‘We’d have to wheel him away from the water’

Five years after Hurricane Sandy, the city’s response plan for people with disabilities is better. But is it good enough?

Elliott Aguirre (right) doesn’t have a plan for how he’d evacuate his Brooklyn neighborhood in the event of a natural disaster. He can’t use the subway, he said, because there aren’t enough elevators and it would take too long. “If there was a flood, we’d have to wheel him away from the water,” said his friend Edward Bush (left). (Sarah Wyman)

Five years ago, Melba Torres watched from the living room of her Lower East Side apartment as Hurricane Sandy descended upon her neighborhood. “I had everything packed and ready to go,” said Torres. “I wanted to leave.”

However, Torres — who has cerebral palsy, arthritis, type II diabetes, hypertension and asthma — couldn’t evacuate. Her frantic calls for help went unanswered.

“I was in my apartment for six days with no water, no light,” said Torres. “Nobody with a disability should live through that. It makes you feel powerless.” Torres said she would have died without the help of the two aides who stayed with her during the crisis.

Torres later testified in a class action lawsuit filed by the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled (BCID), a 60-year-old nonprofit. The lawsuit, which was settled in 2013, accused the City of New York of failing to include disabled people in its emergency preparedness services.

Disability rights advocates credit the lawsuit for the city’s improvements to emergency planning and response for people with disabilities. But some of them also say the moves don’t go far enough.

Evelyn Castillo remembers when Hurricane Sandy struck in 2012. “It was scary, but fortunately I wasn’t affected,” she said. Thanks to instruction from Independence Care System, Castillo now keeps an emergency backpack in her apartment, is familiar with the City’s evacuation procedures for people with disabilities, and feels confident in her ability to evacuate should the need arise. (Sarah Wyman)

According to Kathryn Dyjak, Disability and Functional Needs Advisor at the City’s Office of Emergency Management, the city has made 16 of its 64 emergency shelters wheelchair-accessible since 2013. There is now an online tool to help disabled residents find the accessible shelter nearest to them, and the city is working with transportation agencies to improve emergency options.

“One of the biggest things we’ve done is enhance our public messaging not only at the time of a coastal storm but also every time of the year,” said Hayley Coleman, transportation and infrastructure project manager at Emergency Management, in a phone interview.

According to Coleman, 311 responders are now trained to provide instructions for people with disabilities. Emergency Management is also working to reach disabled residents before disasters through Ready New York presentations.

However, disability rights advocates worry that these improvements still won’t cut it in the event of another Sandy-level emergency.

Yvette Lee (left) and her daughter Stella Tate (right) don’t have an emergency evacuation plan. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot with everything that’s going on in Texas and Florida,” said Tate. “In the event of an emergency we don’t hear from anybody. They haven’t even contacted you,” she said, gesturing at her mother. “They call all the time asking for money. They know how old I am. They should be able to know that I need information,” said Lee, who has Stage IV cancer. (Sarah Wyman)

“We have a long way to go” said Margi Trapani, a member of Center for Independence of the Disabled, NY (CIDNY) and the Disability Community Advisory Panel that gives feedback about the City’s emergency plans. CIDNY provides advocacy, policy and direct assistance to people with disabilities.

Trapani and other advocates say it’s taking the city too long to modify emergency shelters, noting that only 16 are accessible despite the settlement’s stipulation that 60 be brought up to ADA standards by September 2017.

She also highlighted gaps in the training given to staff, transportation workers and emergency responders who work with disabled people. “We’re very concerned about staff who are not trained to work with people with disabilities,” she said. “This is not about being nice to people, this is about making sure people get the help they need.”

“I would like to tell you that if it were to happen again today we would be prepared, but that’s not true,” said Melba Torres. “We do not want to be treated with pity. What we want is to live with dignity and be respected as the individuals that we are.”