Is Disability Representation (In)Visible in Official Crisis Preparation?

Description

Presentation at the 2023 NNDR conference in Reykjavik, Iceland

Abstract
Is disability representation (in)Visible in official crisis preparation?
Linda Stjernholm
Lund University

Background:
People with disability are often disproportionately affected by disasters. These groups are rarely involved in crisis planning or crisis preparation. The Covid-19 pandemic has shown the negative impacts of isolation and inequality for people with disability and highlighted the need for additional studies in this field. Therefore, it is important to investigate how local and national stakeholders involve people with disability in planning for the next crisis.

Method:
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives from disability organizations of people with hearing, seeing, and intellectual and physical disability. In addition, local and regional crisis coordinators were interviewed, and this was further explored with an analysis of official documents on crisis and disaster risk management.

Results:
Preliminary findings suggest a few points of interest: the importance of accessible information, technology, and digital inclusion as a crucial gateway to that information, and finally, the stakeholders’ different viewpoints on how to move forward. The study identified gaps in disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction and the potential for closer cooperation between disability organizations and crisis planners.

Conclusions:
Factors relating to information and barriers to accessible crisis information emerged in the interviews. Future work will explore how these can be mitigated by collaboration between the different stakeholders in crisis management. Further insights into how this co-production of knowledge can be approached will be presented.

Keywords: Crisis planning, disaster, hazard, risk reduction, co-production, disability

Period	2023 May 11
Event title	NNDR 2023
Event type	Conference
Location	Reykjavik, IcelandShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International