I've used a wheelchair for the past 35 years. Mostly, I don't even think about - nor do my wife and son; it's just there ... how I get around. However, I do think about it in terms of being prepared. It could really be a pain in an evacuation. Thus, I plan on bugging in rather than out but if I need to bug out both my van and my wife's are stocked up to help us deal with most situations.

That said, my experiences in various situations with first responders, other professionals, and the general public has been very reassuring. People are ready, willing, and mostly able to make sure I'm alright (they might need some friendly guidance to avoid killing me with kindness). Over the years this has included getting and accepting friendly offers of help from some pretty unsavory and frankly scary looking individuals. All but the seriously unstable bad guys are, IMO, willing to help someone who they percieve is unable to help themselves. Yes, I know some people are dangerous ... I work on being smart about it and have the means to protect myself and others, but here's my point - - Virtually everybody goes out of their way to ensure that disabled people have what they need. The problems are: (1) some people are going to get passed by in truly bad/high stress situations and (2) you're not gonna get any help if nobody knows you need it.

One last thing - as I've written here before - there are times when triage kicks in and saving a bunch of people versus saving one disabled person becomes a real life decision. I can't think of a tougher call but trained professionals will suck it up and make the right decision.

Geez. A government study could screw up a beach party.