Invited Speakers

Edwina Juillet’s abiding interest is egress for people with disabilities. Over more than 30 years as a health care risk manager, she became attuned to the issues of emergency evacuation for this population. The genesis of her avocation was enactment of the Rehabilitation Act. Her interest evolved with a focus on issues of emergency evacuation and she continues to pursue the interest through her work in research and coded/standards. In 1978 she cofounded the National Task Force on Fire and Life Safety for People with Disabilities.

Juillet has served on the National Fire Protection Association Life Safety Code 101 main committee, and on the Means of Egress and Board and Care (as chair) technical committees. Juillet also participated in a research project, titled “Egress Procedures and Technologies for People with Disabilities,” for the U.S Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board.

She currently serves in a technical advisory capacity for two projects prompted by the events of September 11, 2001: a World Trade Center evacuation study being conducted by Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health; and Nobody Left Behind: Disaster Preparedness for Persons with Mobility Impairments, a project of the University of Kansas Research and Training Center on Independent Living.