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Alice Hoffman – Program Coordinator - Health Promotion for People with Disabilities Initiative - Disabilities Health Unit – Michigan Department of health and Human Services
Not that emergency preparedness should be confined to one
month, but it certainly helps to have a designated time to get the ball
rolling. This year, the CDC’s theme is “Ready, Steady, Show, Go.”
Looking
at this through a disability health promotion lens, let's focus on Show – what
inspires those with disabilities to prepare? People relate more to stories and images of others like themselves.
Unfortunately, there is a
very real disaster playing out in our country – Hurricane Harvey has devastated
areas of south and continues to do so. This is a disaster affecting thousands
of people, including a large number of people with disabilities. There are pictures of flooded nursing homes, with aging adults and individuals with
disabilities sitting in several feet of water and wheelchair users stranded without their assistive devices.
Let this be a reminder of why to prepare. Wheelchair users
in the north can relate to wheelchair users in the south – users that spent
hours sitting in several feet of water. These powerful -albeit terrifying – images can
be used to inspire other to take action. Use those images to motivate the
populations you work with to make a plan, to get a kit, and to be
informed. Be sure to explain what
specifically a person can do to prepare – theory tells us that fear appeals are
no good without efficacy built in.
So while no one wishes for a disaster, use the
one the country is currently facing as we go into Preparedness Month. Use it as a real
world example of an emergency, use it to motivate the public, use it as a means
to inspire people with disabilities to prepare.
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