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A Call From FEMA

11/8/2014

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As many of you know, I have two major passions - disability rights advocacy and activism and emergency preparedness. I have been involved in disability advocacy for 28 years and emergency preparedness for 10 years. To me, this comes as naturally as breathing and education is the key to raising awareness in the community, which is why I have written numerous articles and blogs on disability and emergency preparedness issues and have recruited over 30 folks with disabilities to train as CERTs (Community Emergency Response Team).

Now, I am one step closer to realizing my dream of working in emergency management with an emphasis on disability. About six weeks ago, a friend and colleague who lives in Montana sent me a job announcement from FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, regarding a job with FEMA here in Denver. A couple of days later, another friend in Montana sent me that same job announcement.

Trust me, it wasn't lost on me that two friends in MONTANA were the ones who sent the job announcement to me, so of course, I took notice! After reading it over and over and visualizing myself in the position, I made a couple of updates to my resume, sent it in, and asked my wife to pray for me. Since the process takes 4-6 weeks, I knew it would be a while before I head anything, good or bad.

Then, it happened.

FEMA called me yesterday (Friday, November 7th) and told me they want to interview me next Friday, the 14th, for the Regional Disability Integration Specialist position. If, no - WHEN - I am hired, I'll have to travel around Region 8, which is Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota to make sure that the needs of people with disabilities are met before, during and after a disaster.

Because I'll be considered an emergency manager, if a disaster happens, I will have to go to where it is. I'll also have to do lots of outreach and training, as well as write policy on disability integration. I will be on call 24/7/365 and will have to travel quite a bit, being gone sometimes for weeks or months, sometimes living in very austere conditions.

When hired (I have been visualizing myself in the job ever since I saw the announcement), I'll report to the Regional Administrator and the Office of Disability Integration and Coordination of FEMA. My position is unsupervised, so I'll be on my own a lot.

Ok, here it is straight from FEMA:

JOB SUMMARY: As the Disability Integration Specialist, you will prepare individuals, families and communities before, during and after a disaster by providing guidance tools, methods and strategies to integrate and coordinate emergency management efforts to meet the needs of all citizens, including children and adults with disabilities and others with access and functional needs.

EMERGENCY ASSIGNMENT: Every FEMA employee has regular and recurring emergency management responsibilities, though not every position requires routine deployment to disaster sites. All positions are subject to recall around the clock for emergency management operations, which may require irregular work hours, work at locations other than the official duty station, and may include duties other than those specified in the employee's official position description. Travel requirements in support of emergency operations may be extensive in nature (weeks to months), with little advance notice, and may require employees to relocate to emergency sites with physically austere and operationally challenging conditions.

DUTIES: In this position, you will be recognized as an authority, expert, and senior technical advisor on disaster disability integration and coordination issues.  You will be responsible for ensuring that the access and functional needs and requirements of individuals with disabilities are being properly included and addressed in all aspects of emergency preparedness are being properly included and addressed in all aspects of emergency preparedness and disaster response, recovery, and mitigation. Typical assignments include:
 ·         In collaboration with the Offices of the Regional Administrator and the Office of Disability Integration and Coordination (ODIC), participate in developing and implementing comprehensive procedures for managing the regional disability integration and coordination in disaster programs in accordance with Federal policy and guidelines.
 ·         In collaboration with the Office of the Regional Administrator, participate in developing and implementing Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) that include the needs and requirements of people with physical, sensory, intellectual, cognitive and mental health disabilities to evaluate disaster programs and measures for providing equal access to persons with disabilities.
 ·         In collaboration with the Office of the Regional Administrator and the ODIC, participate in developing and implementing policies and procedures that ensure equal access for all disaster survivors.
 ·         Perform outreach briefings, which promote diversity and inclusive practices to include people with disabilities in preparedness and disaster programs that are in compliance with appropriate disability policy and procedures.
 ·         Perform outreach briefings to raise awareness of reasonable accommodations, policies, procedures, and resources available to disaster applicants in FEMA programs; and process requests in accordance with appropriate Federal regulations.


See? This has Anita Cameron written all over it!

This will be my dream job, and trust me, the pay is WELL worth it and the benefits are awesome! It's a permanent position - a federal job - not tied to any political situations.

So, all of you out there who know, love and respect me - please send well wishes, prayers, good thoughts, good energy, good juju, good vibes and positive affirmations to strengthen my positive visualizations that I have been chosen for the position. I know that I am up against strong candidates, but I know that my passion shines through in my resume, in my writing and when I talk about the subject. All of my skills - teaching, organizing, writing, team-building and advocacy will be brought to bear in this position - I will be an invaluable asset to FEMA. I will dazzle and shine in that interview!



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Emergency Preparedness: Vital Necessity or Expression of Privilege?

8/8/2014

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As I hear of recent and impending disasters and assess my, and my household's state of preparedness, I've begun to ponder the assertion once made to me that it is privilege that allows me to be able to devote the time and energy that I have toward emergency preparedness.

Ok, I accept that if that's the way you feel. I have a different take on the matter. Everyone, as much as they possibly can, should be prepared. Many of us have the mistaken belief that the government will, or should be there to help when disaster strikes, but as people who have lived through disasters can attest, the government is often NOT there, at least, for the first few days.

Check out this scenario: A tornado or hurricane blows through your town and your neighborhood is affected; there is damage and rubble everywhere, most likely, blocking off streets, highways, and the like, preventing first responders like police, fire rescue and ambulances from reaching your area to help you and your neighbors out. Now, you and your family are in your home or apartment a bit shook up, but otherwise, ok. If you're lucky, you still have power, so you watch TV or listen to the radio and are furious to learn that help will not arrive for three days. You're panicking because there's not much food in the house because you were supposed to go shopping tomorrow, and the water is only trickling out of the faucet. You check on your neighbors and find that they're pretty much in the same boat except that crazy lady with the dreadlocks who lives on the corner. She says she's a bit rattled but everyone is fine and they have plenty of food, water and supplies. She's about to go check on some other neighbors and invites you to go along. You ask how is it that she has plenty of food and water when everyone else doesn't. She tells you she's been putting aside a can of food here and there, a bottle of water here and there, stashing a roll of toilet paper and batteries here and there for a few months and making sure that her and her room mate's wheelchairs have been kept fully charged. You figure the lady isn't so crazy after all, and maybe you and your neighbors should have listened to her instead of laughing.

You see, being prepared isn't just for rich people or Preppers waiting for a race war or the zombie apocalypse. Being prepared is for everyone, from those wealthy enough to build underground shelters stocked to the ceiling to folks living on a fixed income relying on food stamps. For me, being prepared also means helping and teaching my neighbors to be prepared, as well. I'm not rich, nor am I special or privileged. I am a person with disabilities, who makes a couple of bucks off of my writing when I can. In my free time, I took classes on emergency preparedness, classes which are absolutely FREE. ALL of the classes I took, from CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams) training to teaching CERT, to designing CERT programs were absolutely FREE, including textbooks! The only thing I paid for was bus fare to get to the classes.

Look folks, I fully understand that when you're struggling to make ends meet, when you're in that nursing home trying desperately to get out, when you're wondering when your attendant is going to come get you out of or into bed or come fix your breakfast or dinner, the last thing on your mind is emergency preparedness. When your free time is devoted to fighting for civil and human rights for folks with disabilities, emergency preparedness seems just a bit frivolous, doesn't it? I think that's where some of the resistance and accusations of privilege comes in from my brothers and sisters in the Movement - that since I don't devote all of my time to freeing our people, that I have somehow sold out. My 33 years of fighting for social change and social justice, including 28 years in ADAPT doesn't count, so I suppose I have no defense.

To me, working to ensure that people with disabilities are included in all levels of emergency preparedness, from access to shelters to being involved in CERT and serving on committees, to teaching our community to be prepared is very important - perhaps, not as important as freeing our people, but certainly important in its own right.

The problem is, right now, those of us with disabilities who are into emergency preparedness are few and far between. We are separate voices in the wild, sometimes, with no support at all. For the most part, our community doesn't think about emergency preparedness until a disaster happens and someone with a disability is turned away at a shelter or there is no way to evacuate someone using a wheelchair.

Face it folks, natural disasters are occurring with greater frequency. We as a community need to be prepared to help ourselves and our families, at least. We cannot depend on the government or agencies to help us. It's up to us to be prepared. It's up to us to make sure that we are included in our city, county or state emergency preparedness plan and not take no for an answer when they don't want to deal with us. It's up to us to teach emergency responders how to help us BEFORE a disaster happens. It's up to us to learn basic survival methods so that we can help ourselves, our families and our neighbors. Trust me, NO one will do it for us!

If doing this to help my community means that I am privileged, then, I'm guilty as charged!

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