People With Disabilities In New York City

and Dentistry and Director of the Program in Disaster Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry and the UR Center for Disaster Medicine and Emergency Preparedness. For over a decade, he has responded to numerous national disasters as a volunteer with the American Red Cross. He has also developed comprehensive disaster mental health training programs for the New York State Office of Mental Health and the New York State Department of Health currently being disseminated throughout every county, state psychiatric center and acute healthcare facility throughout New York State.

The lack of accessibility is crippling for physically disabled people. This often leads to isolation and depression. Many disabled people have to move to big city to have the accommodations they need (special doctors, accommodating transportation, disabled friendly activities, etc.). The cost of living in these cities is so high that on top of therapy

One of the most intense, costliest, and deadliest hurricanes to impact the United States was Hurricane Katrina, a category 4 storm, in 2005 (Blake, Landsea, & Gibney, 2011). The National Hurricane Center estimates that 1200 deaths occurred as a direct result of Hurricane Katrina. Almost half of the victims were aged 74 years or older. Factors such as lack of evacuation facilities, infirmities and disabilities that make evacuation difficult or impossible, and higher levels of poverty and social isolation increase older individuals’ vulnerability

Willowbrook was designed in 1958 as an idea to build a school for the developmentally disabled. The New York legislature approved more than 5 million dollars to purchase 375 acres of land in the Northern part of Staten Island. Thirty building were erected completely surrounded by woods. When it was finished in 1941 the World War II was ending and veterans were just returning home. Veterans Administration took over the building to care for their wounded. The temporary name was Halloran General Hospital. It wasn’t until 1951 that Willowbrook opened its doors as “Willowbrook State School for people with disabilities.” Within the first 4 years Willowbrook surpassed its capacity of 2,950 by housing about 3,600 residents. Parents during that time were pressured by society, doctors, and even the court system to place their children who did not meet society’s standards of “normal.” By 1965 Willowbrook housed over 6,000 residents. This institution had the highest population in all of New Your State of disabled people along with the highest population of African Americans and Puerto Ricans. More than 200,000 people with disabilities nation wide were dumped into different institutions. The first legislative social reform gave families no other choices. The Federal Government did not provide any assistance to help keep their children stay home. Willowbrook became a dumping ground for the developmentally disabled where they were subjected to deplorable conditions, abuse and even

According to Heller and Factor (as cited in Wood & Jackson, 2003) the number of “older adults age 60 and older who are diagnosed with mental retardation or developmental disabilities is expected to reach 1,065,000 by 2030.” In fact, “in the last 30 years, the life expectancy of people with intellectual disability has increased more dramatically than that of the general population” (Bigby, 2010). Doka and Lavin (2003) report that advances in medical care and a shift to deinstitutionalization have contributed to this increase in life expectancy for developmentally disabled adults. Increasingly, federal policy has linked addressing the housing needs of older adults with those of low-income and non-elderly disabled individuals, according to

Tragic events that cause damage to property and life may destroy the social, cultural and economic life of a community. Communities must be engaged in the various phases from prevention to recovery to build disaster resilient communities. In order to do this, there must be a disaster preparedness plan in place that involves multiple people in various roles.

All throughout the 20th Century Americans have fought with endless vigor to gain equal rights. In many ways we've created new opportunities for minorities in America, but with each passing year new problems arise. For example, the American female community has made leaping bounds in the field of equality; this past election was the first time in history that a woman has made it to the position of presidential nominee. However, they still have struggles, as do many of the cultural groups living in America. A community that's currently facing equality struggles is the American disabled community. Many people with disabilities—mental and physical—have a harder time finding employment because of their health issues. Many activists of the disabled community such as Helen Keller (who is deaf and blind) and Judith Heumann (who has polio) have pushed to pass many disabled-rights laws (B4 Civil Rights). One such law is the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), which was passed in 1990 and made workplace discrimination against disabled people illegal (B4 Civil Rights). Americans have also tried to create a new amendment to the Constitution to end discrimination against the disabled, but it was never ratified (B4 Civil Rights). Although the disabled community faces struggles, they fight endlessly for their rights even today.

She suggest that funding needs to be increase to accommodate the elderly and disabled (Linda, 2014). The second Article called the “Transportation Barriers” Author Cronk informs about the struggles and frustration the elderly and people with disabilities face due to the lack of transportation services available to them. Furthermore, the author tells the story of an elderly man who was taken to the hospital by ambulance. But, on the day of his release from the hospital he had no family nearby and had no way to get home nor had money to pay for a taxi. The hospital was unable to assist him financially to pay for a cab, frustrated the elderly patient told his nurse he would walk eight miles to his home. Cronk informs that in populated communities although many people live near doctors and hospitals they continue to face the issue of poor transportation due to financial struggles. The author states that for those who are disabled riding public transportation becomes a great challenge. In addition to missing important preventive care appointments because they have no reliable access to transportation. Cronk states that the problems were worst among minorities, stating that a high percentage of disabled and elderly patients have missed appointments due to not having accessible transportation. Cronk continues to inform that many times they just wait for medical emergencies to visit a doctor. To

Individuals living in Long Term Care facilities are among the most vulnerable of populations during a disaster. Many lessons have been learned from devastations like Hurricane Katrina, Rita, and Wilma that occurred in 2005 in regards to the disaster preparedness levels of Long Term Care Facilities (LTC).

The main barriers to economic success for those in the employable age group of 16-64 in America are disability in all its forms, poor health, poor education, racial and gender discrimination. The most economically vulnerable population in America is that which is unemployed, non-white, female, lacking a high school education, and cutting across the full spectrum of disability. Potential policy interventions in support of people with disabilities in America would include such things as quality education, affordable financial services, skills training, intentional stakeholder engagement, and building financial capability into social and human service delivery. Overview

Imagine a society where individuals, regardless of disability, race, religious views, sexuality and origin, live in a state of harmony, where cities are integrated and provide equal access to all members of humanity. This utopian concept almost seems to contradict the current issues faced in contemporary society. However, papers and policies have been created that spread awareness and benefit certain aspects of society. The author, H Hahn, addressed the disability movement in a paper, “Disability and the urban environment: a perspective on Los Angeles.” Society’s objective should be to become increasingly perfect. To develop this ideal civilization, a broader, more introspective sense of reality needs to grasped to help build more adaptable cities. Hahn’s ideas suggest that people, largely urban planners and politicians, need to advance cities to accommodate those with disabilities consisting of mental, economic, and physical problems, develop a sense of what having a disability entails, and people should form alliances with the disabled to allow for the complete integration of the built environment and its communities.

Risk for disasters is a part of life; emergency situations occur more frequently than many people believe. A wise person plans for the worse, and hopes for the best. After a disaster, how well a community can recover will depend largely on how well they prepared in advance. Risk management includes identifying any potential risks to a community and proactively planning to minimize the threat. Proactive organization of resources and people to respond to emergencies can mean the difference between a community’s ability to regroup and recover, and the loss of life. To better

Along with the police department, the fire department will transport anyone with special needs, disabilities, and basically anyone who cannot walk distances to the safe locations. In transporting these citizens: cars, buses, RVs, ATVs, and any other

Transportation barriers lead to so many rescheduled and delayed of care, missed appointments, delayed of medical procedures, missed medications usage and other important medical issues to address. People with disabilities, including people with long-term physical, mental- disabilities and intellectual impairments with various transportation barriers may be hindered to participate in society on an equal basis with others (Becker, Dorflinger,

If this research is never conducted, ensuring the evacuation of all of the special needs individuals who need assistance will turn out to be a disaster in itself. If there is not a proper location for these individuals to go to, this will lead to loss of life or hospitalization for some, and mass chaos for others. There is a possibility that there are more people with special needs than available space or transportation. There is also a possibility that even if there is available space or transportation, that those with medical needs may not be able to be cared for in the facility provided. In order to find out if this is the case in Santa Rosa County, the Emergency Management Department needs to find out how many people need assistance.