Troupe is proud of the effective response by the Coalition staff and volunteers, but distressed that her state was not more cohesive and caring. “There was not a sense of community with the state. It was ‘Down there and up here’ – ‘Those folks just have to move away from the coast.’ And, one year later, on the Gulf Coast, debris has been removed, but the re-building is slow. It appears to be dragging.”
The Coalition still is operating on bare-bones funding. The 6 lower counties want to partner with them and gave them office space, but they have no funds for gas to get back and forth. Troupe comments that, “If it were not for the grassroots groups we would be in trouble.” She continues, “The Ms. Foundation has been a part of bringing together some of the best groups and we have worked together effectively—some for the first time.”
Finally, Troupe and Monroe note, “There is Katrina Fatigue – even with some organizations, they’re saying, ‘It’s been a year, we should be done with this.’”
A very personal vantage point “Having a disability gives me a different viewpoint,” Troupe observes. “It is monumental [that] after all these years, people with disabilities are still a forgotten problem and a problem population.” She adds, “My hope is that if anything comes out of this catastrophe there would be more understanding of the needs of the total population – but it doesn’t seem to be happening,”
Troupe’s colleague Clyde Monroe notes, “People with disabilities are so quietly accepting of less. I am a taxpayer with a disability—we need to have a voice and that voice needs to be strong. People with disabilities take less; they feel they can’t ask and settle for less.”
As an African American man, Monroe is distressed that the majority of African American women who they see don’t know their rights. To help change that, he has forged a partnership with a shelter for homeless women called Matt’s House. Monroe finds that because of their own situations, many of these women have compassion and work well with the disabled population. He has found them jobs, and involves them as volunteers.
