Hi, and welcome to Disaster Preparedness for Providers. My name is Crystal Goodwin, and I'll be your moderator for this course. A little bit about me is my formal education is in Emergency Management and Disaster Preparedness. And over the course of my career, I have been involved in a multitude of disaster and disability related projects. I've done research into the State of Texas Emergency Assistance Registry, or the STEER database, which we'll talk about more later. I've been involved in the review and revision of emergency plans, including mass care facilities. And I have been involved in multiple projects that focus on increasing the supports and services for individuals with disabilities within the disaster management cycle. This is module one, all about disaster terminology, where we will cover commonly used disaster terms and phrases. When talking about disasters, it's important to understand the difference between a disaster, a hazard, and an emergency. A disaster is an event that severely impacts and damages a community. These are typically singular events that have large scale and wide reaching impacts. A hazard is an event that has the potential to harm a community or the environment. We'll get into an example and a little bit more detail here in a second between disasters and hazards. However, an emergency is an unexpected event that requires an immediate response and typically puts an individual's life or property in danger. When we think about emergencies, these can be singular events that puts only a singular person or a singular family in harm's way, versus a disaster is a community wide reaching event. When we're talking about disaster preparedness, we're talking about a planning cycle, where individuals and families prepare for when a disaster may occur. This could include making evacuation plans or putting together a go kit. In the disaster world, when we talk about vulnerability, we're talking about a condition that is determined by multiple factors and increases the susceptibility to the impact of a hazard. A vulnerability could be something like a disability or access to private transportation. So really digging in, what is the difference between a hazard versus a disaster? Well, a disaster is something that has already caused damage and disruption, and it is the negative impact from a hazard occurring. A disaster significantly harms a community and must do so in order to be classified as a disaster. A hazard, however, is a type of storm or a type of issue that has the potential to cause harm, but has not caused harm yet. A hazard is simply the threat of an event occurring. When you want to think about an example, think about our recent Hurricane Helene. Hurricane Helene was a disaster because it caused damage and disruption, it was a negative impact, and it significantly harmed a community. However, a hurricane out in the middle of the ocean is a hazard. It is a type of storm and has the potential to cause harm if it makes landfall, but has not done so yet. It is simply the threat of an event. When we talk about disability and disasters, it comes with its own set of definitions. First off is the definition of a disability, which can change based on the organization you're looking at. The definition of a disability, according to the CDC, is a condition that affects one or more of life's major functions and how an individual interacts with the world. A term that used to be used commonly within disaster spaces is the term of special needs populations or special populations, which describes individuals or a group who have additional needs before, during, or after an incident. It is important to note that special populations or special needs populations is a term that is being phased out of emergency management and is generally disliked. Commonly discussed issues about disability and disasters is about durable medical equipment, or DME, which is medical equipment that is typically used on a daily basis or for long periods of time. DME may include an individual with a wheelchair or an oxygen machine, and often comes up due in disaster conversations due to the lack of power. Finally, is person first language. Person first language is a way of speaking or writing that emphasizes a person before their condition or their disability, and is generally the rule of thumb when talking about disabilities. For example, you would say a person with a disability instead of a disabled person. It is important to note, though, that some disability communities do not prefer person first language and prefer identity first language instead. For example, individuals with autism typically pervert the communication of autistic individuals or the autism community. This is one of those things where you need to understand your community and your audience of who you're talking to and find out what they prefer in general. This is the end of Module 1. In Module 2, we will be discussing the difference between disability and access and functional needs.

disaster management

emergency management

disabilities

vulnerability

person-first language