1. Planning for people with disabilities

2. Northern Victorian Emergency Management Cluster (NVC)
The Cluster consists of: City of Greater Bendigo and the Shires of: Mount Alexander, Central Goldfields, Loddon and Campaspe.
The Cluster covers the area from Castlemaine, through Bendigo to Echuca and west to Wedderburn and Maryborough

3. Our Communities are Unique
Our communities are unique & diverse- Not one message fits all
Rivers systems – Murray, Loddon, Campaspe, Coliban
Mount Alexander, Mount Tarrangower
Terrick Terrcik National Park
State Parks
Indigenous groups
Yorta Yorta
Barapa Barapa, Dja Dja Wurrung and Taungurang
Flat plains drought impacted
Rural communities
Farming communities
Major regional city
Diverse people
Education, Arts,

4. Appropriate Communication Tools
The 2017 VCOSS forum focussed on engaging with people with disabilities and using communication tools appropriate to their needs.
Hayley Brooks from the University of Sydney spoke at the Forum and advised 1 in 5 people in NSW have a disability and they are 4 times more likely to die or be injured in a natural disaster.
We looked at our local communities.
The 2016 Census data indicated 6.4% of the Campaspe municipal district reported needing help in their day to day lives due to disability.
Attended VCOSS forum
Hayley’s message particularly resonated when we realised the number of people who may be missing out on messages to prepare and actions to take when an incident occurs.
We looked at our local communities, the risks they faced, and the number of people with disabilities.

5. Social Stories…
We developed social stories for those who have trouble understanding the usual emergency messaging.
The booklets are: Preparing for…. bushfire, grassfire, storm and flood.
Simple, clear messaging.
Photographs tell the story, as well as the words.
The booklets also assist younger children in starting the conversation about how to plan for emergency events and for those who have difficulty reading. .
We talked with our Rural Access Project Officer about how we could get emergency management messages out to people with disabilities and he showed us what our local library had developed in terms of social stories. These were aimed at those with autism to help make their experience of attending the library much easier.
We realised that we could use that model for emergency messaging.
That’s where the journey started.
Booklets are:……Preparing for bushfire, grassfire, storm and flood.
Simple clear messaging.
Photographs tell the story, as well as the words. They are basically picture books with limited words and are designed to reduce anxiety while providing vital information to assist in making decisions in emergency situations.
As people who work in “words” in our jobs, the hardest thing to do was to provide simple messages, to be able to tell the story in pictures, without going into too much detail.
An unexpected but pleasant surprise is the number of people who have said the booklets assist younger children in starting the conversation about planning for emergency events and those who have difficulty reading.

6. Partnerships …So valuable
Strong partnerships developed with Echuca Specialist School.
Collaboration with Country Fire Authority, Victoria State Emergency Service, Department of Education and Training.
Booklets distributed to schools across the Cluster.
Many requests for booklets and positive feedback online.
The staff and students at Echuca Specialist School were great. They were enthusiastic and provided many comments and suggestions.
The agencies helped with photos and getting booklets out.
Online comments have been positive and we’ve had requests for booklets from northern NSW and South Australia.

7. Social Stories… .
Here are some photos of teachers and students from Echuca Specialist School getting their hands on the booklets for the first time. They were very enthusiastic in the development of the booklets and they helped us greatly to get the language right.

8. Where to now… Social story on preparing for extreme heat.
Continued evolution of these projects due to positive community and organisation feedback.
Example: Requests made for audio versions of social stories and even a request for an App.
Taking opportunities to engage with small communities
Starting to work on a booklet for heat, working with DHHS.
Requests for audio versions and an App. Sometimes feel the project is running well ahead of us in terms of what we can deliver in a timely manner.
Taking the time to engage with small communities eg. Stanhope Primary School / CFA.

9. Message Identify a need Have an idea and run with it Work with others
You don’t have to have a big budget
You just need passion.
It is about working with communities and finding where the need is.
It is about having the idea, working with stakeholders and moving forward.
We didn’t have a real budget for social stories, just some money we could use towards printing. This project showed us what you can do with very little and yet still make a difference.

10. Contact info…
Meryl Brown (Campaspe Shire Council)
Ben Trevena (Campaspe Shire Council)
You can see the four booklets on any of the Cluster Council’s websites.
We are happy to take suggestions and comments.
If you think you could use social stories, please use the booklets as a base for documents of your own.