Imagine that you are in a wheel chair on the landing of a stairwell in a school emergency. Your school friends and teachers have evacuated the building, leaving you behind. This is a very real situation and school emergencies are common place, whether it’s fires, active shooters, terror attacks or unplanned releases of chemicals. It is the school systems moral, ethical and legal responsibility to safely evacuate everyone in the event of one of these emergencies, not just the able bodied.

School systems must act now and have the capacity to move all students, staff and visitors with temporary or permanent disabilities to a safe location immediately at the time of an emergency event. More often this involves evacuating a student, staff or visitors downwards, which can be a challenge for those who are unprepared. However, using an Evac Chair® school evacuation chair, it makes it feasible and straight forward to evacuate mobility impaired occupants down stairs to safety in any emergency.

Identifying and preventing risk is a crucial part of emergency planning in schools and should never allow leaving anyone behind because they are differently abled. Pre-planning for an emergency in a school is imperative in today’s world. School systems must have the capacity to move all persons with disabilities to a safe location immediately in any emergency situation. Sheltering in place and waiting for first responders to arrive and rescue may not be safe or the best option. Robust emergency and evacuation planning should be part of a student’s 504 plan and IEP process. Plans should be comprehensively written according to the student’s needs and be attached to the 504 or IEP.