{"id":26298,"date":"2025-04-21T09:00:16","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T09:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=26298"},"modified":"2025-04-21T09:22:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T09:22:55","slug":"when-natural-disasters-hit-people-with-disabilities-feel-them-first-and-worst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=26298","title":{"rendered":"When Natural Disasters Hit, People With Disabilities Feel Them \u2018First and Worst\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Having a plan in case you need to evacuate or lose power is essential. Here\u2019s how to make one.<\/p>\n

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As 75-mile-an-hour winds whipped black smoke across the sky, I stood in my kitchen, worrying about what it would take to evacuate. My husband had packed up the medications, arm and knee braces and heating pads I needed to manage my debilitating, chronic pain.<\/p>\n

But now what?<\/p>\n

It was Jan. 8 in Los Angeles. There were 100,000 people under evacuation orders, and every hotel and Airbnb was booked. I had nowhere to go, no refills remaining on one of my medications and no idea how bad my pain would become if I missed a scheduled medical procedure.<\/p>\n

Fires, floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters are hitting<\/a> harder than ever. And when they do, people with disabilities often feel the impact \u201cfirst and worst,\u201d said June Isaacson Kailes, a disability policy consultant in Los Angeles. An estimated 1.3 billion people<\/a>, or 16 percent of the world\u2019s population, has experienced significant disability.<\/p>\n

Despite facing a higher risk<\/a> of injury or death than those without disabilities, however, 84 percent of people with disabilities worldwide report feeling unprepared<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cYour survival depends on having a plan and knowing how to carry out that plan,\u201d said Mike Diehl, an amputee and former firefighter in Middletown, Ohio.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Experts recommend using disability-specific checklists to prepare go bags for your home, work and car.<\/span>Michael Swensen for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Michael Swensen for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into<\/a>\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe<\/a>\u00a0for all of The Times.<\/p>\n

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Having a plan in case you need to evacuate or lose power is essential. Here\u2019s how to make one.As 75-mile-an-hour winds whipped black smoke across the sky, I stood in my kitchen, worrying about what it would take to evacuate. My husband had packed up the medications, arm and knee braces and heating pads I needed to manage my debilitating, chronic pain.But now what?It was Jan. 8 in Los Angeles. There were 100,000 people under evacuation orders, and every hotel and Airbnb was booked. I had nowhere to go, no refills remaining on one of my medications and no idea how bad my pain would become if I missed a scheduled medical procedure.Fires, floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters are hitting harder than ever. And when they do, people with disabilities often feel the impact \u201cfirst and worst,\u201d said June Isaacson Kailes, a disability policy consultant in Los Angeles. An estimated 1.3 billion people, or 16 percent of the world\u2019s population, has experienced significant disability.Despite facing a higher risk of injury or death than those without disabilities, however, 84 percent of people with disabilities worldwide report feeling unprepared.\u201cYour survival depends on having a plan and knowing how to carry out that plan,\u201d said Mike Diehl, an amputee and former firefighter in Middletown, Ohio.Experts recommend using disability-specific checklists to prepare go bags for your home, work and car.Michael Swensen for The New York TimesMichael Swensen for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26300,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26298"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26301,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26298\/revisions\/26301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}