Approximately 500,000 households felt the effects of Hurricane Harvey, which amounts to almost two million people in recovery mode. Of those people, 18 percent are part of the disabled community in Texas.
That’s where the Center on Disability and Development (CDD) in the College of Education and Human Development at Texas A&M and its Project REDD come in. Laura Stough, associate professor of educational psychology and assistant director of the CDD, and her team have spent countless hours responding to the needs of the disabled community in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.
Stough said that the biggest challenge is not just rebuilding their homes, but making sure their homes are modified to accommodate their specific disability needs.
“We are helping those who are starting to move out of shelters and are starting to rebuild or return to their communities,” Stough said. “We want to help link them up with organizations that have expertise and resources that are specific to disabilities.”
Project REDD involves faculty and staff who conduct research on how disasters affect people with disabilities while also providing training and resources so the public can better prepare in the event of a disaster. After Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas Gulf Coast, Project REDD distributed these resources across the 39 disaster-declared counties, particularly to emergency managers and shelters.
During the Bastrop County wildfires in 2011, Project REDD launched the “Mobile TIPS for First Responders.” It is a mobile-based website for first responders that provides resources to help people with disabilities and special needs during an emergency.
“We know that people with disabilities have been found to die at a higher rate after a disaster…they also experience larger property loss,” Stough said. “In general, it will take them longer to recover from disasters. Part of that is the fact that they are at risk of being disconnected from their disability-related support services and organizations.”
Project REDD also has developed the “Disaster Acronym Guide” and the “Texas Guide to Supports and Services for Individuals with Disabilities and Their Families Affected by Disasters.” Over the past three weeks, those resources have been distributed to emergency management personnel, case managers, volunteer organizations and the cities affected by Harvey. The hope is to alleviate added stressors experienced by the disabled community.
Learn more about Project REDD and tools to help in disasters.
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This story by Ashley Green originally appeared in Transform Lives.
