)

[Access to Emergency Alerts for People With Disabilities
3](#access-to-emergency-alerts-for-people-with-disabilities)

[Access to Locally Televised On-Screen Information: Auditory Messaging
and Captions During Emergency Broadcasts
4](#__RefHeading___Toc194814189)

[Assessing the Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Persons With Disabilities
5](#assessing-the-impact-of-hurricane-katrina-on-persons-with-disabilities)

[Bottom-Up Modeling of Mass Pedestrian Flows: Implications for the
Effective Egress of Individuals With Disabilities
6](#bottom-up-modeling-of-mass-pedestrian-flows-implications-for-the-effective-egress-of-individuals-with-disabilities)

[Emergency Preparedness Demonstration Program for
Disadvantaged Communities
7](#emergency-preparedness-demonstration-program-for-disadvantaged-communities)

[Emergency Preparedness for Special Populations
8](#emergency-preparedness-for-special-populations)

[Emergency Preparedness Training Software With Universal Access
9](#emergency-preparedness-training-software-with-universal-access)

[Evacuation Methodology and Understanding Behavior of Persons With
Disabilities in Disasters: A Blueprint for Emergency Planning Solutions
10](#evacuation-methodology-and-understanding-behavior-of-persons-with-disabilities-in-disasters-a-blueprint-for-emergency-planning-solutions)

[Making In-Flight Communications and Entertainment Accessible
10](#making-in-flight-communications-and-entertainment-accessible)

[National Organization on Disability (NOD) Emergency Preparedness
Study, 2004
11](#national-organization-on-disability-nod-emergency-preparedness-study-2004)

[Nobody Left Behind: Disaster Preparedness for\
Persons With Mobility Impairments
12](#nobody-left-behind-disaster-preparedness-for-persons-with-mobility-impairments)

[Project Safe EV-AC: Safe EVacuation and ACcommodation of
People With Disabilities
13](#project-safe-ev-ac-safe-evacuation-and-accommodation-of-people-with-disabilities)

[Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Wireless Technologies
14](#rehabilitation-engineering-research-center-for-wireless-technologies)

[Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Telecommunications Access
15](#rehabilitation-engineering-research-center-on-telecommunications-access)

[Saving Lives: Including People With Disabilities in Emergency Planning
16](#saving-lives-including-people-with-disabilities-in-emergency-planning)

[Sound Alert: A Centralized System Capable of Alerting People Who Are
Deaf or Hearing Impaired of Critical Sounds in Their Environment
17](#sound-alert-a-centralized-system-capable-of-alerting-people-who-are-deaf-or-hearing-impaired-of-critical-sounds-in-their-environment)

[Nonfederally Funded Research 19](#__RefHeading___Toc194814204)

[The Harris Poll #60: *Many People Unprepared for Terrorist Attacks or
Other Disasters*
19](#the-harris-poll-60-many-people-unprepared-for-terrorist-attacks-or-other-disasters)

[December 2003 Follow-Up to the Harris Poll #60: New Poll Highlights
Need for More Emergency Planning for and by People With Disabilities
20](#december-2003-follow-up-to-the-harris-poll-60-new-poll-highlights-need-for-more-emergency-planning-for-and-by-people-with-disabilities)

[National Report: Emergency Preparedness and Emergency Communication
Access: Lessons Learned Since 9/11 and Recommendations
21](#national-report-emergency-preparedness-and-emergency-communication-access-lessons-learned-since-911-and-recommendations)

[NOD/Harris Survey on Emergency Preparedness**:\
**Workplace Preparedness of People With Disabilities Down---\
Personal Preparedness on the Rise
21](#nodharris-survey-on-emergency-preparedness-workplace-preparedness-of-people-with-disabilities-down-personal-preparedness-on-the-rise)

[Research Recommendations From Conferences on Emergency Management and
People With Disabilities
23](#research-recommendations-from-conferences-on-emergency-management-and-people-with-disabilities)

[Accessible Emergency Notification and Communication: State of the
Science Conference
23](#accessible-emergency-notification-and-communication-state-of-the-science-conference)

[Conference on Emergency Preparedness for People With Disabilities
29](#conference-on-emergency-preparedness-for-people-with-disabilities)

[Considerations in Emergency Preparedness: A Two-Track Conference
30](#considerations-in-emergency-preparedness-a-two-track-conference)

[Emergency Evacuation of People With Physical Disabilities
From Buildings
31](#emergency-evacuation-of-people-with-physical-disabilities-from-buildings)

[Pediatric Preparedness for Disasters and Terrorism:
A National Consensus Conference
36](#pediatric-preparedness-for-disasters-and-terrorism-a-national-consensus-conference)

[Workshop on Building Occupant Movement During Fire Emergencies
37](#workshop-on-building-occupant-movement-during-fire-emergencies)

[Appendix A: Executive Order 13347: Individuals With Disabilities in
Emergency Preparedness
41](#appendix-a-executive-order-13347-individuals-with-disabilities-in-emergency-preparedness)

[Appendix B: Excerpts From *Individuals with Disabilities in Emergency
Preparedness, Executive Order 13347: Annual Report, July 2005*.
43](#appendix-b-excerpts-from-individuals-with-disabilities-in-emergency-preparedness-executive-order-13347-annual-report-july-2005.)

[Appendix C: Excerpts From the *Individuals with Disabilities in
Emergency Preparedness, Executive Order 13347: 2005-2006 Progress
Report.* (In-Press Copy)
51](#appendix-c-excerpts-from-the-individuals-with-disabilities-in-emergency-preparedness-executive-order-13347-2005-2006-progress-report.-in-press-copy)

[Appendix D: List of Interagency Collaborators
57](#appendix-d-list-of-interagency-collaborators)

[Appendix E: Methodology 59](#appendix-e-methodology)

[Bibliography 61](#bibliography)

# Introduction

The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)
is pleased to provide this online resource guide on emergency management
research and people with disabilities. This resource guide is the
culmination of cooperative efforts by NIDRR, the Department of
Education, the Research Subcommittee of the Interagency Coordinating
Council on Emergency Preparedness and Individuals with Disabilities
(ICC), and the New Freedom Initiative Subcommittee of the Interagency
Committee on Disability Research (ICDR).

The guide provides a listing and description of research projects funded
by the federal government and nonfederal entities, research
recommendations that have come out of conferences on emergency
management and disability, and a bibliography of relevant research
publications. Each item listed in the table of contents is a hyperlink
to its location in the document. This has been done to facilitate
navigation throughout the document.

Many federal agencies participated in the effort to identify research
projects and conference recommendations. In all, we were able to
identify 16 federally funded and four nonfederally funded research
projects specific to emergency management and people with disabilities.
Conference recommendations identified a multitude of knowledge gaps that
need to be filled. Clearly there is a need for increased research.

It is our hope that this guide will facilitate the development and
implementation of a nationwide research agenda on emergency management
and people with disabilities, so that we can develop a strong evidence
base about the best ways to ensure the safety and security of people
with disabilities in emergency and disaster situations.

# Research Projects

## Federally Funded Research

Information about specific research projects came from a variety of
sources, including: the National Rehabilitation Information Center
([http://www.naric.com](http://www.naric.com/)), which catalogues NIDRR
grants and provides abstracts from grant applications; other Web sites,
and responses from federal partners, grantees and others to inquiries
about relevant research projects (see Appendix E: Methodology for
further details).

### Access to Emergency Alerts for People With Disabilities

Institution: WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM)

Principal Investigator: Marcia Brooks

Funding Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Technology Opportunities
Program

Funding Years and Amount: Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 - FY 07. Total =
\$550,000.

Grant Number: 25-60-04026

Contact Information: Marcia Brooks, WGBH National Center for Accessible
Media (NCAM), WGBH Educational Foundation, 125 Western Ave., Boston, MA
02134

E-mail: <marcia_brooks@wgbh.org>

Telephone: 617-300-3431

Fax: 617-300-3431

Web sites: [http://ncam.wgbh.org/alerts](http://ncam.wgbh.org/alerts/),
and <http://www.incident.com/access>\
(last accessed March 28, 2008)

The National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) is leading a
collaborative initiative to enhance the nation's emergency warning
systems to better serve people with sensory disabilities. Although
emerging systems, services and products are developing a range of text
and audio alert capabilities which could meet this need, most are
inconsistent in terms of fully supporting appropriate modalities and
accessible interfaces.

NCAM and partners have established a working group that is developing an
information model and recommendations as to how message components, data
preparation, transmission practices and technologies could be adapted to
better serve people with disabilities. This work will result in
recommended accessibility extensions to emergency system protocols,
technologies and services for wired, wireless, DTV- and IP-based
delivery systems. End-user testing will identify key usability factors.
This work is supported by an advisory board comprising representatives
from organizations serving the deaf, hard of hearing, blind and visually
impaired communities.

### Access to Locally Televised On-Screen Information: Auditory Messaging and Captions During Emergency Broadcasts

Institution: WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM)

Principal Investigator: Geoff Freed

Funding Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on
Disability and Rehabilitation Research

Funding Years and Amounts: FY 05 = \$150,000; FY 06 = \$150,000; FY 07 =
\$150,000

Grant Number: H133G050278

Contact Information: Mary Watkins, WGBH National Center for Accessible
Media (NCAM), WGBH Educational Foundation, 125 Western Ave., Boston, MA
02134

E-mail: <mary_watkins@wgbh.org>

Telephone: 617-300-3700

Fax: 617-300-1020

Web sites: [http://ncam.wgbh.org](http://ncam.wgbh.org/), and
<http://www.naric.com/nidrr/grantees/record.cfm?pn=H133G050278>\
(last accessed March 28, 2009)

Although local television broadcasts serve as the primary source for
emergency alerts, weather warnings, local traffic problems and school
closings, much of this information remains inaccessible to people with
sensory disabilities. To better serve viewers who are blind or have low
vision, NCAM is researching DTV systems and procedures that will enable
real-time processing and conversion of on-screen text crawls into speech
output. To better serve viewers who rely on captions, NCAM is addressing
display conflicts between captions and on-screen graphics by developing
methods of tagging and prioritizing text and graphics messages within
automated broadcast display systems.

After refining solutions in WGBH studios, NCAM will conduct a
demonstration model within the newsroom facilities at the ABC network
affiliate station WCVB-TV Channel 5, the flagship station of the
Hearst-Argyle Television Group, located in Boston, Mass. Project
guidelines and technical solutions will be immediately useful to the
nation's broadcasters and will have a significant impact on broadcast
procedures and future equipment capabilities.

### Assessing the Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Persons With Disabilities

Institution: Research and Training Center on Independent Living,
University of Kansas

Principal Investigator: Glen White

Funding Source: U. S. Department of Education, National Institute on
Disability and Rehabilitation Research

Funding Year and Amount: FY 05 = \$162,000

Grant Number: Supplement to H133B000500

Contact Information: Glen White, University of Kansas, Research and
Training Center on Independent Living, 1000 Sunnyside Ave., Room 4089,
Dole Center, Lawrence, KS 66045-7555

E-mail: <rtcfpil@ku.edu>

Telephone: 785-864-4095; 785-864-0706 (TTY)

Fax: 785-864-5063

Web site: <http://rtcil.org/products/NIDRR_FinalKatrinaReport.pdf>\
(last accessed March 28, 2008)

The Research and Training Center on Independent Living at the University
of Kansas received from the National Institute on Disability and
Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) a one-year research grant to assess the
impact of Hurricane Katrina on persons with disabilities. Specifically,
the researchers and NIDRR sought to fill a void in our national
understanding by documenting the experiences of staff and consumers at
centers for independent living (CILs) along with those of local
emergency management personnel in the Gulf Coast following Hurricane
Katrina.

The research focused on understanding how persons with disabilities
prepared for, reacted to, and recovered from the devastating impact of
the storm in portions of the Gulf Coast most affected. In addition, this
work sought to understand the roles and relationships that CILs played
in all phases of the disaster, with a special emphasis on their
relationship to the emergency management system.

The primary tasks of the project were to:

1)  Assess the impact of Hurricane Katrina on CIL staff and consumers;

2)  Identify the barriers faced by CILs and emergency management
    personnel in locating and assisting persons with disabilities in the
    affected areas and relocation centers;

3)  Identify future independent living needs among CIL consumers during
    and after disasters; and

4)  Identify resources, including training, information, equipment and
    facilities that CIL and emergency management personnel state as
    being most useful to them in the event of future large-scale
    emergencies.

The project's goal was to provide policy- and program-level
recommendations that can be used to improve the services provided to
persons with disabilities in future disasters and emergencies.

Findings from the study revealed three significant gaps in areas
affecting persons with disabilities: 1) ineffective pre-disaster
planning by CILs, persons with disabilities, and emergency management;
2) poorly developed pre- and post-disaster communication and
information-sharing within and between these three entities; and 3)
underdeveloped pre- and post-disaster coordination between these three
entities and other elements of support within communities.

### Bottom-Up Modeling of Mass Pedestrian Flows: Implications for the Effective Egress of Individuals With Disabilities

Institution: Utah State University, Center for Persons With Disabilities

Principal Investigator: Keith Christensen

Funding Source: U.S. Dept. of Education, National Institute on
Disability and Rehabilitation Research

Funding Years and Amounts: FY 03 = \$150,000; FY 04 = \$150,000; FY 05 =
\$150,000

Grant Number: H133G030013

Contact Information: Keith Christiansen, Utah State University, Center
for Persons With Disabilities, 6800 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322

E-mail: <keithc@cpd2.usu.edu>

Telephone: 435-797-3997

Fax: 435-797-7219

Web site:
<http://www.naric.com/nidrr/grantees/record.cfm?pn=H133G030013>\
(last accessed March 28, 2008)

The purpose of this research project is to improve the exit of
individuals with disabilities from buildings and other settings in
emergencies. The project researches the effect of the current and
proposed *Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines*
(*ADAAG*) for the built-environment on the egress of individuals with
disabilities during the mass pedestrian flows (MPFs) triggered by
health-safety events, and the effect of security-oriented design methods
on the egress of individuals with disabilities during health-safety
event triggered MPFs. The objective of the project is to measure the
emergent behaviors of the diverse sample populations of six
representative built-environments (an airport, high school, conference
center, multi-story office building, federal development, and secured
federal development) during simulated health-safety events. An
intervention (modification of the design character of the
built-environment) is applied to eliminate conditions occurring during
MPFs, which adversely affect the egress of individuals with
disabilities.

### Emergency Preparedness Demonstration Program for Disadvantaged Communities

Institutions: Center for Urban and Regional Studies of the University of
North Carolina--Chapel Hill; MDC

Principal Investigators: David Dodson, John Cooper, Philip Berke, Jim
Fraser, and David Salvesen

Funding Source: Department of Homeland Security

Funding Years and Amount: FY 05 - FY 08. Total = \$2 million

Grant Number: DHS-GRANTS-122304-001

Contact Information: John Cooper, MDC, 400 Silver Cedar Court, Suite
300, Chapel Hill, NC 27516; and Philip Berke, Professor of City and
Regional Planning Faculty Fellow, Center for Urban & Regional Studies,
University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3140

E-mail: <jcooper@mdcinc.org>, and <pberke@unc.edu>

Telephone: 919-968-4531 (Cooper, MDC) and 919-962-4765 (Berke,
UNC--Chapel Hill)

Fax: 919-929-8557 (Cooper, MDC)

Web sites: <http://www.planning.unc.edu/grant/fema/about.htm>, and
[http://www.mdcinc.org](http://www.mdcinc.org/)\
(last accessed March 28, 2008)

The purpose of this project is to identify and overcome barriers for
increasing awareness of disasters and building capacity for emergency
preparedness in disadvantaged minority communities in the District of
Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and
West Virginia (i.e., areas that were impacted by Hurricane Isabel in
2003).

The three core objectives are to: 1) build community capacity to
undertake coordinated action to develop and implement emergency
preparedness plans; 2) raise awareness and knowledge levels of community
residents about their potential vulnerability to harm from future
disasters and the measures they can take to reduce their vulnerability;
and 3) reduce community vulnerability to harm from disasters while
respecting local needs.

### Emergency Preparedness for Special Populations

Institution: Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Principal Investigator: David S. Markenson

Funding Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for
Healthcare

Research and Quality

Funding Years and Amount: FY 04 -- FY 06; amount not available

Grant Number: 1R13HS014556-01

Contact Information: Irwin Redlener, MD, Associate Dean and Director of
National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Mailman School of Public
Health, Columbia University, 722 W 168th Street, 10th Floor, New York,
NY 10032

E-mail: <ir2110@columbia.edu>

Telephone: 212-305-0338

Fax: 212-342-5160

Web sites:
[http://www.ncdp.mailman.columbia.edu](http://www.ncdp.mailman.columbia.edu/),
and
[http://crisp.cit.nih.gov/crisp/CRISP_LIB.getdoc?textkey=6813881&p_grant_num=1R13HS01455601&p_query=&ticket=24090706&p_audit_session_id=132170999&p_keywords=](http://crisp.cit.nih.gov/crisp/CRISP_LIB.getdoc?textkey=6813881&p_grant_num=1R13HS014556-01&p_query=&ticket=24090706&p_audit_session_id=132170999&p_keywords=)

> (last accessed March 28, 2008)

Despite the recent attention to disaster, terrorism, and public health
emergency preparedness, little attention has been given to vulnerable
populations. Current efforts have focused primarily on the needs of the
average adult population. Based on the preliminary work done in the
Pediatric Disaster and Terrorism Preparedness: A National Consensus
Conference on both content and in establishing a format for conducting
this type of evidence-based consensus process, the National Center for
Disaster Preparedness proposes to conduct a conference that has the
purpose to address the needs of vulnerable populations in disasters,
terrorism, and public health emergencies.

The two selected vulnerable populations to be addressed are children and
people with disabilities. The specific goals of the conference are: 1)
build a collaboration among individuals with expertise in people with
disabilities, terrorism preparedness, public health, and emergency
management, including disaster planning, management, and response; 2)
review and summarize the existing data on the needs of people with
disabilities in disasters, terrorism, and public health emergencies,
including planning, preparation, and response; 3) develop consensus on
the needs of people with disabilities in disasters, terrorism, and
public health emergencies; 4) create a research agenda to answer
knowledge gaps based on the limited data that exist on the needs of
people with disabilities in disasters, terrorism, and public health
emergencies; 5) review the recommendations and treatment guidelines from
the Pediatric Disaster and Terrorism Preparedness National Consensus
Conference for the need for revision based on new data and new
governmental and nongovernmental initiatives; and 6) develop
recommendations and treatment guidelines on the needs of children in
disasters, terrorism, and public health emergencies in the areas
identified in the prior meeting as requiring further clarification from
the coalition supplemented by those with specific expertise in these
areas.

The areas identified are: school preparedness; child congregate facility
preparedness; sheltering needs of children; pediatric needs for public
health emergency preparedness; children with special health care needs
and technologically assisted children; decontamination of children;
biological terrorism prophylaxis and treatment of emerging agents; and
family-centered preparedness.

### Emergency Preparedness Training Software With Universal Access

Institution: Vcom3D, Inc.

Principal Investigator: Amber Emery

Funding Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on
Disability and Rehabilitation Research

Funding Year and Amount: FY 02 = \$74,830

Grant Number: H133S020076

Contact Information: Amber Emery, 3452 Lake Lynda Drive, Suite 260,
Orlando, FL  32817

E-mail: <ambere@vcom3d.com>

Telephone: 407-737-7310, ext. 117

Fax: 407-737-6821

Web site: [http://www.vcom3d.com](http://www.vcom3d.com/)\
(last accessed March 28, 2008)

This project develops a Web-based software program that assists people
who are deaf or hard of hearing in learning self-advocacy and survival
skills for life-threatening situations. The software uses 3-D animated
signing characters employing SigningAvatar technology in an interactive
virtual-reality environment. Effectiveness and user acceptance is
evaluated in school environments.

### Evacuation Methodology and Understanding Behavior of Persons With Disabilities in Disasters: A Blueprint for Emergency Planning Solutions

Institution: West Virginia University

Principal Investigator: George Trapp (Through May 15, 2008); Brian
Gerber (May 16, 2008 -- end of project)

Funding Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on
Disability and Rehabilitation Research

Funding Years and Amounts: FY 07 = \$443,035; FY 08 = \$449,963; FY 09 =
\$436,016

Grant Number: H133A070005

Contact Information: George Trapp or Brian Gerber, West Virginia
University, VMC/Homeland Security Programs, P.O. Box 6270, Morgantown,
WV  26506.

E-mail: <George.Trapp@mail.wvu.edu>; <Brian.Gerber@mail.wvu.edu>

Telephone: George Trapp: 304-282-8629; Brian Gerber: 304-293-2614

Fax: George Trapp: 304-293-7199; Brian Gerber: 304-293-8814

This project quantifies and interprets the unique challenges of persons
with disabilities and special needs during emergency/disaster
evacuations in order to improve the management of such events. The
Virtual Medical Campus (VMC)/Homeland Security Programs at West Virginia
University and the Center for Disability and Special Needs Preparedness
operated by Inclusion Research Institute are surveying people with
disabilities, the elderly, emergency managers and other local service
providers to understand emergency evacuation experiences and behaviors;
they then will develop, pilot, and disseminate best practice guidance.

### Making In-Flight Communications and Entertainment Accessible

Institution: WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM)

Principal Investigator: Larry Goldberg

Funding Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on
Disability and Rehabilitation Research

Funding Years and Amounts: FY 05 = \$150,000; FY 06 = \$150,000; FY 07 =
\$150,000

Grant Number: H133G050254

Contact Information: Larry Goldberg, WGBH National Center for Accessible
Media (NCAM), WGBH Educational Foundation, 125 Western Ave., Boston, MA
02134

E-mail: <larry_goldberg@wgbh.org>

Telephone: 617-300-3486

Fax: 617-300-1035

Web site: <http://www.wgbh.org/ncam>\
(last accessed March 28, 2008)

Full-featured embedded or handheld media and communication systems are
fast becoming two common services offered to travelers via
next-generation, in-flight entertainment systems (IFEs). These systems
offer passengers Internet connectivity and access to satellite TV and
video-on-demand, and allow them to independently access up-to-date
flight information on arrival times, connections, delays and gate
changes. NCAM is working with the World Airlines Entertainment
Association, Matsushita Avionics Systems and the National Center for
Accessible Transportation at Oregon State University to develop
solutions that can make IFEs accessible to people with sensory
disabilities.[^1]

### National Organization on Disability (NOD) Emergency Preparedness Study, 2004

Institution: National Organization on Disability

Chairman: Tom Ridge

Funding Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Domestic
Preparedness Training and Technical Assistance

Funding Year and Amount: FY 04 = \$200,000

Grant Number: 2004-TH-TX-0003

Contact Information: Hilary Styron, National Organization on Disability,
910 Sixteenth St. N.W., 6th Floor, Washington, DC 20006

E-mail: <StyronH@nod.org>

Telephone: 202-293-5960; 202-293-5968 (TTY)

Fax: 202-293-7999

Web site:
<http://www.nod.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewPage&pageID=1430&nodeID=1&FeatureID=1422&redirected=1&CFID=10167718&CFTOKEN=92931920>\
(last accessed March 28, 2008)

Commissioned by the National Organization on Disability (NOD) through a
grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, this study surveyed
emergency managers in states and in cities of all sizes to determine if
officials considered the needs of people with disabilities in their
emergency plans and included people with disabilities in the planning
process.

The findings indicated that 69 percent had incorporated the needs of
people with disabilities into their emergency plans; an additional 22
percent had a plan in development. However, of those cities that had a
preparedness plan in place or in development, 50 percent did not have a
special-needs registry that includes people with disabilities; 59
percent did not have plans for the pediatric population; and 76 percent
did not have a paid expert aware of preparedness concerns for people
with disabilities. Additionally, only 42 percent had a public awareness
campaign to provide information to people with disabilities, and only 16
percent had the plan available in alternative formats.

### Nobody Left Behind: Disaster Preparedness for Persons With Mobility Impairments

Institution: Research and Training Center on Independent Living,
University of Kansas

Principal Investigators: Glen W. White; Michael Fox

Funding Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, through the
Association for Prevention Teaching and Research

Funding Years and Amount: Total funding FY 02 -- FY 05. Total =
\$615,000

Grant Number**:** TS #-0840

Contact Information: Cathy Rooney, 1000 Sunnyside Ave., Dole Center,
Room 4089, Lawrence, KS 66045

E-mail: <catr@ku.org>

Telephone: 785-864-3791

Fax: 785-864-5063

Web site: <http://www2.ku.edu/~rrtcpbs/>\
(last accessed July 16, 2007)

The mission of this research is to investigate 30 randomly selected
counties or cities in the United States that have recently experienced a
natural or man-made disaster to: 1) determine if disaster plans and
emergency response systems for homes, businesses and the community
include the health, safety and survival needs for persons with mobility
impairment; 2) identify the morbidity and mortality of persons with
mobility impairments in these disasters; 3) assess any post-disaster
changes to address the needs of persons with mobility impairments; and
4) develop best practices models for counties to assist in disaster
plans and emergency responses to meet the needs of persons with mobility
impairments to prevent injuries, save lives and assure that nobody is
left behind.

### Project Safe EV-AC: Safe EVacuation and ACcommodation of People With Disabilities

Institution: West Virginia University

Principal Investigator: Richard Walls

Funding Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on
Disability and Rehabilitation Research

Funding Years and Amounts: FY 04 = \$149,970; FY 05 = \$149,949; FY 06 =
\$149,884

Grant Number: H133G040318

Contact Information: Beth Loy, West Virginia University, Job
Accommodation Network (JAN), 224 Spruce St., Morgantown, WV 26506

E-mail: <evac@icdi.wvu.edu>

Telephone: 304-293-7186

Fax: 304-393-5407

Web sites: [http://evac.icdi.wvu.edu](http://evac.icdi.wvu.edu/), and
[http://www.naric.com/research/record.cfm?search=1&type=all&criteria=Project%20Safe%20EV-AC&phrase=no&rec=1428](http://www.naric.com/research/record.cfm?search=1&type=all&criteria=Project Safe EV-AC&phrase=no&rec=1428)\
(last accessed March 28, 2008)

The Project Safe EV-AC: Safe EVacuation and ACcommodation of People with
Disabilities team, which includes the Job Accommodation Network (JAN)
and the National Organization on Disability\'s Emergency Preparedness
Initiative, develops high-quality, comprehensive, easy-to-use safe
evacuation materials for people with disabilities. The team researches
prior safe evacuation studies and training products; coordinates a
network of expert and end-user adviser groups; and produces
comprehensive, cost-effective, safe evacuation education and training
tools using the most appropriate technology for the material.

Project Safe EV-AC targets people with disabilities and emergency
responders. It uses a continuous improvement model with enhanced
feedback loops to ensure that the products created are rigorously
evaluated by those who use them. The end products include a final report
for the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research
(NIDRR) articulating the existing gaps in knowledge and product
development in the field of safe evacuation and accommodation for people
with disabilities.

### Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Wireless Technologies

Institution: Georgia Institute of Technology

Principal Investigator: Helena Mitchell

Funding Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on
Disability and Rehabilitation Research

Funding Year and Amount: FY 06 = \$949,999; FY 07 = \$949,999; FY 08 =
\$949,998;\
FY 09 = \$949,999; FY 10 = \$949,999

Grant Number: H133E060061

Contact Information: Helena Mitchell, Georgia Institute of Technology,
Center for Advanced Communications Policy, 500 Tenth Street, NW,
Atlanta, GA, 30332-0620

E-mail: <rerc@cacp.gatech.edu>

Telephone: 404-385-4651

Fax: 404-385-0269

Web sites: [http://www.wirelessrerc.org](http://www.wirelessrerc.org/),
and
[http://www.naric.com/research/pd/record.cfm?search=1&type=type&display=detailed&criteria=Rehabilitation%20Engineering%20Research%20Centers%20(RERCs)&rec=1671](http://www.naric.com/research/pd/record.cfm?search=1&type=type&display=detailed&criteria=Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs)&rec=1671)\
(last accessed March 28, 2008)

The Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) for Wireless
Technologies' mission is to: 1) promote equitable access to and use of
wireless technologies by persons with disabilities; and 2) encourage
adoption of Universal Design in future generations of wireless
technologies. The RERC contains a number of research and development
projects. Two development projects, "Development of Wireless Emergency
Communications" and "Ensuring Access to Emergency Assistance," both
focus on the area of wireless emergency communications for people with
disabilities; developing wireless communication technology to be used by
emergency personnel to contact individuals with disabilities, and by
people with disabilities to signal the need for assistance.

### Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Telecommunications Access

Institution: University of Wisconsin/Madison

Principal Investigator: Gregg C. Vanderheiden; Judy Harkins

Funding Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on
Disability and Rehabilitation Research

Funding Years and Amounts: FY 04 = \$850,000; FY 05 = \$924,988; FY 06 =
\$850,000;\
FY 07 = \$850,000; FY 08 = \$850,000

Grant Number: H133E040013

Contact Information: Gregg C. Vanderheiden, University of
Wisconsin/Madison, Trace Center, College of Engineering, 2107
Engineering Centers Building, 1550 Engineering Drive, Madison, WI 53706

E-mail: <info@trace.wisc.edu>

Telephone: 608-265-4621, 608-263-5408 (TTY)

Fax: 608-262-8848

Web sites: <http://trace.wisc.edu/telrerc>, and
[http://www.naric.com/research/pd/record.cfm?search=1&type=type&display=detailed&criteria=Rehabilitation%20Engineering%20Research%20Centers%20(RERCs)&rec=1435](http://www.naric.com/research/pd/record.cfm?search=1&type=type&display=detailed&criteria=Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs)&rec=1435)\
(last accessed March 28, 2008).

Accessible Emergency Notification and Communication State of the Science
Conference: tap.gallaudet.edu/emergencycommconf.htm\
(last accessed March 28, 2008).

The mission of the Telecommunications Access RERC is to advance
accessibility and usability in existing and emerging telecommunications
products for people with all types of disabilities. A key application of
the RERC's research and development is in the area of emergency
communications -- both directly and through the development of
telecommunication infrastructure that will support text and video in
mainstream telecommunications.  In 2005, one RERC project was directed
specifically at identifying issues and recommendations pertaining to
alerting people about possible emergencies and ensuring accessible
communication in emergency or crisis situations.

The RERC's State of the Science Conference on Accessible Emergency
Notification and Communication, held Nov. 2-3, 2005, resulted in 32
recommendations for research, development, evaluation and technical
assistance targeted at accessible emergency communication systems; 23
recommendations for public policy; and five recommendations for
information and training. (Recommendations for research are listed in
the first entry of the next chapter on page 23.)

### Saving Lives: Including People With Disabilities in Emergency Planning

Institution: National Council on Disability

Chairman: Lex Frieden

Funding Source: National Council on Disability

Funding Year and Amount: FY 03 -- FY 04. Total = \$30,000

Grant Number: Not available

Contact Information: Lex Frieden, National Council on Disability, 1331 F
St. N.W., Suite 850, Washington, DC 20004

E-mail: <ncd@ncd.gov>

Telephone: 202-272-2004; 202-272-2074 (TTY)

Fax: 202-272-2022

Web site:
<http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2005/saving_lives.htm>\
(last accessed March 28, 2008)

This report: 1) describes the disaster experiences of people with
disabilities; 2) details the contributions and efforts of
community-based organizations (CBOs); 3) examines the nascent work of
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Directorate of
Emergency Preparedness and Response (EP&R), which includes the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and its federal, state and private
sector partners as well as DHS' Office for Civil Rights and Civil
Liberties (CRCL); and 4) touches on the ongoing work of the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) in specific areas that relate to issues
of homeland security and emergency preparation.

While other federal agencies play important roles in this effort,
efforts by the DHS and the FCC represent some of the most critical
operations on behalf of Americans with disabilities. Given the nature of
most disasters, general and disability-specific programs and services
span many different governmental and nongovernmental organizations.

The report also examines the following broad areas:

-   The disaster experiences of people with disabilities and activity
    limitations and how their access to disaster services could be
    improved;

-   The disaster experiences of CBOs and how partnerships with those
    organizations can help people with disabilities and activity
    limitations; and

-   How an effective, disability-related homeland security and emergency
    preparedness infrastructure may be developed.

The report's recommendations urge the federal government to influence
its state and local government partners, as well as its community-based
partners, to assume major roles in implementing key recommendations.

### Sound Alert: A Centralized System Capable of Alerting People Who Are Deaf or Hearing Impaired of Critical Sounds in Their Environment

Institution: CreateAbility Concepts, Inc.

Principal Investigator: Stephen M. Sutter

Funding Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on
Disability and Rehabilitation Research

Funding Years and Amounts: FY 07 = \$250,000; FY 08 = \$250,000

Grant Number: H133S060109

Contact Information: Stephen M. Sutter, CreateAbility Concepts, Inc.,
5610 Crawfordsville Rd., Suite 2401, Indianapolis, IN 46224

E-mail: <support@createabilityinc.com>

Telephone: 317-536-2815 or 866-210-6662

Fax: 317-536-2815

Web sites:
[http://www.createabilityinc.com](http://www.createabilityinc.com/), and
[http://www.naric.com/research/pd/record.cfm?search=1&type=type&display=detailed&criteria=Small%20Business%20Innovative%20Research%20(SBIR),%20Phase%20II&rec=1698](http://www.naric.com/research/pd/record.cfm?search=1&type=type&display=detailed&criteria=Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR), Phase II&rec=1698)\
(last accessed March 28, 2008)

This research and development will result in a comprehensive system that
delivers natural warning and communication mechanisms for people with
hearing loss. The SoundAlert system offers a unique approach to enable
individuals who are non-hearing to: 1) initiate and receive emergency
communications, 2) receive alerts in the workplace or home environments
on a single pocket-sized device through innovative sound discrimination
techniques able to identify specific sounds with accuracy, and; 3)
combine this functionality with supplementation or replacement of other
alerting technologies for convenience on the same single platform. The
system enables outbound and inbound communication with emergency
services in response to such events as evacuation or rescue information
when needed, thus alleviating a major concern of this population for
their personal safety.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc194814204 .anchor}*Nonfederally Funded Research*

### The Harris Poll #60: *Many People Unprepared for Terrorist Attacks or Other Disasters*

Institution: Harris Interactive Incorporated

Chair: Humphrey Taylor

Funding Source: Charles Stewart Mott Foundation

Funding Year and Amount: FY 01; amount not available

Grant Number: Not available

Contact Information: Tracey McNerney, Harris Interactive Public
Relations, 60 Corporate Woods, Rochester, NY 14623

E-mail: <TMcNerney@HarrisInteractive.com>

Telephone: 585-214-7756

Fax: 585-214-7686

Web site:
<http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=272> and
<http://www.nod.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewPage&pageID=1430&nodeID=1&FeatureID=507&redirected=1&CFID=3645752&CFTOKEN=81135247>\
(Last accessed March 28, 2008)

A Harris Interactive survey, conducted Nov. 14-20, 2001, interviewing
1,011 people by telephone, 15 percent of whom indicated they had
disabilities. Results from the survey, done on behalf of the National
Organization on Disability, showed that most of the country's 54 million
citizens with disabilities do not feel sufficiently prepared for future
crises. According to the survey:

-   58 percent of people with disabilities said they do not know whom to
    contact about emergency plans for their community in the event of a
    terrorist attack or other crisis.

-   61 percent said that they have not made plans to quickly and safely
    evacuate their home.

-   Among those who are employed full or part time, 50 percent say no
    plans have been made to safely evacuate their workplace.

The survey results showed these percentages were higher than for those
without disabilities: 51 percent reported not knowing whom to contact
about community emergency plans, 58 percent said no plans were in place
for evacuating home, and 44 percent said none in place for work.

### December 2003 Follow-Up to the Harris Poll #60: New Poll Highlights Need for More Emergency Planning for and by People With Disabilities

Institution: Harris Interactive commissioned by the National
Organization on Disability (NOD)

Chairman: Humphrey Taylor, Harris Interactive

Funding Source: Harris Interactive

Funding Year and Amount: FY 2003; amount not available

Grant Number: Not available

Contact Information: Hilary Styron, National Organization on Disability,
910 Sixteenth Street, NW, 6th Floor, Washington, DC 20006

E-mail: <StyronH@nod.org>, and <info@harrisinteractive.com>

Telephone: 202-293-5960

Fax: 202-293-7999

Web site:
<http://www.nod.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewPage&pageID=1430&nodeID=1&FeatureID=1245&redirected=1&CFID=7154392&CFTOKEN=44289573>
(last accessed March 28, 2008)

More than two years after terrorist attacks focused national attention
on the importance of planning ahead for disasters, Americans with
disabilities remain insufficiently prepared, and are anxious about their
safety, according to a Harris Interactive survey commissioned by the
National Organization on Disability (NOD).

In the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster, or other crisis,
only 44 percent of people with disabilities said they knew whom to
contact about emergency plans for their community. Just 39 percent had
made plans to evacuate quickly and safely from their homes. These
figures barely changed from Sept. 11, when Harris conducted the same
survey following the terrorist attacks.

This survey found a noteworthy improvement, however, in the workplace
preparedness of people with disabilities. Sixty-eight percent said that
plans have been made to quickly and safely evacuate from their jobs, a
dramatic increase from 45 percent in 2001.

The Harris Interactive survey interviewed 993 people, 19 percent of whom
reported having disabilities, by telephone Dec. 10-16, 2003. NOD's
Emergency Preparedness Initiative will continue to monitor and report on
the disability community's preparedness level.

### National Report: Emergency Preparedness and Emergency Communication Access: Lessons Learned Since 9/11 and Recommendations

Institutions: Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf & Hard of
Hearing Persons (NVRC); Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy
Network

Point of Contact: Cheryl Heppner, NVRC

Funding Source: Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf and Hard of
Hearing Persons

Funding Years and Amount: FY 01 -- 04. Total = \$10,000

Grant Number: Not applicable

Contact Information: Cheryl Heppner, NVRC, 3951 Pender Drive, Suite 130,
Fairfax, VA 22030

E-mail: <cheppner@nvrc.org>

Telephone: 703-352-9055; 703-352-9056 (TTY)

Fax: 703-352-9058

Web site: <http://www.nad.org/site/pp.asp?c=foINKQMBF&b=264081>\
(last accessed March 28, 2008)

This national report calls attention to serious weaknesses in the
nation\'s emergency preparedness infrastructure that compromise the
safety and security of 28 million Americans who are deaf or hard of
hearing. It identifies priorities for remedying the problem and makes
recommendations on how to build a national network of support for
individuals with hearing loss in the event of an emergency.

### NOD/Harris Survey on Emergency Preparedness**:** Workplace Preparedness of People With Disabilities Down--- Personal Preparedness on the Rise

Institution: Harris Interactive Commissioned by the National
Organization on Disability (NOD)

Chairman: Humphrey Taylor, Harris Interactive

Funding Source: Multiple private sources

Funding Year and Amount: FY 2005; amount not available

Grant Number: Not available

Contact Information: Hilary Styron, National Organization on Disability,
910 Sixteenth Street, NW, 6th Floor, Washington, DC 20006

E-mail: <StyronH@nod.org>, and <info@harrisinteractive.com>

Telephone: 202-293-5960

Fax: 202-293-7999

Web site:
<http://www.nod.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewPage&pageID=1430&nodeID=1&FeatureID=1562&redirected=1&CFID=25124092&CFTOKEN=37905663>
and

<http://www.nod.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Feature.showFeature&FeatureID=1474>
(last accessed March 28, 2008)

Four months after hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged the Gulf Coast and
almost five years after Sept. 11, emergency preparedness in the
workplace is on the decline, but personal preparedness for people with
disabilities is on the rise, according to this Harris Interactive survey
commissioned by the NOD's Emergency Preparedness Initiative.
Furthermore, the disabled community has yet to experience the comparable
decrease in their anxiety levels about their own personal safety that
the population without disabilities has experienced.

This survey also reports a marked decrease in workplace preparedness for
people with disabilities. Survey results reveal that 57 percent of
people with disabilities indicate that they have a workplace plan, a
figure that is down from 68 percent in 2003.

This telephone survey was conducted by Harris Interactive among a
national cross-section of 1,001 adults aged 18 or over from Dec. 15 -
18, 2005. The sample size for adults with disabilities is 161 and for
adults without disabilities is 829.

# Research Recommendations from Conferences on Emergency Management and People With Disabilities

This section lists conferences on emergency management and people with
disabilities that took place from 2003 through 2005, and it includes
recommendations for research that were formulated and discussed at these
meetings. All recommendations are reprinted verbatim from conference
records.

### Accessible Emergency Notification and Communication: State of the Science Conference

> Sponsored by the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) on
> Telecommunications Access.
>
> Held at Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C., on Nov. 2-3, 2005.

The research recommendations below are from the conference report,
Accessible Emergency Notification and Communication: Research and Policy
Recommendations, Pages 6-11. The full report is available at
tap.gallaudet.edu/EmergencyCommConf.htm (last accessed March 28, 2008)

**Recommendations for Research**

> *Accessibility of Mainstream Personal Technologies Used for
> Communications and Information*

-   R-1. Development of techniques to make mainstream technologies used
    for notification and communication usable by people with
    disabilities, including inability to use without vision, lack of
    text communication features and phone complexity. Technology
    accessibility affects the ability of people with disabilities to be
    notified of important information prior to and during an emergency
    and during recovery; and to engage in emergency communications. If
    the basic technologies are not accessible, then emergency and
    recovery messages will be missed and people will be prevented from
    communicating in order to seek help or give help to others.

-   R-2. Inclusion of disability access in research on next generation
    emergency notification technologies. Researchers that are
    specializing in projects on emergency communications have an
    obligation to coordinate with researchers working on the broader
    accessibility issues, as sometimes these two will overlap.

-   R-3. Development of accessible communications devices for persons
    who are deaf-blind. At our conference, the limitations in
    accessibility of current technology vis-à-vis deaf-blind persons
    were a particular concern. Most in this group have visual and
    hearing impairments that prevent them from being able to use
    television, radio or cell phones. Thus they cannot use typical
    visual or auditory warning and communication devices. This group is
    growing in size as the U.S. population ages.

> *Research, Development, Evaluation, and Technical Assistance Targeted
> at Accessible Emergency Communication Systems*

-   R-4. Conduct a systems engineering analysis to determine:

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-   Needs regarding emergency communications, including coverage at
    various times of day and for various types of emergency situations.

-   Capabilities assessment, including evaluation of performance under
    load.

-   Requirements analysis and assumptions, including requirements matrix
    (specifications which can be realized in solutions/ products).

-   Long-term solutions and not merely incremental approaches.

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```
-   R-5. Assess accessibility of current and proposed/planned emergency
    notification and communications, particularly during situations
    where people with disabilities are disproportionately vulnerable to
    missing alerts or information, and target research and standards
    development there. Some examples of situations where individuals
    with disabilities would be particularly vulnerable in emergencies:

    -   while driving if unable to listen to radio or call 9-1-1;

    -   while sleeping if unable to hear alerting sounds;

    -   while out in a public place if unable to see what others are
        doing or hear what they are saying;

    -   in a power outage if dependent mainly or solely on a computer
        for communications and information;

    -   in any situation if deaf-blind.

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```
-   R-6. Gather information using regional expertise of both consumers
    and emergency management personnel, in successfully providing
    accessible and timely communications during various types of
    emergencies. Document best practices and recommend models for
    federal, state and local governments to follow.

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```
-   R-7 Sponsor participation of accessibility technical experts in
    emergency communications standards and guideline development, and in
    industry and government advisory groups. Examples:

    -   wireless technology consortia developing specifications for
        location-based notification

    -   government's integrated Public Alert and Warning System (iPAWS)

    -   9-1-1 government/industry partnerships addressing technology
        migration

-   R-8. Development of methods to apply advanced technologies such as
    intelligent agents to automatically ensure emergency information
    generated in one format is available in all formats. Such
    technologies could also be applied to simplify complex messages to
    reduce cognitive load.

-   R-9. Conduct lab and field tests of promising technologies for
    improved accessibility of emergency communications, working with
    partners in the public and private sectors and involving people with
    disabilities. In particular, assessments need to be made to
    determine the extent to which the various methods of information
    delivery being considered in projects being coordinated by FEMA as
    well as local governments' systems, will achieve accessibility.

> *Government to Individual Communications and Broadcast Coverage of
> Emergencies*

-   R-10. Research the concept of streaming text over radio data
    channels to deliver emergency text messages through radio displays.
    Radio is frequently depended upon by the public for emergency and
    recovery information, particularly when driving or when there is an
    extended power outage. Radio is inaccessible to people who are deaf
    and some who are hard of hearing.

-   R-11. Develop technology for conversion of text-based information to
    auditory information, such as text displayed on television screens
    during emergencies (e.g., school closing information and local
    telephone numbers to call for help). (Note**:** This area of
    research is being funded by NIDRR through a Field Initiated Research
    grant to WGBH.)

-   R-12. Assess commercial products that perform emergency telephone
    notification functions ("reverse 9-1-1") against a list of
    accessibility features needed for people with disabilities and
    publish the information in an accessible format on the web and
    promote its availability to local and state governments,
    professional associations, industry trade associations, and
    disability organizations.

-   R-13. Determine the most effective way of making EAS television
    alerts accessible to people who are blind. Current methods provide
    only an audio alert squawk, and not spoken information, when the
    television distributor sends the message in text only. The audio
    alert is sometimes accompanied by a spoken direction to tune to
    another channel, but the emergency information is not necessarily
    provided on that other channel. (Note: This issue is being
    considered by the FCC at this time, although no research is being
    carried out. Policy recommendations regarding the EAS can be found
    in the next section of this report.)

-   R-14. Evaluate speech recognition technology for the specific
    application of automatically and accurately transcribing audio
    messages when spoken announcements are made, e.g., in public places
    such as airports and for automated telephone notification systems.
    If the additional step of separately typing in messages is required
    during an emergency, there is a greater likelihood that it will not
    happen and a text version will not be sent.

-   R-15. Address technical problems in timeliness of message delivery,
    spam filters terminating emergency messages, and other issues that
    can affect whether people with disabilities obtain emergency
    information. Although these problems are shared by non-disabled
    people, mobile e-mail is more relied upon by people with hearing
    disabilities than those without disabilities.

-   R-16. Research liability issues with non-emergency service providers
    that are in the path between the alerting organization and the
    public. Examples: wireless carriers, other servers of information.
    Liability issues may hamper the ability of local governments to work
    with carriers to provide highly localized alerts (e.g., chemical
    spill, road closure) to wireless users. If legal barriers would
    present problems, these would need to be addressed.

-   R-17. If national and satellite radio takes over much of the
    broadcast radio market--research techniques for getting local alerts
    while listening to national/satellite radio. Radio is often the
    first place people who are blind will seek information. Competition
    from national radio sources may change the marketplace for radio.
    The accessibility implication is that local emergency information
    may be harder to come by via radio.

-   R-18. Research use of streaming video (to mobile devices that can
    support video) for sign language alert and recovery information.

-   R-19. Assess accessibility of NOAA Weather Radios on the market to
    people with visual disabilities including deaf-blind persons.

> *Individual to Government Communications*

-   R-20. Study technologies and operational procedures for network
    security and control during emergencies that can hamper access to
    useful technologies such as video and text. For example, e-mail
    alerts are already losing effectiveness due to spam control
    procedures and a lack of priority setting for e-mail. Video and
    instant messaging often disallowed or blocked by firewalls in many
    organizations. Recommend solutions to these problems.

-   R-21. Build in accessibility to planned changes in 9-1-1
    architectures. The migration of the nation's Public Safety Answering
    Points (PSAPs) to packet-switched technologies is a wonderful
    opportunity for better accessibility but if accessibility concerns
    are not considered, it could be a missed opportunity. In this
    endeavor, NIDRR could coordinate and perhaps co-fund projects with
    the U.S. Department of Transportation, which has been designated the
    point agency for the development and testing of next-generation
    technology for 9-1-1.) PSAPs need to be able to receive voice, data
    or video transmissions in real-time, and then be able to pass along
    the information received to specific emergency responder networks.
    Technology coordination is needed so that accessibility occurs
    shoulder to shoulder with upgrades to 9-1-1, without repeated
    changes to PSAP requirements overtime.

-   R-22. Study methods for TTY functionality in wireless PDAs and other
    methods that may be short-term solutions to E9-1-1 access with
    mobile location finding and coverage equal to that of voice users.
    The TTY devices on the market are quite large and not really mobile
    devices, so they are not being used by deaf people. In contrast,
    wireless PDAs using Internet-based services are widely used.
    Companies should build TTY functionality into phone devices that
    have QWERTY keyboards so that direct calls to 9-1-1 are possible
    without any specialized equipment. The networks already support TTY;
    this is a last step to achieving direct 9-1-1 access in the
    short term.

-   R-23. Study and demonstrate options and issues for relay services'
    handling of 9-1-1 calls. Research in this area could provide
    informed decisions for call handling in the future and may enable
    improved handling of relayed calls to 9-1-1. Recent FCC rules
    indicate that new forms of relay services will soon be required to
    handle 9-1-1 calls. Research investment is needed to move this area
    ahead quickly, as many text users have abandoned the PSTN and TTY
    due to the availability of text and video over broadband. IP-based
    and video relay centers need to be able to determine the correct
    PSAP, based on the caller's locations, and be capable of exchanging
    information with PSAPs. IP-based forms of speech-to-speech relay
    service and CapTel are forthcoming; these also will need to be
    compatible with 9-1-1. Tests of this concept, as well as one-step
    calling might include the use of one or more specialized relay
    centers for routing and relaying these calls.

-   R-24. Demonstrate and evaluate methods of connection and call
    handling to 9-1-1 using IP text and IP-based relay services. For
    direct calling to 9-1-1 by people who cannot use the voice phone,
    continued support of standard, reliable and interoperable real-time
    text communication will be needed. However, the antiquated TTY
    technology of the PSTN should not be perpetuated in new systems that
    operate over IP networks.

> *Individual to Individual Communications (including residential
> situations and communications within facilities and campuses)*

-   R-25. Research effective and accessible methods of communicating
    egress or shelter instructions in buildings and building complexes.
    There are basically two situations: one in which the person being
    alerted has some relationship to the building, such as an employee
    or a student, and the building management can to some degree control
    the situation; and one in which people are transient, such as
    stores, restaurants, rail stations, or airports. One concern is that
    with terrorism and biohazard incidents more of a threat, we do not
    have ways to communicate the specifics of what people with
    disabilities need to do in an emergency: exit, shelter in place,
    move to another area, etc. Another concern is that, even for routine
    egress, better use of technology could be made to signal the
    direction to exit if a person cannot see as a result of blindness or
    smoke in the building.

-   R-26. Study and evaluate technologies for finding people with
    hearing and/or speech disabilities in a collapsed structure or other
    rescue situation where speech and hearing would routinely be used to
    communicate between rescuer and rescuee---for example, after an
    earthquake or bomb detonation.

-   R-27. Study methods of awakening people with hearing disabilities
    while sleeping. Recent research involving awakening people from
    sleep indicates that guidelines for accessibility are inadequate for
    awakening a large percentage of people who cannot hear or cannot
    hear well. Further study should include additional signals (such as
    low or variable frequency sounds); and specific products and
    technologies should be evaluated against these requirements. The
    possibility that some persons could sleep through vibrations or
    other signals after habituation should be studied. Guidelines may
    need to be changed as a result of this research.

-   R-28. Improve alerting interfaces; Implement standard connections in
    emergency systems for external flashing/loud audio/vibrating device.
    Develop and transfer to the private sector a portable vibrating
    alerting device with standard connector and battery backup. This
    simple type of device would permit people who cannot be alerted by
    an auditory signal to move from location to location and plug in a
    vibrating device to an alarm.

-   R-29. Study human factors issues related to audio alerting and hard
    of hearing people while awake. For example, people who have
    progressive hearing loss and who may not be attuned to seeking
    visual information, due to age or late onset of disability. What are
    the most effective forms of audio alerts?

-   R-30. Study human factors issues around alerting people who are
    deaf-blind. Deaf-blind people are not served by most technologies
    that are on the market. Special attention needs to be paid to
    emergency communications access for people who are deaf-blind, and
    for whom most communications technologies are inaccessible.

-   R-31. Study information needs and communication specific to certain
    disability groups and identify effective practices for peer-oriented
    communications and help. Networking and self-help within disability
    groups has been an important recovery tool during severe and
    widespread disasters such as hurricanes Katrina and Rita. What
    specialized emergency information is needed by people with various
    disabilities in an emergency? How and by whom does such information
    get produced now and how should it be produced in the future? How
    can such information best be delivered? What role should non-profit
    relief organizations have, and how can they coordinate and work with
    disability-specific groups? Should institutions serving specific
    groups effectively (e.g., state schools for deaf children) have
    official roles as shelters?

-   R-32. Demonstrate and test the use of IVR (Interactive Voice
    Response---telephone menus) to make emergency information on the web
    more accessible to people when not in the presence of a computer or
    smartphone, and to make the information more easily and universally
    accessible to people who are blind. For example, a blind person
    could dial a phone number, listen to a list of categories and chose
    the topic of interest to receive more information.

### Conference on Emergency Preparedness for People With Disabilities

> Sponsored by the National Capitol Region with the support of the U.S.
> Department of Homeland Security and in partnership with the National
> Organization on Disability
>
> Held at the Hyatt Regency--Crystal City, Arlington, Va., on Sept.
> 22-24, 2004.

The conference was dedicated specifically to the systems-level
examination of disability and emergency preparedness and represented a
cumulative effort by several individuals, organizations and agencies to
highlight aspects of their projects that each were already working on
individually.

While the conference report does not include a compilation of research
recommendations, it lists key concepts that came up repeatedly during
the conference. Because they are pertinent to the development of a
research agenda on emergency preparedness and people with disabilities,
they are reprinted below. The full *Conference on Emergency Preparedness
for People With Disabilities: Conference Report* is available at:
[http://www.nod.org/epiconference2004](http://www.nod.org/epiconference2004/index.html)
(last accessed March 28, 2008). Excerpts below are from Pages 3-4 of
this online report.

-   1\. Including disability issues in disaster drills enables the
    capture of lessons-learned, which become criteria for improvement.
    People with disabilities must be permitted on the exercise design
    teams, as well as participants in the drills, and/or as evaluators
    of the drill. In addition to the preplanning of disaster drills,
    people with disabilities should be included in the after-action
    evaluation and reporting on that drill. Tested measures around
    disabilities must get past the "victim" model and beyond a medical
    nexus in order to reflect the freedom of participation in all levels
    and activities of society that people with disabilities are
    guaranteed in this nation. Further, the improvements made as a
    result of the lessons-learned, must be tied into future funding
    evaluation and award merits to foster continued positive change.

-   2\. Recognize that local performance measures will lead to
    accountability. Require special needs issues to be mandated parts of
    grant applications for funding, requests for proposals (RFPs), and
    even extended to the negotiated language in service contracts with
    vendors. The concern with this is that without the proper guidance
    from experts, the actual RFP language will not be such as to solicit
    the proper outcomes in replies. Without expert involvement in the
    review process, inappropriate, or at the very least inconsistent,
    awards will be granted.

-   3\. A debate over terminology still exists in both the emergency and
    disability communities as to the use of a generalized term like
    "special needs". But until a resolution emerges with consensus,
    careful definition of terms and planning assumptions must be
    commonplace. Data collection for validation is important and is
    often tied to funding but the presentation of educated and
    defensible assumptions, as not to delay the planning process, should
    be accepted once clearly articulated as such.

-   4\. Beyond the merit of data collection, hard research is
    desperately needed in this area of disability and emergency.
    Apparently research would impact use criteria and standards for
    equipment developed for people with disabilities and emergency
    application. Research would also validate funding opportunities, as
    mentioned above, by identifying the potential impact if preemptive
    actions are not enabled. And finally research would ensure the
    codification of rules and regulations by demonstrating that
    legislation must keep up with the ever-changing new technology
    platforms used by both the emergency and disability communities.

-   5\. There must be designated simple and common access areas to share
    information about funding and research opportunities, and learning
    opportunities, etc. so to break down the prevalent paradigm of
    working within our own spheres. Without such ability to share
    information and knowledge across all involved disciplines,
    duplicative efforts will continue, solutions will be long to
    replicate, and safety results will be delayed to the intended
    audiences.

### Considerations in Emergency Preparedness: A Two-Track Conference

Sponsored by the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Mailman
School of Public Health, Columbia University.

Held at the Watergate Hotel, Washington, D.C., on Dec. 13-15, 2005

This conference had two tracks: one on pediatrics and one on people with
disabilities. The research recommendations below are from the track
pertaining to people with disabilities. The conference report *Emergency
Preparedness: Addressing the Needs of People With Disabilities*, Page
39. The full report is available at
<http://www.ncdp.mailman.columbia.edu/files/DISABILITIES.pdf>\
(last accessed March 28, 2008).

**Research Priorities:**

-   14.1 Evaluate effectiveness of community-based "special needs
    registries" or REVERSE 911® systems.

-   14.2 Evaluate effectiveness of evacuation messages for people with
    disabilities, including analysis of how messages are understood and
    of modality and messaging techniques.

-   14.3 Evaluate effective activation of local transportation networks
    to serve individuals with special needs before, during, and after an
    emergency or disaster, including the willingness of these
    individuals to report to duty after a disaster.

-   14.4 Evaluate effectiveness in cross-training disability and
    emergency preparedness communities.

-   14.5 Determine factors that affect caregivers and medical
    professionals' willingness and ability to report to work during
    times of disaster.

-   14.6 Consider the advantages, disadvantages, and unintended
    consequences of developing segregated versus unsegregated sheltering
    systems.

-   14.7 Determine relationship between standing orders for patient care
    in EMS settings, including and especially for adults and children
    with disabilities, and health outcomes during a disaster.

-   14.8 Evaluate EMS readiness to care for people with disabilities,
    including the surge capability of EMS to respond with appropriate
    equipment and knowledge to the needs of people with disabilities.

-   14.9 Quantify the benefit of telehealth for people with disabilities
    in providing instruction and health care to homebound individuals
    before, during, and in recovery periods.

**Product Research and Development Needs:**

-   14.10 Emergency evacuation devices including elevator systems that
    operate during emergency situations, wheelchairs that climb up or
    down stairs and portable ventilators for use during power outages.

-   14.11 Considerations on the use of elevators for building evacuation
    when the integrity of the system is intact and it is reasonably safe
    to do so (e.g., "hardening" of a dedicated elevator and/or bank, as
    well as a protocol for its use).

-   14.12 Decontamination protocol and equipment for adaptive technology
    for people with disabilities, as well as for people who have
    physical limitations that prevent them from either walking or lying
    on a backboard for decontamination, or for people with service
    animals.

### Emergency Evacuation of People With Physical Disabilities From Buildings

> Sponsored by the Interagency Committee on Disability Research,
> Interagency Subcommittee on Technology.
>
> Held at the Doubletree Hotel, Rockville, Md., on Oct. 13-14, 2004.

Conference presenters and attendees exchanged information and ideas
during panel presentations and breakout sessions. Among the 85
presenters and participants were: federal employees involved in
emergency preparedness; first responders and emergency management
personnel; building and life safety code practitioners; manufacturers of
evacuation devices; people with disabilities who have used evacuation
devices; and leading researchers in mobility devices, human factors and
egress modeling.

Listed below are the research recommendations, by category, issued in
*Emergency Evacuation of People With Physical Disabilities From
Buildings: 2004 Conference Proceedings*, Pages 47-53. One category of
recommendations ("Cross-Train People with Disabilities as Emergency
Responders") is not listed as research recommendations. However, we
include it here because it is pertinent to the development of a research
agenda on emergency preparedness and disability. The full report is
available at: <http://www.icdr.us/documents/pwd-emergency-evac.pdf>.
(last accessed March 28, 2008).

**Buildings: Design, Codes and Construction**

*Recommendations for research:*

-   Find a safe way to use elevators in existing buildings by occupants
    in emergencies.

-   Member agencies of the ICDR should fund the development of
    guidelines for emergency plans for all occupancies and building
    types.

-   Member agencies of the ICDR should fund research on effective means
    of communicating emergency information that is communicated to
    everyone, including people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

**Emergency Management and First Responders**

*Recommendations for Research:*

-   Identify the best strategies for keeping people with disabilities
    safe during an emergency event.

-   Appropriate provisions for people with disabilities need to be
    tested.

-   Identify the best way to communicate with people with disabilities
    during an emergency.

-   Identify strategies for coordination of the dynamics of simultaneous
    evacuations of individuals and groups.

-   Address the specific issues of people with multiple disabilities.

-   Identify gaps (disconnects) between planners, responders and
    occupants.

-   Find out how many first responder personnel it takes to complete a
    rescue (need for better data and times).

**Tools and Model-Building**

*Recommendations for Research:*

-   Identify an agreed upon set of experimental studies and needed data
    to improve the models.

-   Involve many different fields and organizations under coordination
    and leadership from appropriate groups (e.g., disaster research
    centers).

-   Set up funding in three phases, beginning at \$250,000, and working
    up to \$1 million. This would lead to more comprehensive,
    substantiated and effective decisions by all parties in a position
    to influence outcomes.

**Lessons Learned---Literature Review and Syntheses**

*Recommendations for Research:*

-   Collect from repository of lessons learned: after-action reports,
    civil rights complaints, anecdotal evidence from disability
    communities, and syntheses of nationally and internationally
    published studies that are cross incident.

-   Use a team composed of cross-disability groups, first responders and
    the U.S. Department of Justice and start the funding amount at \$5
    million. Lessons learned are translated into effective practice and
    cross-training material.

**Data Before and During Events**

*Recommendations for Research:*

-   Develop data collection points for a response profile for first
    responders as they arrive at a facility for disasters:

    -   Anticipate resource needs for a response based on who will be
        there (the number and composition of occupants, including people
        with disabilities).

    -   While on-site, employ effective procedures to assess the
        evacuation of people with disabilities that has occurred thus
        far, and determine who might be left behind.

    -   Track the impact of the disaster on people with disabilities,
        first responders and others.

**Cross-Train People With Disabilities as Emergency Responders**

*Other recommendations:*

Design a four-hour curriculum to be included in training to orient fire
and rescue personnel to special needs.

-   Two hours in class studying:

    -   A list of disabilities: physical, visual, cognitive,
        psychiatric, and deaf and hard-of-hearing; and

    -   The demography of disabilities: residential or commercial.

-   Time considerations:

    -   Assessment;

    -   Rescue;

    -   Fire; and

    -   Additional resources (i.e., rescuers and treatment).

-   Assistive technology: raise the awareness for first responders of
    the importance and value of these tools:

    -   Assistance to service animals;

    -   Wheelchairs; and

    -   Computers.

-   Two-hour hands-on training to cover:

    -   Equipment information;

    -   Backboard transfer methods;

    -   Surface issues;

    -   Manpower; and

    -   Lifting techniques.

-   Design a two-hour course presented to the disability community
    titled "Response, Rescue and Treatment."

    -   Qualify the individuals;

    -   Include information as to how first responders operate;

    -   Include best practices;

    -   Work through advocacy organizations; and

    -   For each case (i.e., hotels, libraries, etc.), state that
        training and applicability may vary.

**Current State of Research of Evacuation Equipment and
Mobility Devices**

*Recommendations for Research:*

-   The ICDR should develop and coordinate a federal strategy for the
    development of technical standards for evacuation devices and a
    program to develop and provide consumer information on evacuation
    devices and standards. RESNA develops voluntary standards for
    wheeled mobility devices and could be an interested partner.

-   Support the federal development, implementation and maintenance of a
    consumer database on evacuation technology. Include the development
    of technical and performance standards for several types of devices
    in collaboration with industry, RESNA and the FDA.

-   Provide comprehensive consumer information on device usability from
    a single federal source. Comprehensive and comparable information on
    the characteristics, use and performance of evacuation
    devices---including stair, building and operator requirements---is
    not currently available to assist consumers and procurement staff
    with the purchase of appropriate devices. Some devices are currently
    regulated by the FDA, but most are not.

Conference attendees estimated that a budget of \$3.5 million over seven
years for standards development and an additional \$4 million dollars
for consumer information would be needed. It was anticipated that the
industry would maintain the consumer database once it was developed.

During the conference, a wide range of device types were identified:

-   Rigid sleds, stretchers and chairs used by emergency responders;

-   Transfer-to devices operated by responders or workplace volunteers;

-   Emerging aftermarket technologies that could transform an individual
    mobility device into a stair-descending evacuation device, for use
    with or without assistance; and

-   Portable elevator and lift technologies.

**Human Factors and Egress Modeling**

*Recommendations for Research:*

-   The United States needs better evacuation models that can model
    elements that influence behaviors during evacuations. To identify
    actual behaviors, certain datasets are needed, including multiple
    sets, hazards and scenarios.

    -   Quantitative, qualitative and video data, especially in the
        stairs (group behavior first hand); and

    -   Occupancy specific data, not just building specific data.

        -   What about tunnel evacuations?

-   It is important to understand people's responses to their
    environments (i.e., fire, debris, etc.) It is also important to
    understand and model groups and emerging leaders (in addition to
    first responders), especially people with disabilities.

    -   In emergencies, most people give up their individual agendas.

    -   Consider counter flow of traffic---people encountering
        evacuation devices inside the stairwells---and how this affects
        stair movement.

    -   Simulate a broader range of disabilities

    -   Consider the effect and response of ongoing
        communication---utilize ongoing decision-making as new
        information on the behavior of the occupants becomes available.

    -   Consider behavior of occupants in different types of hazards
        (e.g., occupants evacuating while wearing chemical masks.)

    -   Implement/utilize models that take into account the actual
        decision-making process of people with disabilities during an
        evacuation.

    -   Study data on evacuation and relocation.

    -   Foster an awareness of one's surroundings---people do not often
        think while walking into a building, "What will I do if an
        emergency occurs?"

1.  

-   There is a need to fill the gaps between the factors (independent
    variables and predictors, such as people running frantically in
    certain incidences) that affect egress decisions and the trainers or
    decision makers that design the plan.

    -   It is essential to bring research to practice.

    -   Research exists from different disciplines. How can planners use
        this data to create a model? What about decision-making analysis
        models (a collection of past data on decision-making in
        emergencies put into a usable model for plan-makers)?

    -   Data are needed from other disciplines, bringing them together
        during emergencies.

    -   Data are needed on the number of hours of training necessary for
        occupants to provide a successful response (following proper
        procedures during drills and actual evacuations). How many hours
        of training (education) are necessary for occupants to retain
        emergency procedure information?

    -   Multiple-test scenarios and an understanding of the knowledge
        gained and retained from each hour of training are needed.

-   Emergency planning: What factors influence emergency preparedness?

    -   Best practice checklist for evacuation, specifically of people
        with disabilities.

        -   Improve plans for federal buildings.

    -   Can we rely on the national preparedness standard NFPA 1600,
        which is a template listing questions to answer when developing
        a plan?

        -   Not necessarily required for buildings as of yet.

    -   What does emergency planning have to do with human factors
        modeling?

        -   How people respond is a result of the information that they
            obtain or receive during an emergency.

        -   The information is affected by a specific warning system.

        -   Should a warning system and corresponding information be
            part of an evacuation plan?

        -   What should the system entail?

### Pediatric Preparedness for Disasters and Terrorism: A National Consensus Conference

> Sponsored by the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Columbia
> University Mailman School of Public Health.
>
> Held at the Wyndham Hotel, Washington, D.C., on Feb. 10-12, 2003.

The goals of this national conference were to: 1) build collaboration
among individuals with expertise in all areas of pediatric care as well
as in emergency management; 2) review and summarize the existing data on
the needs of children in disasters; 3) develop a consensus on the needs
of children in disasters; and 4) create a research agenda to address
knowledge gaps.

The following excerpted recommendations were largely based on expert
opinion due to the limited amount of pediatric research currently
available. They offer a proposed research agenda and a description of
funding needs for terrorism and disaster preparedness efforts for
children.

The recommendations below are from *Pediatric Preparedness for Disasters
and Terrorism: A National Consensus Conference* (Page 19). The full
report is available at:
<http://www.bt.cdc.gov/children/pdf/working/execsumm03.pdf> (last
accessed March 28, 2008).

**Emergency Preparedness**

*Children With Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN)*

-   Incorporate considerations for CSHCN in all disaster and terrorism
    planning at the national, state and local levels (e.g., water,
    dialysis and medication).

-   Identify all CSHCN to ensure each child has a medical home, adequate
    medical coverage and support mechanisms before a disaster or
    terrorist event.

-   Ensure that all CSHCN are considered in emergency preparedness plans
    of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

-   Develop mechanisms for identification of and community planning for
    children with increased vulnerability in disasters, including CSHCN
    and their families, at the national, state and local levels.

-   Provide federal, state and local government funding for emergency
    preparedness planning and implementation of services to meet the
    needs of CSHCN. This funding must be timely, immediately accessible
    and of sufficient duration.

-   Explore, within government agencies, development of nontraditional,
    community-based support systems for CSHCN and their families (e.g.,
    independent living centers, faith-based groups and parent-based
    groups).

-   Mandate continuity of operations and mutual aid planning among
    community health facilities to address disaster and terrorist events
    for pediatric populations, including CSHCN.

### Workshop on Building Occupant Movement During Fire Emergencies

Building and Fire Research Laboratory, National Institute of Standards
and Technology

United Technologies Research Center.

> Held at the National Institute of Standards and Technology,
> Gaithersburg, Md., on June 10-11, 2004.

This workshop on occupant behavior and movement during building
emergencies was organized in response to renewed interest in how
buildings should be evacuated during fires after Sept.11, 2001; and it
provided a forum for the exchange of experiences among the fire and
non-fire communities working on emergency egress.

The research recommendations below are from the conference report
*Workshop on Building Occupancy During Fire Emergencies, June 10-11,
2004, National Institute of Standards and Technology* (Pages 15, 55, 62,
and 98). The full report is available at:
<http://fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/fire05/PDF/f05023.pdf> (last accessed
March 28, 2008).

\[Below is from Page 15\]

**Protected Elevators for Egress and Access During Fires in Tall
Buildings**

*Development of Operating Procedures*

Prior research and recent advances can address all of the technology
issues identified as critical to the safe and reliable operation of
elevators during fires. The remaining piece is the development of
operating procedures for access, egress, and rescue of the disabled that
are sensitive to the human factors issues and to the need for these
activities to occur simultaneously in tall buildings. Thus the systems
must be designed and used such that they do not interfere with all these
uses.

\[Below is from Page 55\]

**4 Data Needs for Predictive Building Movement Models**

The usefulness of a model-based predictive capability is heavily
dependent on an understanding of its accuracy and limits of
applicability. However, the current situation is such that small amounts
of data exist and that they are not generally available to groups
studying this topic. Additional experimental data gathering efforts are
needed in order to quantify current and future egress predictive
capabilities. Areas of interest may include pre-evacuation timing and
behavior, disabled occupant responses to fires, exhaustion on stairs and
interaction of occupants and building systems with the environment of
the event.

\[Below is from Page 62\]

**Available Data and Input into Models**

*Research Needs*

In order to better understand human behavior in fire, to enhance the
effectiveness and completeness of evacuation models, and to provide
better information for the users of evacuations model, additional study
is needed in a range of areas.

The areas of study involve the need for more data on all the time
components of behavior, particularly those that are not a simple matter
of speed and distance; data on the variability of those time components;
and data or models on the factors driving behavior choices and the
variability in time to perform certain actions. Some of the more
specific areas are listed and described here:

-   movement capabilities of a wide cross-section of society: how much
    do we know about variations in movement capability by age or by
    walking impairment?

-   evacuation of disabled people: how are wheelchair users expected to
    evacuate and how long with that take; how might their evacuation
    impact the overall evacuation flow?

\[Below is from Page 97\]

**5 Workshop Summary**

*5.2 Specific Needs Obtained From Workshop Participants*

There is a need to include the impacts of human behavior in predictive
models. Currently used evacuation models lack certain behavioral aspects
of an evacuation, including group behavior and accurate representation
of the disabled population.

# Appendix A: Executive Order 13347: Individuals With Disabilities in Emergency Preparedness

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the
laws of the United States of America, and to strengthen emergency
preparedness with respect to individuals with disabilities, it is hereby
ordered as follows:

**Sec. 1.** *Policy.* To ensure that the Federal Government
appropriately supports safety and security for individuals with
disabilities in situations involving disasters, including earthquakes,
tornadoes, fires, floods, hurricanes, and acts of terrorism, it shall be
the policy of the United States that executive departments and agencies
of the Federal Government (agencies):

(a) consider, in their emergency preparedness planning, the unique needs
    of agency employees with disabilities and individuals with
    disabilities whom the agency serves;

(b) consideration of the unique needs of employees and individuals with
    disabilities served by State, local, and tribal governments and
    private organizations and individuals in emergency preparedness
    planning; and

\(c\) facilitate cooperation among Federal, State, local, and tribal
governments and private organizations and individuals in the
implementation of emergency preparedness plans as they relate to
individuals with disabilities.

**Sec. 2.** *Establishment of Council.* (a) There is hereby established,
within the Department of Homeland Security for administrative purposes,
the Interagency Coordinating Council on Emergency Preparedness and
Individuals with Disabilities (the ''Council''). The Council shall
consist exclusively of the following members or their designees:

i.  the heads of executive departments, the Administrator of the
    Environmental Protection Agency, the Administrator of General
    Services, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, and
    the Commissioner of Social Security; and

ii. any other agency head as the Secretary of Homeland Security may,
    with the concurrence of the agency head, designate.

\(b\) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall chair the Council,
convene and preside at its meetings, determine its agenda, direct its
work, and, as appropriate to particular subject matters, establish and
direct subgroups of the Council, which shall consist exclusively of
Council members.

\(c\) A member of the Council may designate, to perform the Council
functions of the member, an employee of the member's department or
agency who is either an officer of the United States appointed by the
President, or a full-time employee serving in a position with pay equal
to or greater than the minimum rate payable for GS--15 of the General
Schedule.

**Sec. 3.** *Functions of Council.* (a) The Council shall:

> \(i\) coordinate implementation by agencies of the policy set forth in
> section 1 of this order;
>
> \(ii\) whenever the Council obtains in the performance of its
> functions information or advice from any individual who is not a
> full-time or permanent part-time Federal employee, obtain such
> information and advice only in a manner that seeks individual advice
> and does not involve collective judgment or consensus advice or
> deliberation; and
>
> \(iii\) at the request of any agency head (or the agency head's
> designee under section 2(c) of this order) who is a member of the
> Council, unless the Secretary of Homeland Security declines the
> request, promptly review and provide advice, for the purpose of
> furthering the policy set forth in section 1, on a proposed action by
> that agency.

\(b\) The Council shall submit to the President each year beginning 1
year after the date of this order, through the Assistant to the
President for Homeland Security, a report that describes:

> \(i\) the achievements of the Council in implementing the policy set
> forth in section 1;
>
> \(ii\) the best practices among Federal, State, local, and tribal
> governments and private organizations and individuals for emergency
> preparedness planning with respect to individuals with disabilities;
> and

iii. recommendations of the Council for advancing the policy set forth
     in section 1.

**Sec. 4.** *General.* (a) To the extent permitted by law:

> \(i\) agencies shall assist and provide information to the Council for
> the performance of its functions under this order; and
>
> \(ii\) the Department of Homeland Security shall provide funding and
> administrative support for the Council.

\(b\) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise
affect the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget relating to budget, administrative, or legislative proposals.

\(c\) This order is intended only to improve the internal management of
the executive branch and is not intended to, and does not, create any
right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in
equity by a party against the United States, its departments, agencies,
instrumentalities, or entities, its officers or employees, or any other
person.

/s/

THE WHITE HOUSE,

*July 22, 2004*

# Appendix B: *Excerpts from Individuals With Disabilities in Emergency Preparedness, Executive Order 13347: Annual Report, July 2005*.

Excerpts below are from the Executive Summary, the Research Subcommittee
chapter, and Recommendation 7 of the *Individuals With Disabilities in
Emergency Preparedness, Executive Order 13347: Annual Report, July
2005*, published by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office for
Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, on behalf of the Interagency
Coordinating Council on Emergency Preparedness and Individuals With
Disabilities (ICC).

The full report is available at:
<http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/CRCL_IWDEP_AnnualReport_2005.pdf>

(last accessed March 28, 2008).

\[Below is from Page 3\]

**I. Executive Summary**

*Background*

The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks significantly increased
awareness of the need to be prepared for all kinds of disasters and
emergencies. As a nation, we are much more conscious of our
vulnerabilities, not only to natural disasters such as tornadoes, fires,
floods and hurricanes but also to acts of terrorism. We are more keenly
aware of the compounded vulnerabilities and challenges the approximately
54 million Americans with disabilities face in time of disasters and
emergencies. Yet disaster and emergency mitigation, preparedness,
response and recovery planning efforts often overlook people with
disabilities. Ensuring that people with disabilities become and remain
an integral part of the nation's disaster and emergency mitigation,
preparedness, response and recovery efforts requires a concerted
approach to address a myriad of complex issues.

***Implementation of the Executive Order***

Recognizing that individuals with disabilities should feel as safe and
secure in their communities and work environments as individuals without
disabilities, President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13347,
Individuals with Disabilities in Emergency Preparedness. This Executive
Order, a copy of which is provided as Appendix 1, sets forth the role of
the Federal Government in effectively tackling these issues in a
coordinated fashion. To ensure this, the President created the
Interagency Coordinating Council on Emergency Preparedness and
Individuals with Disabilities, directing multiple Federal executive
departments and agencies to work together to ensure that emergency
preparedness plans are as comprehensive as possible with regard to the
issues presented by individuals with disabilities.

The Council has concentrated its work in eight major areas:

> \(1\) Emergency Communications;
>
> \(2\) Emergency Preparedness in the Workplace;
>
> \(3\) Emergency Transportation;
>
> \(4\) Health;
>
> \(5\) Private Sector Coordination;
>
> \(6\) Research;
>
> \(7\) State, Local and Tribal Government Coordination; and
>
> \(8\) Technical Assistance and Outreach.

\[Below is from Pages 26-28)

*F. Research Subcommittee*

***Summary of Objectives***

There are many questions about how best to secure the safety and
security of people with disabilities in emergency situations. The broad
array of disabilities, the breadth of possible emergency scenarios and
the interactive nature of certain disabilities with social environments
(and disruption of those environments) means that research efforts may
be required to address the many factors with the potential to impact
individuals with disabilities in the context of a life-threatening
disaster.

Decisive answers to these complex issues remain uncertain. Sufficient
empirically-based research focusing on disability is not available to
guide the many efforts underway to prepare for potential terrorist
attacks, natural disasters and other emergencies. For example, the NCD
reports that while there is a wealth of anecdotal accounts, meeting
minutes and unpublished reports in the popular press, there is scarce
research on the experiences of people with disabilities in disaster
activities.[^2]^1^

The mission of the Research Subcommittee is to assess, coordinate and
promote Federal research related to emergency preparedness for
individuals with disabilities. Primary objectives of the Research
Subcommittee include: assessing the state-of-the-art on emergency
preparedness and disability, identifying research gaps; coordinating
Federal emergency preparedness research activities; and soliciting
public input on an as needed basis. This includes, but is not limited
to, gathering input from the disability community and other public and
private stakeholders, developing, maintaining and disseminating to the
public a compendium of Federal emergency preparedness research, and
creating a research agenda on emergency preparedness and individuals
with disabilities.

***Scope of Research Subcommittee***

The Subcommittee is identifying Federal department and agency
representatives vested with responsibilities associated with research on
emergency preparedness and disabilities. It is working with these
representatives to identify Federally-funded projects on emergency
preparedness and disabilities. To date, participating Federal agencies
and departments include:

-   Department of Education;

-   Department of Labor;

-   U.S. Access Board;

-   Department of Justice; Department of Transportation;

-   Department of Agriculture;

-   Department of Homeland Security;

-   Department of Veterans Affairs;

-   Department of Interior;

-   Office of Personnel Management; and

-   Department of Health and Human Services (including the Agency for
    Healthcare Research and Quality, the Office on Disability, the
    Administration on Aging, the Centers for Disease Control, and the
    National Institute of Mental Health);

-   Department of Commerce (including National Institute of Standards
    and Technology);

-   The National Science Foundation; and

-   The National Council on Disability.

The Research Subcommittee continues to broaden this partnership across
the Federal Government in order to establish a comprehensive assessment
of activities while still avoiding duplication of efforts.

*Administration*

The Research Subcommittee is chaired jointly by representatives from the
NIDRR in the Department of Education (ED), and the ODEP in the DOL. The
Research Subcommittee operates as a Task Force under the Interagency
Committee on Disability Research (ICDR), Interagency Subcommittee on the
New Freedom Initiative (ISNFI). The Chair of the ICDR is Mr. Steven
James Tingus, who also is the Director of NIDRR, located within ED's
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS). The
Assistant Secretary for OSERS, Mr. John H. Hager, represents ED on the
Interagency Coordinating Council.

***Projects Initiated***

The Research Subcommittee is currently spearheading the following
initiatives:

**Assessing the State-of-the-Art in Research on Emergency Preparedness
and Disability**

The Subcommittee has launched a number of activities to assess the
state-of-the-art in research on emergency preparedness and disability.
An initial scan of several engineering, education, psychology, medicine
and other databases yielded numerous "how to" guides, checklists,
reviews of legislation, conference proceedings and catalogs of
technologies useful for people with disabilities in emergency
situations, but few research-specific articles.

Similarly, preliminary documentation from the Subcommittee's federal
partners suggests that little federal support has been available for
research specific to emergency preparedness and disability. Emergency
preparedness has, for the most part, focused on the general population;
attention to disability issues is recent. Below are some examples of
federal and Federally-funded research projects and conferences related
to emergency preparedness for people with disabilities. Funding sources
and grantee information are provided in footnotes.

**Research Projects:**

-   ***Disaster Planning, Mobility Impairment, and Best Practices:***

    -   Determining whether areas that have experienced natural
        disasters include people with mobility impairments in their
        disaster plans and emergency response systems, identifying
        morbidity and mortality of persons with mobility impairments in
        disasters and identifying emerging or best practice models for
        individual counties.[^3]^2^

-   ***Emergency Evacuation:***

    -   Developing comprehensive, easy-to-use safe evacuation education
        materials and training tools that include people with
        disabilities.[^4]^3^

    -   Developing standards to improve the ability of persons with
        disabilities to get out of buildings during mass evacuations
        triggered by health or safety emergency events.[^5]^4^

-   ***Self-Advocacy and Survival Skills:***

    -   Developing a Web-based software program that assists people who
        are deaf or hard of hearing in learning self-advocacy and
        survival skills for life threatening situations.[^6]^5^

-   ***Emergency Managers:***

    -   Studying emergency management officials at the State and local
        level in the United States to determine how they have
        incorporated the emergency needs of people with disabilities in
        their emergency plans.[^7]^6^

-   ***Directions for the Federal Government:***

    -   Providing an overview of steps the Federal Government should
        take to build a solid and resilient infrastructure that will
        enable the government to include the diverse populations of
        people with disabilities in emergency preparedness, disaster
        relief and homeland security programs. This infrastructure would
        incorporate access to technology, physical plants, programs and
        communications. It also would include procurement and emergency
        programs and services.[^8]^7^

-   ***Conferences:***

    -   A National Consensus Conference was held in 2003 focusing on
        Pediatric Preparedness for Disasters and Terrorism. This
        conference dealt with issues relevant to children with
        disabilities, including: mental health needs and children with
        special health care needs. A follow-up consensus conference on
        Emergency Preparedness was held in September 2005, with a dual
        focus: pediatrics (including children with disabilities) and
        people with disabilities across the lifespan.[^9]^8^

    ```{=html}
    <!-- -->
    ```
    -   A conference was held in 2004 on Emergency Evacuation of People
        with Physical Disabilities from Buildings.[^10]^9^

**Surveying and Compiling Federal Research Activities**

To ensure the continued and thorough investigation of Federal and
Federally-funded research, the Research Subcommittee collaborated with
DHS and the Interagency Coordinating Council's State, Local and Tribal
Government Subcommittee to develop a survey focusing on emergency
preparedness and disability.[^11]^0^ The purpose of the survey is to
develop a comprehensive compilation of programs, activities and
initiatives of Federal departments and agencies that support safety and
security for individuals with disabilities in emergency situations. This
survey requests information related to funding (grants and contracts),
training and outreach, and research. The Research Subcommittee developed
the research-related questions. This survey will be sent first to
Federal agencies and later to nonprofit entities and State, local and
tribal governments.

**Soliciting Public Input**

The Research Subcommittee is committed to seeking input on research
needs from public and private stakeholders (e.g., the disability
community, first responders, and industry representatives) and has
initiated a number of projects to further this goal. First, the Research
Subcommittee has established a public input link on the ICDR Web site,
which invites comment on research needs in the area of emergency
preparedness and disability. Second, the Research Subcommittee is
working with the Interagency Coordinating Council's Private Sector
Coordination Group to identify methods of securing public input. Third,
the Research Subcommittee has established a collaborative effort with
Columbia University's National Center on Disaster Preparedness at
Columbia University in New York. At the September 2005 Consensus
Conference on Emergency Preparedness, the Research Subcommittee and the
ICC provided information on the activities of the ICC and at the same
time will seek input from conference attendees to assess more fully the
range of research questions and needs.

***Future Goals***

-   Complete a comprehensive literature review and develop a discussion
    of research gaps.

-   Create, maintain and update a list of federal agency representatives
    who have responsibility for emergency preparedness research
    affecting people with disabilities.

-   Create, maintain and update a listing of federal research projects
    related to emergency preparedness and disability.

-   Solicit input from the disability community and other public and
    private stakeholders regarding research gaps in the area of
    emergency preparedness and disability.

-   Identify research needs in the area of emergency preparedness and
    disability.

***Conclusion***

There is a plethora of guides, checklists, tip sheets and plans related
to emergency preparedness and disability, but a noticeable lack of
empirical research to back up those guides, plans and practices. The
nation's emergency preparedness efforts will be more effective in
protecting the lives of approximately 54 million Americans with
disabilities if they are based on solid research. It is critical to
transition from suggestions and ideas to empirically-based research that
provides evidence for what works. By doing this, people with
disabilities, first responders, the health care industry and other
stakeholders will receive the information they need to answer
critical questions.

\[Below is from Pages 38-39.\]

**V. Recommendations**

Executive Order 13347 directs the Interagency Coordinating Council to
submit to the President recommendations for advancing the policy set
forth in the Executive Order. It requires that the Council identify
future actions that the executive departments and agencies can undertake
to ensure that the Federal Government appropriately supports safety and
security for individuals with disabilities in situations involving
disasters, including earthquakes, tornados, fires, flood, hurricanes and
acts of terrorism.

**Recommendation 7: Coordinate evidence-based Federal research into the
effectiveness of audio, visual and/or tactile protocols and technologies
related to emergency preparedness, alerting, warning and response for
individuals with disabilities.** In order to ensure that all persons are
alerted to and warned about disasters or emergencies, accessible
technologies are indispensable. The ICC is uniquely positioned to
accelerate research that guides the development and integration of
appropriate technologies into the Nation's emergency warning systems and
practices. These technologies identified from research will guide
contract procurement and technical assistance, and translate findings
into guidelines. Findings will also result in information on promising
new practices for alerting and warning individuals with disabilities.

# Appendix C: Excerpts from the *Individuals with Disabilities in Emergency Preparedness, Executive Order 13347: 2005-2006 Progress Report*. (In-Press Copy)

Excerpted below is the Research Subcommittee chapter of the *Individuals
with Disabilities in Emergency Preparedness, Executive Order 13347:
2005-2006 Progress Report*. Washington, D.C., in-press, 2008. This
document was in-press on the date this guide was published by the U.S.
Department of Education. The in-press report is being published by the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office for Civil Rights and Civil
Liberties, on behalf of the Interagency Coordinating Council on
Emergency Preparedness and Individuals With Disabilities (ICC). Once
published, the document will be available at
[http://www.disabilitypreparedness.gov](http://www.disabilitypreparedness.gov/).

\[Below is from Page 30.\]

**Research Subcommittee**

*Background*

People with disabilities are at particular risk during emergency and
disaster situations. Typical ways of accommodating disabilities (e.g.,
wheelchair users descending buildings in elevators; people with vision
impairments following a specific route home through the city; people who
are deaf communicating via sign language interpreters) often get
disrupted during times of crisis and infrastructure damage.

Research is needed to demonstrate disability-related interventions,
technologies, standards, methods, and procedures that are safe,
effective, and compatible with overall emergency management efforts.
Answers are needed to address a multitude of questions, such as how to
communicate with, evacuate, shelter, transport, and provide health and
mental health services to people with physical, mental, and sensory
impairments over the course of a disaster. Research efforts should focus
on ways to incorporate disability considerations into standard
operations rather than on methods that segregate people with
disabilities from the general population during times of disaster.
Finally, research is needed across the life cycle of disaster and
emergency situations, covering the whole spectrum of emergency
management (i.e., preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery).

## Administration

The Research Subcommittee is chaired by the National Institute on
Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) in the Office of Special
Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) at the U.S. Department of
Education. Former Assistant Secretary of OSERS, Mr. John H. Hager, was
the Department of Education's principal ICC representative during the
time period covered by the information included in this section. The
Research Subcommittee operates as a Task Force under the Interagency
Committee on Disability Research (ICDR), Subcommittee on the New Freedom
Initiative. The Chair of the ICDR during this time period was Mr. Steven
James Tingus, who also was the Director of NIDRR.

## Mission and Objectives

The mission of the Research Subcommittee of the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security's (DHS) Interagency Coordinating Council on Emergency
Preparedness and Individuals with Disabilities (ICC) is to assess,
coordinate, and promote federally-funded research on emergency
management as it relates to people with disabilities. Primary objectives
of the Research Subcommittee include: assessing the state-of-the-art in
emergency management research as it relates to people with disabilities;
identifying research gaps; soliciting public input; disseminating
materials; and coordinating and promoting federal funding efforts.

*Accomplishments*

The Research Subcommittee has spearheaded federal initiatives in each
area within its mission: assessment, coordination, and promotion of
federal research. This section outlines progress within each of these
areas.

**Assessing the State-of-the-Art in Disability-Related Emergency
Management Research**

The Research Subcommittee conducted multiple projects aimed at gaining a
comprehensive understanding of the state-of-the art in research on
emergency management issues related to people with disabilities. This
included: developing a research bibliography; compiling relevant
conference recommendations; surveying federal agencies to determine what
federal research projects currently are being funded; and soliciting
public input. All of these activities are ongoing in nature and are
being used to develop a comprehensive federal research agenda in
emergency management and disability. The Research Subcommittee is
working to disseminate results from these projects in order to enhance
coordination among federal funding agencies and stimulate further
research.

**Bibliography**

The Research Subcommittee developed a bibliography of research articles
specific to emergency management related to people with disabilities.

**Conference Recommendations**

The Research Subcommittee is engaged in ongoing efforts to compile,
synthesize, and disseminate research recommendations from major
conferences on emergency management issues relevant to people with
disabilities. Relevant conferences have included, but are not limited
to:

-   Pediatric Preparedness for Disasters and Terrorism: A National
    Consensus Conference, Columbia University, National Center for
    Disaster Preparedness, February 2003.[^12]

-   Emergency Preparedness for People With Disabilities: An Interagency
    Seminar of Exchange for Federal Managers, U.S. Department of Labor,
    December 2003.[^13]^0^

-   Workshop on Building Occupant Movement During Fire Emergencies,
    National Institute on Standards and Technology (NIST), June
    2004.[^14]^1^

-   Conference on Emergency Preparedness for People With Disabilities,
    National Organization on Disability (NOD), September 2004.[^15]^2^

-   Emergency Evacuation of People With Physical Disabilities from
    Buildings, Interagency Committee on Disability Research (ICDR),
    Subcommittee on Technology, October 2004.[^16]^3^

-   Accessible Notification and Communication: State of the Science
    Conference, Gallaudet University, November 2005.[^17]^4^

-   Considerations in Emergency Preparedness: A Two Track Conference,
    Columbia University, National Center for Disaster Preparedness,
    December, 2005.[^18]^5^

**Current Federal Research**

In collaboration with DHS, the Research Subcommittee developed and
administered a survey to federal agencies that examines current
Federally-funded research focusing specifically on the intersection of
emergency management and issues affecting people with disabilities. Ten
Federally-funded projects emerged from this survey and other efforts to
identify relevant federal research projects. These projects were funded
by four federal agencies: the Department of Education, the Department of
Commerce, the Centers for Disease Control, and the National Council on
Disability. The projects include:

-   Access Alerts: Making Emergency Information Accessible to People
    With Disabilities.[^19]^6^

-   Access to Locally Televised On-Screen Information: Auditory
    Messaging and Captions During Emergency Broadcasts.[^20]^7^

-   Assessing the Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Persons With
    Disabilities.[^21]^8^

-   Bottom-Up Modeling of Mass Pedestrian Flows: Implications for the
    Effective Egress of Individuals With Disabilities.[^22]^9^

-   Making In-Flight Communications and Entertainment
    Accessible.[^23]^0^

-   Nobody Left Behind: Disaster Preparedness for Persons With Mobility
    Impairments.[^24]^1^

-   Project Safe EV-AC: Safe Evacuation and Accommodation of People With
    Disabilities.[^25]^2^

-   Saving Lives: Including People With Disabilities in Emergency
    Planning.[^26]^3^

-   Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Telecommunications
    Access[^27]^4^\*

-   Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Wireless
    Technologies[^28]^5^\*

**Public Input**

The Research Subcommittee has sought, and will continue to seek,
public input on research needs. In May 2006, the ICDR conducted a public
comment meeting in which it invited and received input on the federal
research agenda in disability and rehabilitation research, including
emergency preparedness and disability. Among the comments received were
suggestions from representatives of Columbia University's National
Center for Disaster Preparedness on areas for future research based in
part on recommendations from the December 2005 Columbia Consensus
Conference, "Considerations in Emergency Preparedness." The comments
will be incorporated into the ICDR and the ICC's synthesis of research
needs. In addition, the ICDR Web site has an ongoing public comment
section specifically requesting input on emergency preparedness research
needs ([http://www.icdr.us](http://www.icdr.us/)). Information about
both of these opportunities for public input is publicized through the
ICDR and through the newsletter of the ICC. The Research Subcommittee
will review and analyze all public input, and incorporate findings into
efforts to coordinate and promote federal research in emergency
preparedness and disability.

*Coordinating and Promoting Federal Research*

***Interagency Coordination***

The Research Subcommittee has conducted extensive discussions with
multiple federal agencies regarding research needs in emergency
management and disability, and has worked with these agencies to define
specific areas in need of funding. Some examples of the multitude of
questions still needing resolution include but are not limited to:

-   What methods, technologies, and standards are appropriate for
    communicating with people with hearing, vision, cognitive, and other
    impairments during emergency preparedness, response and recovery
    efforts?

-   What are the most effective interventions and methods for emergency
    preparedness, response, and recovery with respect to people with
    mental disabilities?

-   What methods, technologies, and standards are appropriate for
    evacuating people with disabilities from buildings, transportation
    systems, and cities?

-   What technologies, standards, and interventions are effective for
    emergency preparedness, response, and recovery when applied to
    infants and children with disabilities and/or chronic health care
    needs?

***Promotion of Federal Research***

NIDRR has provided strong leadership across federal agencies to promote
federal funding in emergency management and disability. Based in part on
the findings of the Research Subcommittee, NIDRR has announced two
proposed priorities for Fiscal Year 2007 that focus on research needs
related to the intersection of emergency management issues and people
with disabilities.

In addition, NIDRR, for the first time, has included emergency
preparedness and disability in its Long-Range Plan for Fiscal Years
2005--2009. The Plan, which presents a five-year research agenda, now
incorporates emergency preparedness in the discussion of the national
policy context for NIDRR research. The Plan is available at
<http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/other/2006-1/021506d.html>.

*Future Goals*

The Research Subcommittee continues its efforts in a multitude of areas,
including but not limited to:

-   Soliciting public input from the disability community and other
    public and private stakeholders to gain a comprehensive
    understanding of critical research needs.

-   Developing a comprehensive federal research agenda in the area of
    emergency management and people with disabilities.

-   Coordinating and promoting federal funding efforts.

## Conclusion

The Research Subcommittee/ICC survey of federal research projects found
that across the whole federal government there appear to be only 10
federal research projects focusing on emergency management and
disability. In addition, the Research Subcommittee literature review
revealed a dearth of published literature in emergency management and
disability, and research recommendations from conferences also reveal
numerous questions needing resolution. Until empirical research provides
answers to these questions, our nation will be left with good intentions
and efforts that may or may not be effective.

Research necessary to providing answers is, for the most part, at the
earliest stages of development. The Research Subcommittee intends to
help bridge this gap by soliciting input on research needs, developing a
comprehensive federal research agenda, and coordinating and promoting
federal funding efforts. Commitments from other agencies to fund
research will be an important step in closing the gap.

Finally, the incorporation of disability-related research into ongoing
research on emergency management will be an important means of ensuring
that people with disabilities, and disability considerations, are fully
integrated into emergency preparedness, mitigation, response, and
recovery efforts.

# Appendix D: List of Interagency Collaborators

Representatives from the agencies below participated in meetings of the
Research Subcommittee of the Interagency Coordinating Council on
Emergency Preparedness and Individuals with Disabilities (ICC) and the
New Freedom Initiative Subcommittee of the Interagency Committee on
Disability Research (ICDR), which led to the development of this
document.

U.S. Access Board

U.S. Department of Agriculture

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Education

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

U.S. Federal Aviation Administration

U.S. Federal Communications Commission

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Labor

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

U.S. National Council on Disability

U.S. National Science Foundation

U.S. Social Security Administration

U.S. Department of Transportation

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

# Appendix E: Methodology

This appendix provides information on the methodologies used to identify
the research projects, conference recommendations and bibliographic
references provided in this document.

Research Projects

To locate research projects specific to emergency management and
disability, we first searched the National Institute on Disability and
Rehabilitation Research's database of projects known as NARIC, the
National Rehabilitation Information Center
([http://www.naric.com](http://www.naric.com/)). This search yielded all
projects funded by NIDRR.

We then researched publicly available Web sites and databases to
identify additional public, private and international research projects
in emergency management and disability. These included Web sites such
as: the National Organization on Disability; the National Science
Foundation; the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; the National
Institute on Standards and Technology; Doctors Without Borders; the
World Health Organization; the Pan American Health Organization; the
United Nations, Oxfam International, and the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization. We also searched databases such as
the Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects (CRISP),
Ovid, REHABDATA and ABLEDATA, and databases sponsored by the Trace
Center and the National Center for the Dissemination of Disability
Research. Examples of key search terms included: "research," "research
grants," "emergency evacuation," "emergency preparedness" and "emergency
management and disability."

Additionally, we surveyed all members of the ICDR in May 2005 to
continue our search for research projects funded by federal agencies.
Steven Tingus, former director of NIDRR, sent a letter to the ICDR
membership requesting assistance identifying research projects in this
area. We included the list of projects we had identified thus far, and
requested any additions. We also included a questionnaire we had
developed in conjunction with a broader DHS survey of emergency
preparedness activities. The research questionnaire provided a
definition of "research activities" and "development activities," and
asked for information about past, current and planned projects funded by
each ICDR agency.

Finally, we again searched multiple Web sites to locate any additional
funded projects.

Conference Recommendations

We searched Web sites and conference reports from conferences on
emergency management and disability for research recommendations. We
then compiled a preliminary list of conferences, sent it out for comment
to ICDR members and asked them for assistance in identifying additional
conferences that may have issued research recommendations. However, no
further conferences were identified as a result of that effort.

Research recommendations from the proceedings of identified conferences
are reprinted verbatim in this guide; however, we did make minor changes
to the formats and fonts in order to provide consistency in this
document.

Bibliography

The process of compiling bibliographic citations for research on
emergency management and disability included several venues. First, we
performed searches on general search engines (Google, Google Scholar and
various disability and emergency management Web sites). Second, we
searched numerous databases, including Engineering Village 2
(Compendex), FirstSearch (WorldCat), PubMed, EBSCo Information Services,
ERIC, Books in Print, ISI Web of Knowledge and IgentaConnect. Examples
of major search terms included "disability," "emergency," "emergency
management and disability" and "emergency preparedness and disability."
Third, we contacted NIDRR grantees and other researchers known to be
working in the areas of emergency management and disability and asked
them to send us lists of their research publications. Fourth, we
searched both the Project Safe EV-AC Library Database (available at
[http://evac.icdi.wvu.edu](http://evac.icdi.wvu.edu/)) and the *American
Association on Health and Disability* *Annotated Bibliography on
Emergency Preparedness and Response for People with Disabilities*
(available at
<http://aahd.webchoices.us/site/static/pdfs/bestPractices/emergencypreparedness.doc>.)
These last two sources yielded an extensive list of guidelines, fact
sheets, checklists, reports and other planning information. Finally, we
reviewed bibliographies from relevant studies and projects.

The bibliography in our report does not reprint the citations for the
many "how to" guides to preparing for an emergency, nor does it include
every newspaper article on emergency management and disability. It
focuses on research, other scholarly articles that relate to emergency
management and disability, and government publications of relevance.
References are from both the United States and abroad. Web links are
provided where available.

Note to reader: The three Web sites given in this appendix were last
accessed on March 28, 2008.

# Bibliography

American Association on Health and Disability. 2005. Annotated
bibliography on emergency preparedness and response for people with
disabilities. Retrieved March 28, 2008, from
<http://aahd.webchoices.us/site/static/pdfs/bestPractices/emergencypreparedness.doc>.

American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Pediatric Emergency
Medicine. 1999. Emergency preparedness for children with special health
care needs. *Pediatrics* 104(4): 1-6.

Argoff, J. and H. Rousso. 2005. Hardest hit and least protected.
*Foundation News & Commentary*. November/December.

Barile, M., C. Fitchen, V. Ferraro and D. Judd. 2006. Ice storm
experiences of persons with disabilities: Knowledge is safety. *Review
of Disability Studies*, 2(3): 35-48.

Blank, P.D. 1995. *Disaster Mitigation for Persons With Disabilities:
Fostering a New Dialogue.* Washington, D.C.: The Annenberg Washington
Program in Communications Policy Studies of Northwestern University.
Retrieved March 28, 2008, from
<http://www.annenberg.northwestern.edu/pubs/disada/disada2.htm>.

Boyce, K. E., T.J. Shields and G.W.H. Silcock. 1999b. Toward the
characterization of building occupancies for fire safety engineering:
Capabilities of disabled people moving horizontally and on an incline.
*Fire Technology*, 35(1): 51-67.

Boyce, K. E., T.J. Shields, G.W.H. Silcock and B. Dunne. 2002. The
Impact of a wheelchair- bound evacuee on the speed and flow of evacuees
in a stairway during an uncontrolled, unannounced evacuation.
*Evacuation From Fires, Volume II*. Amityville, New York: Baywood
Publishing Company, Inc., 139-149.

Bromet, E., H.C. Schulberg and L. Dunn. 1982. Reactions of psychiatric
patients to the Three Mile Island nuclear accident. *Archives of General
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Brunner, J. and D. Lewis. 2004. Safe evacuation for students with
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[^1]: Although this project does not pertain directly to emergency
    management, it is included in this resource guide because the
    technologies developed may be applicable to emergency situations.

[^2]: ^1\ 1^ Saving Lives: Including People with Disabilities in
    Emergency Planning. National Council on Disability Web site.
    Available
    <http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2005/saving_lives.htm>
    (May, 2005).

[^3]: ^1\ 2^ Funding Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
    through the Association of Teachers of Preventative Medicine;
    Grantee: Research and Training Center on Independent Living,
    University of Kansas; Project Name: Nobody Left Behind: Disaster
    Preparedness for Persons with Mobility Impairments.

[^4]: ^1\ 3^ Funding Source: U.S. Department of Education, National
    Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research; Grantee: West
    Virginia University; Project Name: Project Safe EV-AC.

[^5]: ^1\ 4^ Funding Source: U.S. Department of Education, National
    Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research; Grantee: Utah
    State University Center for Persons with Disabilities; Project Name:
    Bottom-Up Modeling of Mass Pedestrian Flows: Implications for the
    Effective Egress of Individuals with Disabilities.

[^6]: ^1\ 5^ Funding Source: U.S. Department of Education, National
    Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research; Grantee:
    Vcom3D, Inc; Project Name: Emergency Preparedness Training Software
    with Universal Access.

[^7]: ^1\ 6^ Funding Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security;
    Grantee: National Organization on Disability; Project Name:
    Emergency Preparedness Survey.

[^8]: ^1\ 7^ Funding Source: National Council on Disability; Grantee:
    June Isaacson Kailes; Project Name: Saving Lives: Including People
    with Disabilities In Emergency Planning.

[^9]: ^1\ 8^ Funding Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality;
    Grantee: Columbia University; Project Name: Emergency Preparedness
    for Special Populations. Proceedings from this conference indicate
    that current adult models and guidelines cannot be applied to
    disaster preparedness for children. Furthermore, a review of the
    literature in the area of pediatric preparedness yielded very little
    data. Conference proceedings indicate that this lack of data has
    resulted in policy statements that are based on a "best advice"
    approach rather than research findings.

[^10]: ^1\ 9^ This was an activity of the Federal Interagency Committee
    on Disability Research (ICDR). Formal recommendations from this
    conference are forthcoming, but cover areas such as: (a) building
    design, codes, and construction; (b) first responders; (c) the
    involvement of people with disabilities in emergency preparedness
    activities; (d) evacuation equipment and mobility devices; and (e)
    human factors and egress modeling (evacuation models that take into
    account human behavior).

[^11]: ^2\ 0^ The Interagency Committee on Disability Research Web site.
    Available: [http://www.icdr.us](http://www.icdr.us/) (April, 2005).

[^12]: ^9^ The pediatric preparedness conference included a focus on
    children's mental health and children with special health care
    needs. Information is available at:
    [http://www.ncdp.mailman.columbia.edu](http://www.ncdp.mailman.columbia.edu/index.html)
    and
    [http://www.pediatricpreparedness.org](http://www.pediatricpreparedness.org/).

[^13]: ^1\ 0^ The Department of Labor summary report and other
    information is available at:
    <http://www.dol.gov/odep/programs/emergency.htm>.

[^14]: ^11^ Information about the NIST conference is available at:
    <http://fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/fire05/art023.html>.

[^15]: ^12^ Information about the NOD conference is available at:
    [http://www.nod.org/epiconference2004](http://www.nod.org/epiconference2004/index.html).

[^16]: ^1\ 3^ The ICDR *Emergency Evacuation of People with Physical
    Disabilities From Buildings: 2004 Conference Proceedings*, including
    research recommendations, are available on the ICDR Web site at
    [http://www.icdr.us](http://www.icdr.us/).

[^17]: ^1\ 4^ Gallaudet conference materials are available at
    tap.gallaudet.edu/emergencyconf.htm. Research recommendations are
    forthcoming at that location.

[^18]: ^15^ Columbia University's research recommendations are
    forthcoming.

[^19]: ^1\ 6^ [Funding Source]{.underline}: U.S. Department of Commerce.
    [Grantee]{.underline}: WGBH National Center for Accessible Media.
    [Total]{.underline} [Funding:]{.underline} \$550,000.

[^20]: ^1\ 7^ [Funding Source:]{.underline} U.S. Department of
    Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation
    Research. [Grantee]{.underline}: WGBH National Center for Accessible
    Media. [Total Funding]{.underline}: \$450,000.

[^21]: ^1\ 8^ [Funding Source:]{.underline} U.S. Department of
    Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation
    Research. [Grantee]{.underline}: Research and Training Center on
    Independent Living at the University of Kansas.
    [Total Funding:]{.underline}** **\$162,500.

[^22]: ^1\ 9^ [Funding Source]{.underline}: U.S. Department of
    Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation
    Research. [Grantee]{.underline}: Utah State University Center for
    Persons with Disabilities. [Total Funding]{.underline}: \$450,000.

[^23]: ^2\ 0^ [Funding Source:]{.underline} U.S. Department of
    Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation
    Research. [Grantee]{.underline}: WGBH National Center for Accessible
    Media. [Total Funding]{.underline}: \$450,000. \*[Note]{.underline}:
    This project does not focus on emergency issues, but the general
    focus on accessible in-flight communications would assist
    communications in the event of an emergency.

[^24]: ^2\ 1^ [Funding Source]{.underline}: Center for Disease Control
    and Prevention through the Association of Teachers of Preventative
    Medicine. [Grantee]{.underline}: Research and Training Center on
    Independent Living at the University of Kansas.
    [Total Funding]{.underline}: \$622,408.

[^25]: ^2\ 2^ [Funding Source:]{.underline} U.S. Department of
    Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation
    Research. [Grantee]{.underline}: West Virginia University. [Total
    Funding]{.underline}: \$450,000.

[^26]: ^23^ [Funding Source]{.underline}: National Council on
    Disability. [Grantee]{.underline}: June Kailes. [Total
    Funding:]{.underline} \$25,000.

[^27]: ^2\ 4^ [Funding Source]{.underline}: U.S. Department of
    Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation
    Research. Grantee: University of Wisconsin/Madison. [Total
    Funding]{.underline}: \$4,324,988.\* [Note]{.underline}: This
    project does not focus exclusively on emergency issues, but does
    include a focus on accessible emergency alerts and communications.

[^28]: ^2\ 5^ [Funding Source:]{.underline} U.S. Department of
    Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation
    [Research.]{.underline} Grantee: Georgia Institute of Technology.
    [Total Funding]{.underline}: \$4,749,994. [Note]{.underline}: This
    project does not focus exclusively on emergency issues, but does
    include a focus on wireless emergency communications.