Fires, Disasters & Emergencies

Reimagining Preparedness, Response and Recovery

The Protection and Advocacy (P&A) Network builds partnerships with emergency management leaders at state and local levels to protect the rights, safety and dignity of disaster survivors with disabilities. Advocates and attorneys strive to prioritize and protect disability rights throughout fires, disasters, humanitarian crises and other emergencies utilizing strategies such as impact litigation and structured negotiations.

Check out our COVID-19 Issue page for the latest network-wide updates, activities, and resources related to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Partnerships

NDRN has partnership agreements with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the American Red Cross, the National Association of State Fire Marshals, the Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies, and the Center for Campus Fire Safety to operationalize P&A engagement while furthering a national discourse on inclusive emergency management.

Logo for FEMA

Logo for American Red Cross

National Association of State Fire Marshals

Logo for Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Stategies

Center for Campus Fire Safety logo

NDRN believes that Disability Justice approaches can be used throughout disasters to protect disability rights, recognize histories of harm and center communities of color. We use the 10 Disability Justice Principles created by Sins Invalid to reimagine new paths toward equitable emergency management practices guided by antiracist and antiableist policies. This work is anchored by the need for greater inclusivity of Black Indigenous People of Color with disabilities as we all collectively strive to deepen our understanding of the communities we serve. It is this conscious and continuous commitment to intersectional inclusion that strengthens our capacity to extend legal and advocacy support to diverse disaster survivors with disabilities.

Questions about our work on Fires, Disasters & Emergencies? Contact Justice Shorter, NDRN’s Disaster Protection Advisor at (202) 880-2435.

Coming Soon…

NDRN will soon make its podcasting debut in early 2020! We will launch The Panda Pod: Protection & Advocacy for People with Disabilities with a mini-series related to disasters featuring informative interviews and captivating conversations. Other initiatives on the horizon include:

  • Voting Rights After Disasters
  • Census: A Central Connection to Disaster Funding/Assistance
  • Human Trafficking of Disaster Survivors with Disabilities
  • Disaster Assistance Review: Centering Antiableist & Antiracist Policy Recommendations
  • How We Survive: Skills & Strategies from Disaster Survivors with Disabilities
  • Project Pacific: Prioritizing the Needs & Interests of Pacific Island P&As

Latest in Fires, Disasters & Emergencies

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  • Fires, Disasters & Emergencies

    Human Trafficking: What It Is and How it Impacts the Disability Community

    January 15, 2021

    How people with disabilities are deliberately being targeted for sex and labor trafficking and exploited for financial gain.

    Webinar
  • COVID-19

    Johns Hopkins Disability Health Research Center Presents “Disability and COVID 19: An Unequal Response”

    August 25, 2020

    NDRN’s Justice Shorter was a panelist to discuss how COVID has differentially impacted people with disabilities, and to outline needed improvements to a public health emergency and natural disaster response for disabled people.

    Webinar
  • Fires, Disasters & Emergencies

    Juneteenth Congressional Briefing on Inequality & Disproportionate Impacts of COVID Response

    June 23, 2020

    NDRN’s Justice Shorter spoke about legacies of systemic inequality – including drinking water, police violence, housing, LGBTQIA+, education, and incarceration – that lead to public health crises and disparate disaster impacts, including drinking water, police violence, housing, and incarceration.

    Webinar