COLLEGE OF EDUCATION & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Texas A&M University

Drs. Sharp and Stough receive CDD research grant for disaster research

10/5/07

Courtesy The Battalion

Although Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were disastrous, imagine the state of those who were unable to process what was happening.

To determine the impact disasters have on these individuals, Texas A&M's Center on Disability and Development has received a $200,000 grant from the Center for Disease Control to learn "Lessons from Katrina and Rita."

Professor Laura Stough, the interdisciplinary training coordinator at A&M's center, is the main force behind the project.

"There's very little research out there on the effect of disaster on disabilities," Stough said. "Most of the research focuses on the immediate impact or a couple of months out after the disaster has occurred, but what we're interested in is their long-term recovery."

Stough said it was evident from conversations with focus groups and reports that many people with disabilities have yet to recover from the effects of Katrina. Because of this, she said, she wants to focus on how people are reconnecting.

"We are interested in how they are plugging back into their social networks, their support systems, the social service system, and how it's going right now," she said.

Stough said the phases of the research project involve personal interviews with 50 people in Texas and Louisiana who were affected by Katrina or Rita and telephone interviews with a sampling of 200 people.

Amy Elder, executive director of Texas Interagency Interfaith Disaster Response, TIDR, recognized how disaster relief underestimated the efforts needed to assist people with disabilities during the storms.

"Plans were not adequately in place to appropriately respond to rescue those who needed assistance, and in recovery, extra attention that persons with special needs might require were not adequately assessed," Elder said. "For disaster survivors of storms of the magnitude of Katrina and Rita, long term recovery is estimated to be around 10 to 15 years."

Barbara Epperson, with Advocacy Inc. Katrina Aid Today, said the project will aid in collaboration and exchange of expertise to improve emergency planning.

"We expect to achieve a greater national, state and local emphasis on emergency preparedness that is inclusive for people with disabilities," she said.

Amy Sharp, A&M Center for Disability and Development director, was involved with the project.

"This project is a natural extension of a project we have completed in which we studied the case management of people who have disabilities and are affected by disaster," Sharp said.

Stough said the research accumulated prior to her efforts were conducted through Project Research Education on Disability and Disaster, REDD. The program, affiliated with the Center for Disability and Development, involves education and research.

"The other part of project REDD is education, so we do workshops and presentations for emergency managers or for voluntary organizations active in disaster relief," Stough said. "We're really interested in filtrating the general emergency management and disaster response community, so that the practices they are using are really inclusionary."

Stough, who spent two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer, said her love for helping the hurricane victims developed after spending a month at the Austin Convention Center in 2005 and serving some of the rescued Katrina victims. Instead of enjoying a month-long sabbatical, Stough temporarily reenlisted with the Peace Corps through a branch called the Crisis Corps.

"When we had the opportunity through the center to apply for this small grant with the National Disabilities Right Network, I thought, 'Oh my gosh, I can come back to work and get to do this thing I fell in love with?' It's been incredible," Stough said.

Stough said since the center's initial research on the effect of the hurricanes on people with disabilities, the research has grown.

"This will be the fourth grant we have gotten in this area, and it's snow-balled. Although I did know a lot about people with developmental disabilities, I did not know much about disaster before it all began. I basically fell in love with this area of research."

The Center of Disability and Development was established in October 2005 through the Administration on Developmental Disabilities and is affiliated with the College of Education and Human Development.

Sixty-three of the centers can be found throughout the U.S.

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