Hey Care Plan Clients,
Shayna here, back at my desk after a retreat in Portugal. Let’s take a look at the latest in our Care Plans as the summer winds down.
First… A service update
A few improvements to our billing system
Mark has been making some updates to our billing system so we can serve you better. What to know:
- Some of you have been migrated to a new payment method. Mark has already emailed the clients affected. If you received an email from Mark, follow the link in that email and you are set. If you did not get an email, no action needed.
- New monthly renewals align to the 1st. Going forward, monthly subscriptions renew on the 1st of the month, with the first month prorated so no one pays twice. Existing subscriptions are being moved to the 1st as their next cycle comes around.
If anything else from the migration needs your attention, Mark or Ryan will reach out to you directly.
Prefer annual over monthly? Annual Care Plans work out to two months free, and you get one renewal a year instead of twelve. Reply to this email if you’d like to make the switch.
Client launch
POPCO’s Enabled Prep, on an accessible foundation
Last month I told you about a quiet accessibility milestone at People Over Petro Coalition. Here’s the scoop.
On July 22, POPCO launched Enabled Prep, a disability-centered disaster preparedness series for the environmental justice communities they organize with. This body of resources is built for the people most often left out of climate and disaster planning, and indeed most impacted.
POPCO decided from the start that Enabled Prep had to launch on an accessible foundation.
Elle Thoni, POPCO’s Grassroots Communications Strategist, reached out for site-wide accessibility updates to be ready by July 1, in time for Disability Pride Month. Enabled Prep would launch a few weeks later.
Why this matters
- 59% of Deaf evacuees never return home, more than four times the rate for people who are not Deaf.
- 74% of evacuees who use a wheelchair report a lack of food a month after a disaster, compared with 9% of those who are able to walk.
- 70% of Deaf evacuees report living in unsanitary conditions a month after a disaster, compared with 7% of those who are not Deaf.
Source: Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies analysis of 2023 US Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey data.
Chat with Jason Hallmark
I had a nice chat with Jason Hallmark, POPCO’s Climate Justice Coordinator. He told me why POPCO decided to build Enabled Prep, and why the website had to be accessible at launch.
Jason on why the foundation mattered.
The unjust reality is that disabled people are at higher risk during and even long after a disaster. It is not because of specific functional needs. But really because we are living in a world that was not designed for disabled people. If you’re looking at disaster situations, what that really can mean is barriers to evacuation and lack of accessible up-to-date information that you need. There’s really just inadequate support systems all around. So that’s how we started this and how POPCO views it. We want to protect the most at risk, which ends up protecting everybody.
Jason on accessibility as organizing work.
We are trying to build accessibility into everything we do in our value system. My position, Climate Justice Coordinator, was a role created before I started at POPCO. The fact that we created it says a lot about how we view this work. We would not say we are perfect, but we are trying to make everything we do disability centered. I am also focused on educating and training more disabled people to take leadership roles within the movement itself.
By the numbers.
Between June 15 and July 1 we ran a full accessibility audit across every page and template on the POPCO site, then worked through the results. Some of what changed:
- 64 accessibility issues found, 63 fully resolved
- 85 plus images and organization logos captioned with meaningful alt text
- Color contrast, heading structure, page landmarks, and clearer link text corrected sitewide
- A reusable fix built into the events calendar that we can now carry to other client sites
- One minor item remaining and already scheduled, a duplicate label on the mobile search box that does not affect how anything looks or works
Jason on what he would tell another movement org.
Do not be afraid to ask questions, even the ones you think are uncomfortable. A lot of the lack of understanding about how people with disabilities are impacted, even within our movement, comes from people being uncomfortable asking. Look to disabled people for leadership on this work. And you do not have to be perfect. You do not have to know everything. It is more of a journey than a project to get done.
Resources and more information
Jason is happy to answer follow-up questions or explore collaborations. Reach him at jason@peopleoverpetro.org. He also pointed us to the Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies, the only US disability-led organization focused on equity for disabled people across every phase of a disaster. They even operate a hotline that you can call during a disaster.
See Enabled Prep yourself
Take a look at Enabled Prep on POPCO’s site for the full disability-centered disaster prep series.
New on the Maple Blog
Park your domain
Ryan’s latest post is short and practical: Why we recommend parking your domain for a full year after your website goes offline.
“Parking” your domain for as long as possible ensures that no one else will buy your domain or post offensive content.
Read the full article for more.
That is it for August. Thanks for reading, again, and for trusting us with your site. See you in September.
Take Care always,
Shayna (& the Maple team)
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