Jake Cornett, Executive Director and CEO of the advocacy group Disability Rights Oregon, says he will forever be haunted by Ashlyn Maddox鈥檚 death during the 2021 Oregon heat wave.
The Portland woman, 36, was disabled and living in a group foster home. She was dropped off by a medical transport company, but the company didn鈥檛 make sure she made it safely into her air-conditioned home. She ended up wandering around for hours in the heat, and died only 50 feet from safety.
Cornett says, 鈥淭hese deaths are preventable with the right planning, the right strategy for mitigation, the right preparedness and a response plan that complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and respects the needs of people with disabilities.鈥�
Cornett spoke with OPB's 鈥淎ll Things Considered鈥� host Geoff Norcross about Oregon鈥檚 ability to help people with disabilities during a natural disaster, such as the deadly wildfires burning in the Los Angeles area.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
Geoff Norcross: If we were to transport those fires in Southern California here, would we see a similar catastrophe for people with disabilities?
Jake Cornett: Surely, we fear that the same disasters we鈥檝e seen play out in the catastrophes in the lives of people with disabilities in LA would play out right here in Oregon as well. And I don鈥檛 think this is just a theoretical question. It鈥檚 only a matter of time before we have major wildfires along Highway 20, very close by in Portland and in other major cities throughout our state.
Norcross: What is the obligation of local governments to provide for people with disabilities when disaster strikes? I guess I鈥檓 asking if the Americans with Disabilities Act applies here.
Cornett: Absolutely. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that cities, counties, the state and the federal government are taking into account what the needs are of people with disabilities, and providing accommodations for those needs when engaging in disaster planning.
Norcross: Getting information out to people quickly in a disaster is so critical, especially for something that鈥檚 as fast-moving as the LA wildfires. For people who are deaf or blind, can you talk about how that鈥檚 extra complicated?
Cornett: Absolutely. You know, emergency response notification systems that happen on your phone are a great tool if you have a phone, or if you have the technology to make your phone provide you the information you need. And that鈥檚 particularly important for folks who are blind.
I think about a blind person who may not have the same visual access to information as others. If police run around your neighborhood and put a notice on your door that says 鈥済et out of town, there鈥檚 an evacuation order, you鈥檙e under wildfire threat,鈥� that notice on your door might not be enough because you can鈥檛 access that information.
And this is where cities, counties and the state really have an obligation to adjust to how they communicate so that it鈥檚 effective for all people with disabilities.
Norcross: And again, when you say obligation, you mean a legal obligation, not just because it鈥檚 the right thing to do.
Cornett: Absolutely. There鈥檚 a legal obligation to do that under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Norcross: Even if an evacuation order gets to affected people quickly, there鈥檚 this expectation that most people will get in their car and they will leave. How does that expectation leave people with disabilities in even greater danger?
Cornett: Yeah, that鈥檚 another huge issue for people with disabilities, especially when it happens quickly like the LA fires. People think evacuating is getting in the car, driving quickly away to safety.
But many people with disabilities don鈥檛 have access to a car, or they can鈥檛 physically drive a vehicle. They鈥檙e totally reliant on others to transport them to safety. So just providing that notice is not an adequate way to ensure that we are saving the lives of people with disabilities in the way it needs to be done.
Norcross: Is there an event here in Oregon that you can point to that shows us how situated we are to help people with disabilities when disaster strikes, good or bad?
Cornett: Here in Oregon, we鈥檝e seen hundreds die or have serious injuries because of heat in the past few years. Climate change is real. We live in a warming environment, and it鈥檚 having a really disproportionate impact on seniors, on people with disabilities and people with underlying medical conditions.
And I鈥檒l forever be haunted by a story of a 30-something year old woman who was dropped off by a medical transport company, but didn鈥檛 wait in their air-conditioned van to make sure that she got inside her home where there was air conditioning. Instead, they took off. She wandered around for hours before dying of heat, just 50 feet from her adult foster home.
These deaths are preventable with the right planning, the right strategy for mitigation, the right preparedness, and a response plan that complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and respects the needs of people with disabilities.