"but the emergency ‘plan’ for disabled kids is to let us die

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This has been a thing in disabled community for a VERY long time.
And just like some other things in the news there has been little if any improvement made by those who have the power and the means to make and enforce improvement.

BuzzFeed
"I Felt Disposable": A Woman Shared How She And Other Students With Disabilities Were Treated During A School Emergency, Saying Protocol Needs To Change
Thu, June 2, 2022 at 9:05 PM·6 min read
https://news.yahoo.com/wait-cops-not-re ... 19333.html

"
After attempting to report their location to a 9-1-1 operater, Gabriela said, "Thirty minutes pass, we see about 600 kids evacuate past us and then it’s eerily quiet except the ongoing alarm of course. We still don’t know if it’s a real fire or not, and at this point begin making plans to help each other down — literally by butt scooting step by step."

"The first cop shows just as my friend is about to abandon her wheelchair, 45 minutes in," she continued. "Doesn’t make eye contact with us, says into his walkie talkie, 'There’s a group of cripples stuck on the 3rd floor landing.' Then he WALKS AWAY down the stairs and leaves us there as we yell."

Later on, "I find a cop who yells at me for not evacuating. I say that me and five other disabled kids have been in the stairs for over an hour, and she is surprised. This cop confirms it’s a false alarm, and says we can go back to our rooms."

"This event was extremely traumatizing, even though there was never a real fire, because it showed so clearly that the ‘safety plans’ are s**t and the cops clear disregard for the lives of disabled people. We keep each other safe," she concluded.

Whereas other students have been seen escaping via windows during school emergencies or evacuating down stairs, students with mobile impairments are not always physically capable of doing so — which has led to lawsuits, like the one in New Jersey when a student who uses a wheelchair was left inside while the fire alarm went off. According to officials involved, the school "did not have policies for evacuating students with disabilities."
"

Underlined text on page has a link to,

School settles claim it didn't evacuate disabled student during fire alarm
Updated: Sep. 11, 2017, 11:31 p.m. | Published: Sep. 11, 2017, 10:31 p.m.
https://www.nj.com/somerset/2017/09/sch ... _fire.html
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NEWARK -- The Watchung Hills Regional High School District Board of Education agreed to settle claims that staff failed to evacuate at least one disabled student during an unplanned fire alarm and did not have policies for evacuating students with disabilities, federal officials said Monday.

The settlement stemmed from an Oct. 7, 2014 incident, where the district was accused of leaving a student with a mobility disorder on the second floor as an alarm sounded while students without disabilities were cleared from the school, according to the agreement, which alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
"

I assume this is the US? Judging from police "inaction"

In an emergency the term "able bodied" is often invoked

As for this article, you have assumed correctly.
Similar has been encountered in additional countries.

The biggest problem encountered in attempts to resolve the situation appears to be a poor success rate
in getting first responders and especially first response bureaucrats to create additional urgent job burdens for themselves.

It never occurred to me how you rescue people in wheel chairs in case of fire as lifts are inoperable, Therefore somebody has to carry the physically disabled person down a staircase.

Yep.

At present there is no one but in past cities of residence I've had friends in wheelchairs.
Family members have in past been wheelchair users.
And if my health trajectory continues eventually I will be a wheelchair user.

There are also people who can walk but can't do stairs.
My 82 year old parents for one example.
Liz from our creative writers group, for a younger than 80-something example.

Yes, In one of the offices I used to work in, there was a severely obese staff member who was exempt from building fire drills because he was physically incapable of using the staircase. In a real emergency he would require perhaps 4-5 strong firefighters to carry him down the stairwell.

Where were the teachers? Why didn't they help--or at least stay with the kids if it was just a drill?

That is one of the purposes of a drill. To identify areas that need to be addressed in case there is a real fire.

Where I live, the evacuation instructions we got were: Don't use elevators. Help/carry the disabled down the stairs if you are able to do so.
And people do.
Though, usually employers choose the first floor offices for the wheelchairers, if they have such choice - that generally limits difficulties.

Unfortunately workers who have offices in high rise buildings don't always have that luxury
https://newmobility.com/unsafe-refuge-w ... n-sept-11/

This thing taking place in a college dorm just inspired me to look up info for the big college near here.
Which it also happens that Mom, Dad, and my cousin Rondi, graduated from.
And Thursday I saw a doctor at one of their hospital's rural health clinics.

Their plan covers disabled people and withiin that info highlights something VERY important in bold on their page.

Also, interesting note about using stairs in tornadoes versus in fires.

But, overall, the disabled go last.


https://mualert.missouri.edu/disabilities

"
....

Evacuation Guidelines

Always ask someone with a disability how you can help before attempting emergency evacuation assistance. Ask the person how they can best be assisted and whether there are any special considerations or items that they will need during the evacuation. Similarly, the choice to evacuate or not should always be made by the person with a disability; some might wish to evacuate, while other might prefer to stay in place and wait for emergency personnel. Evacuation assistance needed will vary based on the individual’s disability, the person’s preferences for evacuation and the specific type of emergency. Remember. Evacuation down stairs can be more dangerous for some persons with disabilities than staying in place and waiting for emergency personnel. So for many persons with disabilities, this should only be a last resort.

Persons Using Wheelchairs or Mobility Aids

In the event of a tornado, elevators will remain in use and can be used by those with mobility impairments. However, in fire emergencies, elevators should not be used. Persons using wheelchairs or other mobility aids should ideally stay in place, or move to an area of refuge with an evacuation assistant when the alarm sounds. The evacuation assistant should then proceed to the evacuation assembly point outside the building and tell personnel from the Columbia Fire Department or MU police the location of the person with a disability. If persons with a disability are alone, they should phone emergency services at 911 before leaving their worksite and report which area of refuge they are going to use.

If a stair landing is chosen as the area of refuge, please note that many campus buildings have relatively small stair landings and wheelchair users are advised to wait until the heavy traffic has passed before entering the stairway.

Stairway evacuation of wheelchair users should be conducted by trained professionals such as fire fighters. Only in situations of extreme danger should untrained people attempt to evacuate wheelchair users. Moving a wheelchair down stairs is never safe.

Persons with Mobility Disabilities

Persons with mobility impairments who are able to walk independently might be able to negotiate stairs in an emergency with minor assistance. If danger is imminent, the individual should wait until the heavy traffic has cleared before attempting the stairs. If there is no immediate danger (detectable smoke, fire or unusual odor), the person with a disability could choose to stay in the building and use the other options outlined above until emergency personnel arrive and determine if evacuation is necessary.

...
"

When I was at school, wheelchair students were going there along with others and there were no elevators.
The practice was, the student was carried by their collegues and the wheelchair was carried separately - not just for evacuation, every day.
Not perfect, sure, but the instructions above are bad. Indeed, they make the mobility imparied practically required to be left behind.

IMO, every able-bodied person should get some training in safely helping someone mobility imparied, just like we get first aid training.

Hey, that's an idea!

The administration at our school leaves our classroom out of all the fun things. We have one student in a wheelchair, one student with Down's Syndrome, four students with Autism, three elopers and 2 intellectually disabled. We were left out of all the fun school activities all throughout the year because they don't want to deal with the security challenges our kids bring to the situation or the fun; in short, we're a buzz kill.

I can't imagine they'd be anymore concerned in an emergency situation. If we survive, it'll be up to us.

I looked at emergency plans for disabled people in my country.
The general regulations are vague "the building administration has to ensure every person can be safely evacuated".
In reality, workplaces are encouraged to put their wheelchair employees on the first floor as the simplest solution and those who can't are recommended to install evacuation chairs for each disabled person working on upper floors.
Other institutions, like universities, give instructions on how to effectively help a disabled person with evacuation (example in Polish - Google Translate)

So, yes, the instructions I got during safety course that the able-bodied should help the disabled are the policy in Poland.