Social Etiquettes and How To Communicate Effectively With People With Disabilities, Part 2

The Independent Life

This episode is part 2 of the collaboration between Centers For Independent Living and The American Red Cross, coming together to help educate volunteers, staff, and supervisors about meeting the needs of people with disabilities during disasters. The phenomenal folks who work within these organizations dive deep into a conversation about how to communicate with people with disabilities during disasters and discuss ideas on how they can help with accommodations while sheltering.

Coming out of the recent conversation Tony had with Deborah on the previous episode, we learned that there are approximately 200,000 volunteers that work for the Red Cross, so getting the proper communications and training to each of them can be quite a heavy lift. It is imperative to help educate people, especially those with limited experience in helping to serve people with disabilities.

Through collaboration, The American Red Cross has become a wonderful partner in helping to facilitate opening the door for Centers For Independent Living to connect with their volunteers and staff. This is a special episode in that you get a peak behind the scenes of what its like when high level collaborations occur, resulting in trainings that are helpful to volunteers who work to ensure the safety of the community is met when it is needed most.

Resources:

• Look For The Helpers With Deborah Koch
• For all things Red Cross: https://www.redcross.org/
• Volunteer Opportunities: https://www.redcross.org/volunteer/become-a-volunteer.html#step1
• Disaster Safety for People with Disabilities: https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/inclusive-preparedness-resources.html