Framing disaster planning for people with disabilities: Analyzing the CALIF v. City of Los Angeles lawsuit
Date
2013
Authors
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
In 2009, Communities Actively Living Independent and Free (CALIF), a non-profit
organization representing people living independently with disabilities, alleged in a
lawsuit that the City of Los Angeles had broken federal and state law by failing to plan
adequately for the needs of people with disabilities during disasters. As part of the
lawsuit, written and oral testimony regarding the validity of the case was presented.
These depositions and declarations provided a window into how decisions were
framed by different government departments, non-profits, and individuals and
specifically explored disaster planning in the context of access and functional needs.
In light of the varying opinions expressed in the documents, it was clear that
stakeholders within the City did not share the same views on what constituted
meaningful access to an emergency program. Textual analysis was conducted using
the sixteen declarations and thirteen depositions filed in connection with a motion for
summary judgment by both the plaintiff and the defense. Those documents were
analyzed using open coding to determine framing themes in the various documents
with Atlas TI software. Manifest and latent barriers and motivations for action as
expressed by different stakeholder groups emerged from the data. Consequences of
limited funding, attitudes against incorporating outside ideas, and universal issues with passivity inhibiting interaction between stakeholders all pointed toward the challenges
that need to be addressed to ensure that positive changes can come from this lawsuit.
Description
Keywords
Disaster planning, Disability, Los Angeles, California, Emergency management