- Author
- United States Fire Administration
- Title
- Fire Risks for the Blind or Visually Impaired.
- Coporate
- U.S. Fire Administration, Washington, DC
- Distribution
- AVAILABLE FROM: U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), 16825 South Seton Ave., Emmitsburg, MD 21727. Telephone: 301-447-1000. Website: http://www.usfa.fema.gov
- Keywords
- handicaped | fire risks | fire safety | fire departments
- Identifiers
- tips for fire service professionals
- Abstract
- People who are blind or visually impaired live in a world without images or, at best, unclear ones. For people with sight, the sense of vision is the primary means for assessing and interpreting clues in the external environment. As images are transferred to the brain, we react both physically and emotionally to what we see. Without sight, secondary senses evolve into the medium for assesing the external environment. Those who have been blind or visually impaired for several years generally learn to adapt and hone their remaining senses to allow for largely independent living in a society that sees. The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates that employers and owners of public facilities provide reasonable accommodation to people of all disabilities. Federal regulations require that documents and public markings be made available in formats that can be used by people who are blind or visually impaired. Seeing-eye dogs are permitted in all public accomdations, and employers cannot discriminate against blind workers as long as they can perform the necessary duties with reasonable accommodation. There is little knowledge on the actual number of fire deaths and injuries among people with vision impairments, primarily because of lack of reporting and reporting mechanisms. Neither of the two national sources for fire death data--the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS)--provides for data collection of ancillary information on the deceased. The U.S. Fire Administration's NFIRS specifically provides a forum for both civilian fire death and fire injury data to be collected, analyzed, and interpreted; however, it does not contain an entry for the presence of physical disabilities. Available fire death and injury data regarding individuals with physical impairments must be viewed with this caveat in mind.