NCD Comments to POTUS on Extreme Heat Summit
October 18, 2024
President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President,
I write on behalf of the National Council on Disability (“NCD”) to offer our agency’s comments to the Draft Community Action Checklist, A Tool for Local Governments (“Checklist”) released at the White House Summit on Extreme Heat last month. NCD is an independent, bipartisan federal agency charged with providing advice to the President, Congress and federal agencies on matters affecting the lives of people with disabilities. NCD is required to “review and evaluate on a continuing basis policies, programs, practices, and procedures concerning individuals with disabilities conducted or assisted by Federal departments and agencies…in order to assess the effectiveness of such policies, programs, practices, procedures…in meeting the needs of individuals with disabilities.” NCD also “review(s) and evaluate(s) on a continuing basis new and emerging disability policy issues affecting individuals with disabilities at the Federal, State, and local levels.”
NCD released a report in May 2023 titled The Impacts of Extreme Weather Events on People with Disabilities. NCD found that extreme weather events such as excessive heat disproportionately and negatively impacts people with disabilities, particularly when excessive heat results in brownouts or blackouts. Power outages can jeopardize the health and safety of people with disabilities, older adults, and people with serious health conditions who often depend on equipment powered by electricity.
Socially vulnerable populations are disproportionately affected by extreme heat, particularly those who live with disabilities, communities of color and low-income individuals.
High temperatures in the summer are conclusively linked to an increased risk of a range of illnesses and death. The National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed that extreme heat is now the leading weather-related killer in America. Rising temperatures pose an imminent threat to millions of American workers exposed to the elements, to students in schools without air-conditioning, to seniors in nursing homes without cooling resources, and particularly to disadvantaged communities. Extreme heat is linked to elevated emergency room visits, hospital admissions, and mortality for individuals with mental health issues, cardiovascular and respiratory complications, and other disabilities. Rising temperatures will lead to an increase in heat-related illnesses and deaths. Heat waves triple the risk of death for people with preexisting psychosocial disabilities.
The “Checklist” recommends communities identify locations for cooling stations and create a transportation plan for individuals without personal transportation. The “Checklist” should also recommend that identified cooling stations are accessible to people with disabilities, for example curb cuts, automatic door openers and ADA compliant bathrooms. Transportation should be accessible to all, including wheelchair users. Paratransit service should be flexible in its operations to ensure people with disabilities can access cooling stations with minimal wait time between request and response. NCD also recommends that during a heat emergency, counties expand their paratransit services to ensure people with disabilities that live outside of the prescribed coverage area can access paratransit to reach cooling stations.
In our May 2023 report, NCD recommended that FEMA, in coordination with state, local, tribal and territorial (SLTT) Department of Public Works, should identify people with disabilities in the community at risk of heat-related illnesses and death and ensure such individuals have access to cooling stations. If, because of their disabilities, they are unable to access cooling stations, portable air-conditioning units should be made available to mitigate the risk of heat-related illness or death. NCD also recommended that HUD should require developers use materials that are more resilient to extreme weather events indicative of the area, for instance, metal shingles in California to mitigate wildfires, or a safe room in units designed for people with disabilities that should withstand high winds from hurricanes or tornadoes.
NCD respectfully requests participation in all future discussions or events on extreme heat to help ensure that solutions to mitigate the impact of extreme heat events will be accessible to all Americans. NCD stands ready to answer any queries you and your staff may have regarding the above recommendations. Please do not hesitate to contact me at cgordon@ncd.gov for further engagement.
Sincerely,
Claudia Gordon
NCD Chair