1. Global Alliance for Disaster Resource Acceleration
(GADRA)
Connecting disability-led organizations with corporate and
foundation resources for immediate and sustained impact
https://www.facebook.com/DisabilityGADRA
https://wid.org/global-alliance-for-disaster-resource-acceleration-gadra/

2. Global Alliance for Disaster Resource Acceleration (GADRA)
Executive Summary
STRATEGIC PILLARS
 Continue to Build the Global Alliance
 Grow the Emergency Operations Center
 Bolster reach of the Disaster Assistance Connections Hub
HOW GADRA
SUCEEDS
 Real-Time Collaboration – By using the World Institute on Disability’s (WID’s) Emergency Operations Center and communications capabilities,
this enables GADRA to effectively match disability-led organizations with corporate and foundation partners in order to efficiently target and
deploy resources in a timely manner.
 Resources Identified and Prioritized – Through this collaborative partnership, research, and on-the-ground intelligence resources such as
PPE, remote work tools, funding support, etc., are identified and prioritized that will provide disaster relief and make the most significant
immediate and positive impact.
PURPOSE
 GADRA is an alliance of Disability-led organizations, foundations and corporations concentrating disaster giving where and when its needed
most.
 GADRA develops, supports, and assists in the leadership of Black, Indigenous, and other marginalized disabled people.
 GADRA also accelerates local access to disaster resources by matching funders with disability-led organizations.
MISSION/VISION
 Mission - Bringing disability leaders, funders and trusted allies together in disasters to disrupt exclusion and accelerate inclusion.
 Vision – Disability-led organizations, corporations and foundations working in collaboration, to accelerate solutions for people, organizations
and communities impacted by disasters.

3. Global Alliance for Disaster Resource Acceleration (GADRA)
Executive Summary
The Global Alliance Engagement and Impact
• GADRA was launched in July 2020
• Global Town Hall Meetings and Panel Discussions held in 2020
• Monthly Town Hall Meetings have continued, with over 1,540 registrants across 69 countries
• Media coverage in Forbes, National Public Radio (NPR), BBC etc., highlighting concerns affecting local, national and global
disability present throughout 2020
Why GADRA is Imperative
• According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are 61 Million adults in the U.S. with
disabilities. The World Bank, UN and WHO also state that one billion, or 15 – 20 % of the world’s population experience
some form of disability.
• People with disabilities are 2 to 4 times more likely than others to be injured or die in disasters.
• COVID-19 is impacting people with disabilities more disproportionately than other disasters with devastating outcomes.
• 42% of COVID deaths in the US have been people with disabilities living in nursing homes and congregate facilities, similar
numbers in other developed and developing countries.
• Throughout the pandemic, concurrent disasters in the US and globally have added to the disproportionate impact.
• Many disability-led organizations are excluded from accessing humanitarian assistance to address needs during disasters.

4. Launch of the Global Alliance for Disaster Resource Acceleration
https://youtu.be/BLz5syBsOGw

5. GADRA Launch

6. Global Participation
1,540 Registrants 69 Countries 6 Continents
As of: 2/18/21

7. GADRA Launch
Since May, 2020…
• 4 Town Halls, 2 Panels, and a Launch Event with 1,540 registrants from
69 countries and 6 continents
• First Twitter Chat on August 13, 2020
• Next Global Town Hall on February 18, 2021.

8. Bristol Myers Squibb
“Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) is committed to
inclusivity, equity and supporting people with
disabilities both in the workplace and in our
communities. Our Differently-Abled Workplace
Network (DAWN) is an employee-driven
resource group working to address the needs
of individuals with disabilities and to promote
their positive contributions to BMS’s business
performance worldwide. We know there is a
gap of resources available for the disability
community when crises and disasters hit.
That’s why both DAWN and the BMS
Foundation are … making it a top priority to fill
this gap.”
- Tinamarie Duff, BMS Global Lead,
DAWN

9. AT&T
“The COVID-19 pandemic is
severely impacting people with
disabilities and has shown all of us
that we need to take a different
approach to disaster preparedness
and response. AT&T is proud to
support the Global Alliance initiative
to help meet the needs of people
with disabilities who live in areas
that are impacted by a natural
disaster.”
- Daren Chan, External Affairs,
AT&T

10. The Partnership
“Disability-led organizations, despite
consistently being first on the ground to help
their communities in disasters, always struggle
to meet urgent needs and fill resource gaps,
rarely qualify for government funding to
continue operations, and often lack bandwidth
to compete for charitable disaster relief funding.
The Global Alliance is a collaboration that
recognizes that this exclusion must end and
that we are stronger and more resilient
together.”
- Germán Parodi & Shaylin Sluzalis,
Co-Executive Directors of The Partnership

11. ONG Inclusiva
“The Global Alliance will connect local
disability-led organizations directly to
funding partners that would like to
target their support to better serve
disaster impacted people and
communities directly. In this regard, the
Global Alliance will serve as a
matchmaker to identify urgent needs
and accelerate resource allocation to
disability-led organizations and advance
inclusive disaster response solutions,”
- Carlos Kaiser, Executive Director,
ONG Inclusiva

12. Global Alliance Steering Committee
Steering Committee Core Responsibilities:
● Build the Coalition: Partners to collaborate on disaster
resources.
● Create Emergency Operations Center: Roles, responsibilities
and functional capabilities
● Develop Disaster Assistance Connections Hub:
Alliance tracking system, resource matching process, and
communications, education and storytelling capabilities
Steering Committee Members:
● World Institute on Disability
● The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies
● ONG Inclusiva

13. Steering Committee: WID
The World Institute on Disability’s original call to action was in 1983. Since then, we have committed
to advancing promising disability inclusion policy and practices globally. Today, our call to action
remains rooted in rights and indelibly embedded in our strategic engagements with leaders, allies and
visionaries who share our commitment to innovative solutions. Together we are disrupting,
transforming, and optimizing the future of disability inclusion.
We achieve our mission through:
Excellence in Disability Inclusive Emergency
Preparedness, Disaster Risk Reduction,
and Climate Resilience;
Digital Systems and Tools for Optimizing
Community Living and Employment;
Accessibility Solutions; and
Quality Research and Policy into Action
Our Services:
● Local, National & Global Experts on Inclusion,
Accessibility Research, Training & Technical Assistance
● User Testing for Accessible Digital Systems, Tools,
Products & Services
● Event Accessibility Planning & Concierge Services
● Advocacy & Public Policy

14. Steering Committee: The Partnership
The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies is the only U.S. disability-led organization [and one
out of only two global] with a focused mission of equal access to emergency programs and services for
people with disabilities and people with access and functional needs before, during, and after
disasters and emergencies.
We achieve our mission by being:
● Disability rights experts before, during
and after disasters
● Community organizers and capacity builders
● Boots and wheels on-the-ground response
Services
● Disability & Disaster Hotline
● Portlight Relief Division
● Training & Education
● Advocacy & Public Policy
● Research & Technical Assistance
● Community Resilience & Capacity Building

15. Steering Committee: ONG Inclusiva
Inclusiva NGO (ONG Inclusiva) is the first disability-led organization (and
one of the only two organizations in the world) with a focused mission of
promoting Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction, that is to say, full
inclusion and observance of the rights of people with disabilities during
emergencies and disasters. It is expressed in programs and services for
people with disabilities and people with access and functional needs in
the whole disaster cycle.
We achieve our mission by:
● Working with networks
● Disability rights experts before, during
and after disasters
● Community organizers and capacity builders
● Boots and wheels on-the-ground response
Services
● Research & Technical Assistance
● Training & Education
● Advocacy & Public Policy
● Community Resilience & Capacity Building
● Disability and Disaster Risk Reduction Advisory

16. Founder’s Circle
• The Global Alliance Founder’s Circle includes disability-led organizations,
corporations and foundations working in collaboration to accelerate
solutions for people, organizations and communities impacted by disasters.
• The Founder’s Circle works to disrupt exclusion in disaster response and
assistance through resource acceleration.
• Members join the Founder’s Circle through commitments that will enable
disability-led organizations to drive radical inclusion in local communities.
• We are welcoming Founder’s Circle members through Quarter 1, 2021.
Join us!

17. Founder’s Circle Members

18. Connect with GADRA
https://www.facebook.com/DisabilityGADRA
World Institute on Disability
wid@wid.org www.wid.org
Facebook: @WorldInstituteonDisability
Twitter: @WID_org
Heather Duncan
heather@wid.org
Marcie Roth
Executive Director/CEO
marcie@wid.org
The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies
DISABILITY & DISASTER HOTLINE (800) 626-4959
24 hours/ 7 days a week/ 365 days of the year
info@disasterstrategies.org www.disasterstrategies.org
Facebook: @partnershipforinclusivedisasterstrategies
Twitter: @disasterstrat
Germán Parodi &
Shaylin Sluzalis
Co-Executive Directors
Directors@disasterstrategies.org
ONG Inclusiva
www.onginclusiva.org
Facebook: @Inclusiva.ONG
Twitter: @ONGInclusiva
Instagram: @chileonginclusiva
Carlos Kaiser
Executive Director
Kaiser.Carlos@gmail.com

19. Global Disability & Disaster Town Hall Meetings

20. Town Hall Poll Results
According to our initial Town Hall surveys with 633 registered from
29 countries on May 7, 2020:
98% responded during this COVID-19 pandemic, disability-led
organizations do NOT or only sometimes have what they need to
serve their communities;
100% believe disability-led organizations definitely or sometimes are
left out of disaster relief funding from foundations, corporations and
government;
96% reported these Town Halls would be useful to participate in
disability disaster relief funding discussions;
93% reported they would like to be a part of an alliance between
disability-led organizations and funders that could accelerate
resources

21. Town Hall Poll on Resources
What resources are most needed to support
disability-led organizations and their disaster
impacted community?
• Funding/monetary assistance: 93%
• Disability equipment or services: 73%
• Training preparedness, capacity
building, bias, rights: 71%
• Personal Protective Equipment: 69%
• Personal Care Attendant Services: 60%
• Technical Assistance for Remote Work: 53%
• Legal Assistance: 47%
• Communication or equipment for
remote work: 40%

22. Bangladesh
Disability-led Organization:
• Bangladesh Protibandhi Kallyan Somity (BPKS)
• Abdus Sattar Dulal, Executive Director
Challenge(s):
• 21,000 families with loss of
income, property
• Lack of food is impacting
children’s health
• Barriers to access basic
relief
Request(s):
• Restore basic income
• Partner with development
organization
• Implement Article 32 of UN
CRPD

23. Commonwealth of The Bahamas
Disability-led Organization:
• Erin Brown Connects
• Erin Brown
Challenge(s):
• Hurricane Dorian impacts
remain
• Lack of healthcare and access
to deliveries
• Caregivers lack access to PPE
Request(s):
• Return of healthcare and
deliveries
• Caregiver PPE
• Funding to support requests

24. United States of America
Disability-led Organizations:
• Roads to Freedom Center for Independent Living
• Pennsylvania Council on Independent Living
• Misty Dion, President
Challenge(s):
• Challenges to deliver services
from afar
• 70% of all COVID deaths in
Pennsylvania are from
congregated settings
• Lack of funding for relief and
relocation services
Request(s):
• Funding for relief and
relocation services

25. India
Disability-led Organization:
• Shanta Memorial Rehabilitation Centre
• Asha Hans
Challenge(s):
• Quick shutdown process limited
ability to get to people
• Women with disabilities lack
access to food and security
• Inaccessible telehealth means no
reproductive healthcare services
• Homelessness and sexual abuse
of women
Request(s):
• Funding to support accessible
quarantine services
• Write to Secretary General and
State Parties to inform about
issues against disabled women

26. Nigeria
Disability-led Organization:
• Special Needs Initiative for Growth, Africa
• Rachael Inegbedion, Founder
Challenge(s):
• Depriving students with
disabilities from education during
the pandemic
• Inaccessible tools, lack of
accommodation services
• Lack of Internet connection / data
• Increased anxiety and depression
of students with disabilities
Request(s):
• Funding for accessible education
tools and accommodation services
• Support community-based
solutions for accessible education

27. Uganda
Disability-led Organization:
• Capable Works Disability Initiative
• Robert Nkwangu
Challenge(s):
• During lockdown, people with
disabilities unable to access food
• Lack of employment
• Homelessness
• Electricity is often cut-off
• Lack of accessible communications
between government and people
with disabilities
Request(s):
• Funding to support food
distribution
• Support for accessible
communications; sign language
interpreters and captioning

28. Disability Rights International
Disability-led Organization:
• Disability Rights International
• Eric Rosenthal, Founder and Director
Challenge(s):
• Death rates in institutions in
countries around the world,
including 10 million children
• Incarcerated individuals with
disabilities
• Abuse of women with disabilities
Request(s):
• Immediate action to protect
individuals and remove from
facilities
• Adopt deinstitutionalization
strategies

29. More Resources & Topics
Telerehabilitation International
• Sustain Our Abilities YouTube Channel
• Sharing stories on COVID-19 and Climate Change
Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN)
• Recording COVID-19 deaths in congregant settings
ABLE South Carolina
• Partnering with Centers for Independent Living
• Focused on medical rationing response
Others
• Access to food and virus testing through accessible transportation
• Personal Protective Equipment for attendant care services
• Mental health support to counter social isolation
• Making COVID-19 content more accessible and usable for people with learning and cognitive disabilities
• Need education and awareness on the importance of vaccinations
• Elevating disability rights and quality of live during and after disasters

30. Global Alliance for Disaster Resource
Acceleration (GADRA)
Connecting disability-led organizations with corporate and foundation
resources for immediate and sustained impact
https://www.facebook.com/DisabilityGADRA
https://wid.org/global-alliance-for-disaster-resource-acceleration-gadra/

31. Accelerating Resources to Meet Needs
The Need
• Donated resources from foundations & corporations are crucial to urgent COVID-19
needs and all disaster relief efforts
• Disaster support and humanitarian relief rarely trickle down to local disability
organizations, especially those led by and serving multiply marginalized people with
disabilities
• Disability organizations fill resource gaps for people in disaster-impacted communities
The Solution
• Disability-led organizations, disability-inclusive corporations and foundations join forces,
share unmet needs, match available resources, accelerate relief & solve problems

32. What is GADRA?
• Disability-led organizations, foundations and corporations
concentrating disaster giving where and when its needed
most.
• Intentional in seeking, welcoming, developing, and
supporting leadership of Black, Indigenous, and other
multiply marginalized disabled people.
• Accelerating local access to disaster resources by matching
funders with disability-led organizations to collaboratively get
the right stuff to the right people when they need it most.
• We are stronger and more resilient together.

33. What We Do
Assess Needs
We bring together
disability-led
organizations and
identify resources
needed to provide
disaster relief
Find Partners
We bring together
disability-inclusive
corporations and
foundations with
resources to share

34. How We Do It
Optimize Collaboration
Using WID’s Emergency
Operations Center and
Communications Gearbox,
we research, inventory,
and jointly match
disability-led organizations
with Corporate and
Foundation partners who
can quickly deploy needed
resources, optimizing
impact while meeting
disability-inclusive
diversity business
imperatives.
Urgent Priorities
Technology solutions
Remote work tools
PPE for people and providers
in home care settings
Shipping assistance
Communications tools for
people in hospitals
Data
Emergency funds
Support and technical
assistance for continuity of
operations (internal) and
continuity of services
(external)

35. What GADRA Is Not
• It’s not a competitor to your funding relationships.
This is a new pathway bringing additional ideas to funders who want to
expand and target the impact of their giving to frequently excluded
organizations led by people with disabilities.
• It’s not an additional layer of funding complexity.
It will help de-clutter the pathway for funders who want to accelerate
support for the organizations and people most impacted.
• It’s not solely COVID-19 focused.
This is a public health emergency and disaster assistance alliance for both
today’s emergencies and disasters, and the ones that will surely follow.

36. Why Launch Now?
• People with disabilities are 2 to 4 times more likely than others to be
injured or die in disasters, primarily due to inadequate community-wide
planning and access to emergency and disaster assistance.
• COVID-19 is impacting people with disabilities even more
disproportionately than other disasters, with devastating outcomes.
• Black and Indigenous disabled people and others at the intersections of
multiple types of oppression continue to make up the vast majority of
lives lost.
• Disability-led organizations always struggle to meet urgent needs and fill
resource gaps during disasters;
• They rarely qualify for government funding to continue operations and
often lack bandwidth to compete for charitable disaster relief funding.

37. Why Us?
As partners, we are uniquely qualified to cut through
the chaos that follows a disaster, activating and
accelerating effective solutions with measurable results
If not us, who?
If not now, when?

38. Strategy Overview
Mission: Bringing disability leaders and trusted allies together in disasters to disrupt
exclusion and accelerate radical inclusion.
STRATEGIC
PILLARS
Build the Alliance
Identify partners to
collaborate on disaster
resources.
Emergency Operations
Center
Create roles, responsibilities
and functional capabilities
Disaster Assistance
Connections Hub
Develop communications
Gearbox, education and
storytelling capabilities
Our Vision: Disability-led organizations, corporations and foundations working in
collaboration, to accelerate solutions for people, organizations and communities impacted
by disasters

39. Building a Sustainable System
Engage regional, national, and global disability-led organizations to jointly identify and meet needs of people,
organizations and communities impacted by disasters.
Identify corporate & foundation disability inclusive diversity priorities that align with disability-led
organization needs, including lifting up and centering the needs of multiply marginalized disabled people.
Establish a “Founders Circle” of disability-inclusive corporations, foundations, and disability-led orgs.
Center Black, Brown, Indigenous and other disabled people of color. A core tenet of this Alliance is a stated and
genuine commitment to seeking, welcoming, and supporting the leadership of multiply-marginalized people with
disabilities who are most disproportionately impacted in disasters.
Engineer connections using a Communications Gearbox to connect communities, accelerate solutions, measure
outcomes, and promote results.
Match corporate and foundation resources with disability-led organizations to meet critical needs.
Shatter myths that people with disabilities are vulnerable, expendable, and a liability in disasters.
Build the Alliance, innovate, optimize technology, accelerate solutions & prepare for the next disaster.

40. Media Coverage: Forbes
Forbes Article, July 6, 2020
Stephen Frost, Diversity & Inclusion
“Disability-led organizations have been
screaming into the wilderness for access
to disaster relief. Now, we are creating
a practical and creative solution for
COVID and future disasters.”
- Marcie Roth, Executive Director/CEO,
World Institute on Disability

41. Media Coverage: Disability Matters
Disability Matters with Joyce Bender
June 9, 2020 Radio Show
“We are hearing from people
around the world about the
disproportionate impact of the
pandemic on people with
disabilities. People with disabilities
are dying at unbelievable rates
and the local organizations trying
to provide assistance are not
getting the resources that are
made available….”
- Marcie Roth, Executive Director/CEO,
World Institute on Disability

42. Media Coverage: AXSChat
AXSChat hosted by Antonio
Santos, Neil Milliken &
Debra Ruh, June 8, 2020

43. Media Coverage: Women’s eNews Live
Women's eNews Live, May 14, 2020
“We get really good at
problem solving. In fact,
in emergencies and
disasters, <people with
disabilities> are the folks
you want at the planning
table, at the response
table, and part of your
recovery initiatives.”
- Marcie Roth, Executive Director/
CEO, World Institute on Disability
“The pandemic is forcing those of
us who would not normally have
to rely on community to get
protection assistance, now have
to.”
- Lori Sokol, PhD

44. Media Coverage: All Things Considered
NPR’s All Things Considered (WAMU), July 22, 2020
“In a disaster, everything
is exponentially worse for
everyone.” People with
disabilities are the last
forgotten, (a)nd they will
be the most at risk, he
warns, when the
coronavirus and natural
disasters come together.”
- Germán Parodi, Co-Executive
Director, The Partnership

45. Media Coverage: Forbes
CNN Chile Interview,
March 30, 2020
“It has been ignored that the
convention that Chile ratified
on the rights of persons with
disabilities; in its Article 5
says no discrimination; Article
10, protection of life; Article
11, protection against
disasters and catastrophes.”
- Carlos Kaiser, Executive Director,
ONG Inclusiva

46. GADRA Media Coverage
Women's eNews Live
with Dr. Lori Sokol,
May 14, 2020
AXSChat
June 8 & 9, 2020
Forbes, July 6, 2020
Disability Matters
with Joyce Bender
June 9, 2020 Radio Show
NPR’s All Things
Considered
(WAMU), July 22, 2020
CNN Chile Interview,
March 30, 2020

47. US House of Representatives Testimony
“My top [recommendations] <include> that
the local disability led organizations are able
to provide services before during and after
disasters and be appropriately funded for
them.”
“The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster
Strategies has been bringing folks together
every single day. Hundreds and hundreds of
disability organizations have been working
together to make the changes that we can’t
quite seem to get the government to make.”
- Marcie Roth, Executive Director/ CEO, World
Institute on Disability
Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public
Buildings, and Emergency Management, July 29, 2020,
Hearing:
Experiences of Vulnerable Populations During
Disaster

48. Connect with GADRA!
Questions? Comments? Ready to Join Us?
World Institute on Disability
Heather Duncan
Heather@wid.org
www.wid.org
https://www.facebook.com/DisabilityGADRA