The Federal Emergency Management Agency and its emergency management partner organizations today released a presentation from its PrepTalks symposium series, Vance Taylor’s “We Succeed or Fail Together!” Taylor is the Head of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, Office of Access and Functional Needs, and his PrepTalk, recorded at the Sept. 6, 2018 symposium, focuses on improving outcomes for disaster survivors with access and functional needs.
“No two disasters are ever the same; they vary in a million different ways,” Taylor said. “But the one commonality they have is they disproportionally impact and affect people with access and functional needs every time.”
In his PrepTalk, Taylor shares a personal experience of visiting a shelter that failed to take into account the needs of people with disabilities, and how emergency managers can achieve better integrated planning. He urges the emergency management community to apply artificial intelligence and other technology to improving the way we communicate with and assist individuals with access and functional needs.