From passive receiver to active resource in the crisis management system

Increased user participation in crisis management and and crisis preparedness work.

By involving people with disabilities and their interest organizations in the crisis management and crisis preparedness work, we can work together towards achieving a safer society for everyone. A society that better accommodates diversity, social inclusion and equality.

Crisis preparedness and crisis management affect everyone in society. Therefore, it is important to be able to meet different individual needs. People with disabilities are often overlooked as co-creators and actors both in the development of crisis and preparedness plans and during emergency crisis management. Finding methods to involve vulnerable groups in development work leads to increased autonomy and equality, which can also reduce the strain on societal resources.

The project develops methods, strategies and guidelines for how groups with varying abilities and needs can be involved as active resources in crisis preparedness and crisis management work. Experiences and knowledge from people with different types of disabilities can potentially be used to prevent, manage and recover from a crisis. Part of the work is to look at the design of information and communication paths used in crises. The results will support the work towards a safer society for actors at municipal, regional, national and international level and will be included in various types of training.

The project is carried out with a user-centered research approach with theory and methodology from the human factors field as well as from universal design. In active collaboration with various stakeholders (including people with disabilities), co-creative workshops and focus groups are carried out, aiming at developing innovative solutions for crisis preparedness for everyone.

By involving people with disabilities and their interest organizations in crisis management and crisis preparedness work, we work together towards achieving a safer society for everyone. A society that better accommodates diversity, social inclusion and equality.