Look World, RantWoman is pretty sure most people would like just to ease into National Disaster Preparedness Month. Maybe some gentle cheerleading should make the whole subject of preparedness seem cheery and friendly and doable in daily bite-sized increments.
This is RantWoman though.
Why wait around for disasters? Quite a bit of that disaster preparedness stuff is stuff we should all be doing every day so we are practiced when a disaster hits.
Todays Preparedness #NatlPrep / Inclusion / #Accessibility comment
RantWoman has worked on disaster preparedness projects involving the vulnerable populations she runs around with all the time. RantWoman has MANY stories. Here is one about, among other things, meetings, accessible restrooms, and disaster planning:
One of RantWoman's colleague / collaborators on these projects
1. Uses a wheelchair. Sometimes he uses a manual chair. Sometimes he uses a power wheelchair.
2. Has a very severe hearing impairment so he cannot hear worth spit. But he is thoughtful, insightful and respected by his neighbors. IF needed information penetrates all his sensory barriers, he is very good at reliably repeating it.
3. Probably qualifies as legally blind but does not identify as such. RantWoman just knows that when Collaborator is using his power chair, RantWoman REALLY does not want to be walking in front of him for fear of getting her ankles run over.
RantWoman recently came to the following observations which are MEANT to be respectful: It is not necessarily helpful in the moment when very hearing-impaired colleague refuses to wear his hearing device, needs to talk ALL the time in meetings and otherwise about accessible restrooms and I mean ALL the time. Unfortunately RantWoman has come to see that him talking this way during disaster PREPAREDNESS efforts MIGHT possibly ensure that accessible restrooms get included in disaster planning.
That is, if Colleague is driving RantWoman crazy when everyone is warm and dry and the lights are on and there are signs everywhere proclaiming restrooms accessible, guess how much worse things might be when the power is out after one of Seattle's famous killer windstorms or when everything we take for granted gets upended after a giant earthquake.
Readers will note: RantWoman used the phrase "signs proclaiming restrooms accessible." RantWoman has relatives who use wheelchairs and women's restrooms; Esteemed Colleague needs men's restrooms. RantWoman could, if desired, fill the conversation with as many tales of inaccessible restrooms as Esteemed Colleague does. Why wait for a disaster? Do the best you can with your space and ADA guidelines for everyday use. And make sure any planning for special circumstances includes accessible restrooms!
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