When natural disasters strike, many people with disabilities depend on emergency first responders and the kindness of family members and neighbors to survive. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy tearing across the eastern seaboard last week, many such stories are still coming to light.
CBS This Morning took a good, long look at the impact of Sandy on people with disabilities during its Saturday edition. Reporter Willem Marx visited a group home on Long Island that was still without power at the time. Marx talked with residents and caregivers about what they are doing to keep up morale and provide for basic needs. Then Stephen Freeman, CEO of the Young Adult Institute network and Courtney Burke, commissioner of the New York state Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, were in the studio with a progress report and information about how people could help with the relief and recovery efforts.
Maria Vultaggio of the International Business Times has been taking time out from writing about the Hollywood film industry and general celebrity gossip to write about the impact of Hurricane Sandy, including the effect it’s had on her 21 year-old sister, Felicia, who is having difficulty comprehending what has transpired because of her autism. “It doesn’t take much to make Felicia happy, and now, the only things that keep her happy are inaccessible,” she writes.
I first found the story of Nick Dupree and Alejandra Ospina recapped by Michelle Wolf at the Jewish Journal website. But it’s worth following the link to the Little Free Radical blog and reading Crystal Evans-Pradha’s blow-by-blow account of how she used social media networking to help Nick Dupree and his partner Alejandra, when they were stranded on the 12th floor of their Manhattan apartment building. In addition to showing just how much good can come from the interconnectedness of our modern world, there was also this great moment of levity that demonstrated the value of good photo-tagging practices:
I started looking on Google Maps for the closest fire station but I was getting incorrect info. after searching unsuccessfully… my friends firefighter husband, Dave LeBlanc… found me the station name & phone number and I called immediately. Only to realize that the fire department’s phone lines were also down… so he suggested Twitter. Sandi Yu immediately tweeted NYFD to see if we could get further info, but we had no luck. …Of course we had a total :::facepalm::: moment when after working so hard to figure out the fire dept, I realized this was Nicks FB profile picture captioned ‘Visiting Ladder 1 across the street. October 10th — at Engine 7/ Ladder 1 FDNY.’ LOL, the answer to that one right hidden in plain site, right in his profile picture caption. oops!
Share any links to stories about Hurricane Sandy and its impact on people with disabilities in the Comments section.
Image by The National Guard.