ACCESS to READINESS COALITION

2009 EDUCATION & ADVOCACY AGENDA

JOIN A FAST TEAM!
The Disability Community has been advocating for three years for the State of California to adopt the use of the FAST TEAM. The purpose of the Functional Assessment Service Team (FAST) is to ensure that people with disabilities and people who have knowledge of disability are able to be a part of a trained team of staff who are called upon during disasters to respond to shelters. FAST members will be charged to identify people with disabilities  within shelters, assess their access and functional needs, assess the accessibility of the shelter to meet those needs and  ensure that our community members are sheltered based on needs, not assumptions. Deadline to apply: May 8^th, 2009

AB 611 (Fong) is a bill that intends to ensure that the State of California provides equal access to emergency planning, response and recovery for persons with limited English proficiency. A2R is educating policy makers about the need to include communication access for people with disabilities, such as including    recognizing American Sign Language, and providing publications in Braille, audio and digital formats.

AB 865 (Price) is a bill that proposes to develop and operate a full-time wireless communications system providing Californians with emergency information that is accessible by cellular telephone, text  pager, or computer. A2R is educating policy makers about the need to ensure that the systems developed must be provide equal access to people with various types of disabilities.