ADA National Network Learning Session: Research on ADA Coordinators Involvement in Accessible Emergency Management

ADA Coordinators assist state and local governments in making the agency's program and services accessible as required under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Emergency management has been identified in case law as a program and service that must be accessible under the ADA. This webinar will examine the results of recent research on ADA Coordinators' role, knowledge and efforts in the programs and services of Emergency Management in federal Region 9. We will also cover the overlap with previous research which looked into the knowledge and efforts of local Offices of Emergency Management in the same region.

Learning objectives:

• Name three key responsibilities of ADA Coordinators with respect to all phases of emergency management to ensure inclusion of people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs
• Discuss the role that ADA coordinators can play with respect to ensuring Offices of Emergency Management meet the ADA requirements with respect to disaster preparedness and response

Presenter:

Robyn Gershon is a Clinical Professor and researcher at the College of Global Public Health at NYU. Previously she served a Professor at Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health and at University of California, San Francisco, with an Adjunct Professorship at UC Berkeley, School of Public Health. She developed and teaches three asynchronous on-line disaster courses, the most recent is on Healthcare Disaster Management. She received her interdisciplinary doctoral training in occupational and environmental heath from Johns Hopkins University, School of Public Health. Prior to her doctoral studies, she served as the Director of the Department of Biological Safety at Yale University.

Dr. Gershon's research focuses on barriers and facilitators to disaster preparedness- especially with respect to vulnerable populations and essential workers- including the health care and public health workforce. Dr. Gershon's research is designed to inform policy and practice, as exemplified by her landmark "World Trade Center Evacuation Study," which helped lead to the first changes in the New York City high rise fire safety codes in more than 30 years. One of her most recent studies: "Mass Fatality Preparedness in the US", was the first national study on the operational capabilities and readiness for the management of mass fatalities within the US. Along with her colleague, Lewis Kraus of the Pacific ADA, she conducted a large national study on disaster preparedness for people with disabilities. They recently completed a study to determine the degree to which the needs of people with disabilities are addressed in local emergency management (FEMA Region 9) disaster planning and response activities. This research on ADA Coordinators builds upon this body of work with the goal of reducing disaster-related morbidity and mortality disparities in people with disabilities.

Dr. Gershon has published more than 125 peer review articles on her research.