Simon (Host) 00:05

Welcome to this episode of the Enabled podcast. I'm your host, Simon Order. Great to have your company on the show today. We have Saloni Sharma from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services here in Western Australia. Saloni is the expert on preparing for emergencies and specialises in supporting all abilities. Good morning, Saloni. Welcome to the Ability Heroes Enabled podcast. Can you start by introducing yourself and explaining your role as the All Hazards Coordinator?

Saloni (Guest) 00:43

Sure. Thank you, Simon, for having me and a big thank you to Ability Heroes for inviting us and giving us an opportunity to come and share our work about emergency preparedness. So DFES is in the Department of Fire and Emergency Services and this is the agency which manages and controls and prepares communities for many disasters and emergency incidents. It's all about community preparedness, it's preparing before a disaster actually happens, and my role is all about All Hazards Coordinator in the at risk communities, which is not limited to, but including people with disability, seniors, remote communities, cultural and linguistic diverse people and so on and so forth. So hence I'm here talking to the Ability Heroes about how they can empower and enable themselves to become better prepared for emergencies.

Simon (Host) 01:29

Maybe you can provide some insights into the unique challenges the disability community faces during emergencies.

Saloni (Guest) 01:37

Because even in their day to day life they have some additional support needs and if they are not managed properly, that can be challenging. And to add another layer of emergencies where even average person gets stressed a mind does funny things in emergencies and stressful situations. We can't think straight. So having that additional lens of challenge of emergencies can definitely increase the challenge for people with disability, as it's all about abilities.

I always believe in this principle and I will talk a bit more about it, as people are experts at their lives and they know what's best works for them. So the whole unique approach which we are trying to take now at DFES is the strength-based approach. So we are talking about and building upon capability already available in an individual's life, their carers life, family's life and community, and it's a sustainable and inclusive way of being to manage emergencies along everybody to participate in reducing that risk and managing better. So when we talk from a strength-based approach and a shared responsibility space, then every individual, community, organisation can play a role together to make people with disability more equipped and better planned for emergencies.

Simon (Host) 02:46

I'm listening to you talk and I'm thinking collaboration, a lot of the time. Yes, how do you collaborate with local organisations, government agencies, those living with a disability to ensure good communication and coordination?

Saloni (Guest) 03:00

Great question, Simon, and you've picked the very big thing. Collaboration is the key. We are at a place, as I said, we need to bring them together, co-design things and collaborate with many different agencies. We did what was called the disability inclusive emergency preparedness forums. It's a forum where multiple stakeholders come together in a room and discuss pre-planning extra support needs which people with disability need. So it's usually led by local government and the Department of Fire and Emergency Services attend and other multiple stakeholders attend. The most important people, people with disability, their carers, their support networks, were invited  one-day this  workshop and we all got together on different tables and discussed what the challenges are, what extra support needs they need, plus also what strengths they have already, what existing networks they already have and what different service providers can work together. So collaboration plays a very important role. Emergency preparedness is not a one time event. It is a process and it's not something you can do it. Yes, I've made my plan, I've ticked and I'm done. It's an ongoing journey.

Simon (Host) 04:10

One thing that springs to mind with me is how do you ensure that emergency response plans and facilities are accessible and inclusive for those living with a disability? What specific measures have you managed to put in place or are you going to put in place?

Saloni (Guest) 04:26

All our resources are developed and once they are ready, they are all put through a process to ensure they're fully accessible and our websites also passes. Our web content passes accessibility guidelines and info can also be requested in Alternative Formats on Request. All our resources have alternate text on the photos and readability meets the requirements, the print requirements and even our volunteers. Some of our volunteers have lived experience with disability and they still come and volunteer, even in a brigade.

Simon (Host) 04:54

Can you share some strategies for educating the disabled community and caregivers about emergency preparedness, especially around, maybe, evacuation plans and the use of assistive technologies?

Saloni (Guest) 05:07

As I was mentioning, we've been working with Associate Professor Michelle Valinou and she's created a lot of good preparedness support tools and strategies, and one of them is called the Person Centred Emergency Preparedness course.

It is a four-week online course right now available by the University of Sydney Free of Cost. So you can put an expression of interest and I'll get the QR codes and the links when I come and and also some materials to share more about it. So what this course does is the planning starts with the person who's the expert at their life and it goes to a capability wheel, and the capability wheel has got eight areas of different support needs, so assistive technology, social connectedness, management of medicines, your living situation, and there's a workbook which you can break it down. This course was actually co-designed with people with disability and their carers and service providers.

Another exciting opportunity which I want to share here is they have what's called a peer leadership group, so what they're trying to do is enable people to actually become peer leaders in this emergency preparedness work. So Queensland is leading this work and at the moment there's an exciting opportunity and expression of interest out to take peer leaders from different states to come together and do this training together. What helps is then people listen to people with disability trying to work on their own emergency preparedness plan and then sharing it with other people with disability. That has a very different influence and impact, rather than me coming and telling them to make a plan. The website is called Collaborating for Inclusion. It has stories where people have gone through the process, so that is a great course that I encourage everybody to do, and it's just not for people with disability or their advocates or carers. It's for people like me, emergency personnel, it's for anybody who wants to be involved

Simon (Host) 07:04

Sounds like you've got this amazing toolkit available for those living with a disability. Sounds to me like there's no homogenous response. It's very person-centric and for those in that community, I'm sure that's really good news to hear that kind of message. Look, it's been fantastic to have you here, fantastic to talk to you and hear all this wonderful stuff that you're doing. Thank you very much for coming in.

Saloni (Guest) 07:31

It's a pleasure, simon, and thank you again to Ability Heroes for giving us an opportunity to share this very, very important work and great in them to think about this preparing and being proactive and thinking about the high threat season coming up.

Simon (Host) 07:51

For more information and resources, please visit dfeswagovau, and for all information around alerts and warnings, please visit emergencywagovau.