Millions of Americans deal with disabilities every day; in fact, disabilities are more common than many people think. Disabilities make day-to-day life hard on those who have them. However, when it comes to survival, those disabilities don’t have to put you at a disadvantage.
Know Your Limits
People who are disabled generally know what they can and can’t do. In an emergency situation, however, limitations may change — sometimes drastically. Some people may need to think about and understand the possibility that they aren’t able to perform certain tasks.
They may need to consider the challenges they could face by being forced to stay inside their homes or bug-out for extended periods of time. If you’re disabled, you’ll need to understand how you’re going to approach these problems.
By factoring in your disability realistically, you will be better prepared for whatever may come your way.
Birds of a Feather
The “lone wolf” mentality is prevalent in the prepper world. However, having a community that helps itself and those within it is invaluable, especially for people with disabilities as doing everything on your own is extremely difficult.
Whether you have friends that may help you or not, surely your local prepper community will help in any way they can. The prepper community is more than willing to help those in need more often than not. That is, as long as you actually make an attempt yourself rather than just expect them to do everything.
Use Your Strengths
People with disabilities oftentimes think that because of their condition, they are not useful. This simply isn’t true. Physical disabilities can be hard to deal with, and physical labor may be intensive. However, there are plenty of jobs a disabled person can execute in a community to provide useful services.
Perhaps you’re a good gardener, or maybe you’re excellent with a needle and thread. Maybe you have the correct mentality to efficiently and effectively strategize. Everyone has their own strengths, and everyone should play off of them, especially when it comes to surviving.
Stockpiling
A person with a disability is going to have much different stockpiling priorities than someone who isn’t disabled. For one, the disabled person may need certain medications or equipment to help them get through the day.
For this reason it’s important for them to stockpile any meds they need and have spare equipment. Medication can be difficult to stock up on but there are options:
- Talk to your doctor. More often than not, you can get your prescription filled in 3-, or even 6-month, intervals.
- Talk to your insurance. If your medication is particularly expensive, your provider may be the reason you can’t get a larger prescription. Sometimes your insurance will allow you to receive a larger quantity of meds.
- You can usually refill your prescription up to one week early. Take advantage of this; it may not seem like much, but you’ll have a stockpile over time.
As for medical equipment such as hearing aids, inhalers, nebulizers and syringes, you can stock up on over time as well. For hearing aids and glucose monitors, you can likely stock up on the correct batteries for them. Try to have one or two extras just in case.
Power
Some people have disabilities that require powered equipment. Electric wheelchairs and life-saving equipment often need power to charge or operate. Backup generators are a great option, but they require you to stock up on fuel to operate them.
Think about installing a permanent standby generator that will automatically kick on when your power fails; these often run off of natural gas or LP gas.
An alternative generator may also be a good choice for in case you lose connection to the grid. Solar-powered generators are becoming more efficient and more popular.
Furry Friends
Many disabled people have service animals to help them in their everyday lives. These animals are going to have needs as well. Food and water are absolutely necessary, just as they are for us. Think about having spare leashes, collars and harnesses as well.
Consider toys and treats as well; even in a survival situation, it’s good to unwind and enjoy the moment.
Disabilities can make life difficult, which a disaster could easily multiply. However, those who are disabled aren’t helpless; even if they can’t do everything on their own, there are plenty of people who will help them. Still, they still need to make the effort to survive and to get the best chance at survival. They need to prepare, just as we all do.
Check out how you can prep with older family members in mind. They deserve a fighting chance too!
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