Robert Ferguson – Individual Assistance Program

Robert joined FEMA in March 2017 as a disability integration advisor in the Washington, D.C. Office of Disability Integration and Coordination. Throughout his tenure with the agency, he has been deployed to numerous disasters, including flooding in Northwest Arkansas, Hurricane Harvey in Texas, Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, Hurricane Matthew in Georgia, wildfires in California, and most recently, Hurricane Ida in New York with the Region 2 Regional Response Coordination Center (RRCC).

After serving as the disability integration advisor for the Office of Disability Integration and Coordination at FEMA Headquarters for two years, Robert took a position in 2019 as the portfolio disability integration specialist for Region 6. In this position, he provided guidance on disability inclusion best practices to community-wide emergency management by integrating people with disabilities, and others with access and functional needs, into all aspects of disaster response, recovery, and emergency preparedness within the state of Texas.  Robert later relocated to the U.S. Virgin Islands, where he served as a liaison for volunteer and individual assistance agencies, as well as a member of the IMAT-ART team for Region 2. Afterward he relocated to accept a new position with the Caribbean Area Office (CAO) to support numerous declared disasters in Puerto Rico. 

Robert has served on the boards of several non-profit organizations outside of FEMA, including the Texas Association of the Deaf, in which he was a committee chair. From 2021 to 2023, he will serve as an expert member for the International Deaf Emergency in New York with the United Nations and the World Federation of the Deaf for Disaster Risk Reduction in Helsinki, Finland.  Robert also likes to explore the enigmatic world of scuba diving on weekends, when he often spends a lot of time diving.