Left Behind: Disabled People and Natural Disasters

Natural disasters can and do cause deaths, but the disabled community suffers disproportionately, with researchers estimating that people with disabilities are up to four times more likely to die in floods, earthquakes, wildfires, and other climate-related events.

There are a number of reasons behind this, but first consider that none of the 192 signatories to the Paris Agreement even mention people with disabilities in their climate mitigation plans. And when a disaster hits, there is little to no infrastructure to support people with increased needs.

With no specific planning for people who may be in wheelchairs or dependent on medications when disasters hit, many people face a crisis on top of a crisis. Federal and state instructions may not be signed for the deaf, for example, leaving people at a loss as to what to do and at a greater risk of injury or death. Also, the federal government reports that disabled people are impoverished at more than twice the rate of people without disabilities, which means they often live in shabbily built affordable housing units that are usually on less desirable flood- and heat-prone lands.

The U.S. National Council on Disability wrote in 2021 that “history has repeatedly shown that people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs in emergencies are frequently overlooked or have their needs minimized, despite the urgency that surrounds the need to account for people with disabilities in all phases of emergency management, including mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.”

During evacuations, transportation and shelters may not be wheelchair accessible, and mental and other health services become less available. This has led to people being hospitalized or institutionalized during natural disasters. A 2019 study from the council found that people with disabilities are “frequently institutionalized during and after disasters due to conflicting federal guidance; a lack of equal access to emergency and disaster-related programs and services; and a lack of compliance with federal law.”

The report continued: “As a result of unnecessary institutionalizations during and after disasters, people with disabilities often go unaccounted for, families are separated from loved ones, working individuals with disabilities often become unemployed, and students with disabilities are often excluded from returning to school with their peers.”.

Alice Wong, a writer and activist who recently spent a month in an intensive care unit, required a feeding machine and a ventilator upon returning home. She writes that power outages in the San Francisco area now have her frightened.

“The stakes for potential harm during a power outage have exponentially increased,” she said in an article for High Country News. “My anxiety, vulnerability and fear are real.”

“Living in California — in the middle of a climate crisis — we are all bombarded by advice and information,” she said. “Much of it, however, is not feasible or even possible for poor disabled and older people to follow. People cannot stock up on medications if they are uninsured or underinsured. And recommended mitigation efforts — such as unplugging all appliances during an outage and purchasing equipment like generators — are out of reach financially and physically for many of us.”

The Center for Disaster Philanthropy recommends that all emergency preparedness or disaster information be reviewed for accessibility, and to ensure that shelters are safe spaces for people with disabilities. The International Disability Alliance recommends that all signers of the Paris Agreement “adopt and implement disability-inclusive climate change adaptation policies that enhance the resilience of persons with disabilities to different climate impacts.” There is also a need to get the people actually affected at the planning table.

“A vital part of effective planning is an understanding of the diverse populations that make up the community, including their strengths and their weaknesses,” said the National Council on Disability.

While recommendations abound, real change has not yet materialized. Wong writes that, meanwhile, “disabled and older people continue to die — and the state is complicit in their deaths.”