On June 11, 2015 North Carolina Emergency Management's Emergency Preparedness for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, an initiative of the NC Council on Developmental Disabilities, held it's Mid-Year Conference to discuss emergency preparedness tools for the I/DD community.
Tactile signing is a common means of communication used by people with both a sight and hearing impairment.
The conference was attended by close to 100 individuals including people with I/DD, statewide non-profits, community-based agencies from across the state, Department of Health and Human Services agencies, self-advocates, parents and support professionals. Many thought-provoking topics were covered including individuals with disabilities participation on state wide Community Emergency Response Teams, the development of a Functional Assessment Support Team for sheltering across the state and all five committees convened to outline progress to date and create goals for year three of this exciting initiative. 

The initiative will keep the potent momentum going as they welcome new faces on the working committees. The entire team is looking forward to the great work as they overcome barriers to ensure that people with I/DD are prepared in the event of a disaster.