The Washington Times is running a breathless expose' containing the shocking revelation that existing government plans cope poorly with the "disabled". It is noted in passing that "disabled" is a pretty broad category.

As someone who gets around in a wheelchair these days my plan is pretty simple: be gone before a disaster, or be prepared to wait it out for 30 days until the mobile folks can deal with me. But I'm reasonably flexible and functional.

Probably the main thing is that handicapped people may need more space when evacuating. A blind person requires their seeing-eye dog or other assistant: I'm not getting on any evac bus without my (folding) wheelchair. Many require oxygen bottles.

At the extreme are those that are going to have to be moved via ambulance, or need electric power continuously to power medical gear. But many are intermediate cases that might fit into evac and shelter plans with a little thought by *everybody* (especially the handicapped themselves).

My primary evacuation plan is to move myself in my wheelchair-van, taking along a manual wheelchair and a couple of 4' and 5' portable ramps, and extra water, food and blankets as the situation warrants. That van already has quite a bit of "just in case" gear.

Evac plan B is to go in just my manual wheelchair. This is if someone else drives or evac is a bus, etc.

At an evac shelter the main need is to avoid stairs and not to pack things too closely together - there needs to be a wide enough path for the wheelchair to move - and the wheelchair must stay within arm's length of me at all times I'm there, no exceptions, even when sleeping on a cot. A fixed amount of space per person, with cots laid out in a neat grid, may be problematic.