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Disability Policy Consortium of Massachusetts

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Press Conference:

Beacon Street

Front of the State House

May 19, 2010 12:15

Water Crisis and People with Disabilities

The Disability Policy Consortium has filed a complaint with the Civil Rights Office of the United State Department of Justice indicting the government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for its performance during the recent water crisis brought about by the broken water main from the Quabbin Reservoir.

The agencies of Massachusetts were totally unprepared to respond effectively to the needs of many elders and people with disabilities. In fact, even though this was treated as a major emergency, it does not appear to us that emergency management plans were even activated.

· The government did not take any steps to communicate with the Deaf community by providing American Sign Language interpreters as part of the many press conferences held by the Governor, Department of Public Health or the MWRA.

· There was no organized effort to reach Deaf and Hard of Hearing people through text messaging.

· Video clips of the various press announcements were posted on www.mass.gov without any captioning.

· Local water distribution efforts were available to able-bodied people who could drive and carry a carton of water

· Calls to the MWRA emergency hotline were met with inconsistent and in many cases misinformation.

This is an indictment of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for its continuing failure to make preparedness for people needing additional assistance in time of an emergency serious. The Disability Policy Consortium has been an active voice calling for m participation of people in disabilities in emergency planning under the administrations of Governor Romney and Governor Patrick.

We are making a Civil Rights complaint because it is our belief that thing will not change without outside intervention. The federal government made planning with people with disabilities a priority in July 2004 with the Executive Order 13347.

· A report from the Task Force on People Needing Additional Assistance in Time of an Emergency was completed in September 2008. Since then, nothing has been heard about the report despite repeated requests for action form leaders within the disability community.

· A 2009 request for an expedited plan to meet the H1N1 threat to people with disabilities and personal care attendants was answer with along "process" that delivered a minimum response 9 months after the initial request.

Massachusetts has dodged two bullets in the last year. The H1N1 pandemic was not as contagious or as deadly as anticipated. The water crisis wasn't really a crisis because the replacement water was purer than expected. How many emergencies will we be able to escape? What if the water supply had been poisoned? What id the H5NI virus mutates with the H1N1?

Do we need to wait unless the next crisis or the following one to get serious about planning with and for people?

The DPC's recommendation to the U.S. Department of Justice is to create and empower an Interagency Coordinating Council based up the federal model established in 2004.

A full set of documents can be found at www.dpcma.org under News> DOJ Water

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Why Not Write the Governor a Letter?

The Disability Policy Consortium is taking a politically charged step by filing a Civil Rights complaint with the Department of Justice. Why not write the Governor a letter, call contacts within the administration, and/or seek a meeting with the people that are in charge of the agencies being cited?

History gives us the answer.

In September 2008, the Task Force on People Needing Additional Assistance in Time of an Emergency delivered a report to the administration that was the culmination of months of work by administration representatives, disability community leaders, elders, and other advocates. The report disappeared into the never-never land of an administration that has yet to designate a locus of responsibility for involving people with disabilities in statewide, regional and local efforts at emergency preparedness.

On May 1, 2009 the Disability Policy Consortium asked the Governor about what steps were being taken to address the potential threat of H1N1 virus on caregivers such as personal care attendants. The first response came in late June from the Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services with a promise of a meeting. July conversations conversation with an Assistant Secretary of Administration and Finance confirmed internal meetings were being held. A challenge to announce a plan at a mid-September meeting of the Statewide Independent Living Council was met with a public confession that “the ball was dropped” on the issue and that plans were being made. Two attempts at involving leaders of the disability community in determining a workable process were left incomplete. In early 2010 an inquiry by the DPC found that there were flu shot clinics being held in conjunction with 1199SEIU, the union responsible for organizing PCA’s. By this time it was clear that H1N1 did not pose the threat many were worried about.

1 A 2008 report on training personal care attendants produced for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health recommended options for insuring that people with disabilities and their PCA’s address issues of emergency preparedness has been shelved since it was completed.

The need for an aggressive and inclusive approach to meeting the needs of people with disabilities and elders in time of emergency has been a key component of the DPC agenda since 2006. The fact that distinct populations within the disability community have unique communication needs is something that is clear to many people within the administration and is something the DPC has in many conversations on emergency preparedness.

2 Another 2008 report on the efficacy of a registry to identify people needing additional assistance in time of an emergency has been similarly ignored. Federal ARRA funding would have been an excellent way to further the implementation of establishing a statewide registry with regional and local utilization.

The current water crisis proved to be a non-event. Crises are not predictable and the next one could take the form of poisoning the Quabbin with a limited number of hours to communicate a warning to all residents.

History demands an aggressive response to the water emergency issues. Instead, it is time to address the fact that Massachusetts has ignored federal emergency planning guidelines for including people with disabilities in planning. Massachusetts has ignored President George W. Bush’s Executive Order 13347 of July 22 2004. An attempt to include the portfolio of emergency preparedness in Massachusetts Executive Order 519 establishing an Assistant Secretary of Administration and Finance for Access and Opportunity failed.

The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice is the best option available to address the continue ignorance of people with disabilities in emergency planning.

The huge cultural differences between the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Public Health as the potential leader of human services agencies such as the Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, Elder Affairs, etc. drastically impedes solutions that are not readily achievable within the framework of the “hardware and evacuation” planners. The effort in 2009 to develop a mechanism to provide H1N1 immunization to personal care attendant ran into resistance from the public safety perspectives that did not want to consider alternatives ways of issuing transportation authorizations passes to PCAs.

DPC experience with emergency planners at all levels across the Commonwealth has made it clear that there is a need, indeed, a hunger, for potential answers to meeting the needs of people in time of an emergency. Local and regional planners oversubscribed our Registry Project focus groups in 2008.

The Disability Policy Consortium agrees with those voices within the Executive Office that the solution may lie in a high level position that has the authority to cut across agency boundaries and barriers and can be held accountable to the Governor and the people for delivering results.

1 The Governor shall issue an Executive Order creating an Assistant Secretary for Administration and Finance for Emergency Planning for People Needing Additional Assistance.

2 The Executive Order shall establish an Interagency Coordinating Council with responsibility and authority to set planning priorities for emergency planning for people needing additional assistance in time of an emergency for all Executive agencies of the Commonwealth.

3 Membership on the Interagency Coordinating Council shall include representative from the following entities of the Commonwealth:

· Assistant Secretary for Administration and Finance for Emergency Planning for People Needing Additional Assistance, Chair

· Massachusetts Office on Disability

· Executive Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security

· Massachusetts Fire Marshall

· Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency

· Massachusetts Department of Public Health

· Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

· Massachusetts Commission for the Blind

· Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission

· Massachusetts Office of Public Safety

· Department of Elder Affairs

· Department of Mental Health

· Department of Developmental Services

· Executive of Energy and Environmental Affairs

· Massachusetts Water Resources Agency

4. Representing the disability and elder communities

· Disability Policy Consortium

· M-Power

· Massachusetts Advocates Standing Strong

· Statewide Independent Living Council

· Massachusetts Senior Action

· Massachusetts State Association of the Deaf

· Bay State Council of the Blind

· Massachusetts Chapter, National Federation of the Blind

· The Arc of Massachusetts

· National Alliance of the Mentally Ill, Massachusetts

· Adult Onset Disability Alliance

· Massachusetts Councils on Aging

· Massachusetts Home Care

· National Association for Multiple Sclerosis, Central New England Chapter.

5. The Interagency Coordinating Council shall have a budget not less than $200,000 in addition to the salary of the Chair.

6. The Interagency Coordinating Council shall have the authority to set priorities for 40% of federal discretionary grant funds available to Massachusetts.