Australians with a disability are twice as likely to be adversely affected during a natural disaster event, but advocates say there are specific tools within reach to help turn that statistic around.
Kyal Sinclair was working on New Year's Eve in 2019 when the New South Wales South Coast-based disability employment group, Flagstaff, was evacuated during the Black Summer bushfires.
"We got notifications on our phone there was going to be a fire, and everyone had to evacuate," he said.
"I got a call before I left work, it was mum saying we have to leave … fire's incoming.
"It was all around a scary thing to experience and go through".
Brendon Donohue, who is blind and lives in a community housing apartment complex, said he felt alone and forgotten when his Brisbane home flooded during 2022.
"Even if I had to go out or needed to evacuate, I would not have been able to get out of the building because the front door entrances were not working," he said.
He said that communication with the dozens of people with a disability in the building was inadequate, and vulnerable residents felt left in the dark.
"There was no information provided … and if there was, it was presented in a visual way where I was unable to read it," Mr Donohue said.
"As more water fell, it became a scary experience."
Researchers from Human Rights Watch found that Australia's response to the Lismore floods in 2022 failed to provide adequate flood warnings, evacuation, or rescue support and left "older people, people with disabilities, and those who were pregnant, facing life-threatening circumstances with little government assistance".
University of Sydney's Centre for Disability Research and Policy (CRDP) deputy director Associate Professor Michelle Villeneuve said people with disabilities often felt left behind.
"Their words overwhelmingly echo this … they will say, 'Nobody checked on us. Nobody cared, nobody. Nobody thought to see how we were doing'," she said.
She said while the process could be stressful, there was also a growing awareness from government and emergency sectors that they must include people with disability, and their carers and family, in the planning process from the start.
Professor Villeneuve said the work had shown people with disability tended to be prepared with extra medication and food but were less likely to evacuate early because they either did not want to leave a safe and fully accessible place, or they could not evacuate on their own.
"People with disability will probably wait too long to ask for help and may get themselves into trouble and have to rely on a full-on rescue," she said.
The CDRP have worked with state and government emergency agencies, advocacy groups and people with lived experiences of disability and emergency situations to create the Person-Centred Emergency Preparedness (PCEP) tool kit.
"The program helps people with disability and their support services ask, 'What does get prepared mean for me? What does that actually look like?'," Professor Villeneuve said.
- 1.Identify your strengths and support needs in everyday life
- 2.Know your level of preparedness and learn about your disaster risk
- 3.Plan for how you will manage your support needs in an emergency
- 4.Communicate the plan with the people in your support network and address gaps through collaboration
PCEP has been integrated into mainstream disaster planning in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and at the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience.
NDIS support for emergency planning
The National Disability Insurance Scheme(NDIS) Quality and Safeguarding Commission made legislative changes in January 2022, with providers required "to prepare, prevent, manage and respond to emergency and disaster situations … to ensure continuity of supports that are critical to health, safety and wellbeing".
Professor Villeneuve says for people with a disability, it is important to start from a position of strength while having — often difficult — conversations about care needs.
"Strengths in everyday life is a really great starting point because people with disability manage all kinds of inaccessible environments on a routine basis every single day," she said.
By way of example, this could include when a support provider did not show up, or they planned to meet a friend at a cafe and it was not accessible with an "unexpected step where they were told it was an accessible entrance, and so on".
So what should I do?
Create a plan that works for you and your needs in the event of an emergency. Preparedness is a process, not a one-off event.
Think about when you will go, or the trigger to leave. Familiarise yourself with the national warning levels, as they can be used a guide.
What will you take with you? Medications, aids, animals, personal items?
Where can you go that is safe and suits your needs and access requirements? Talk to your local council or state emergency services to find options in your area. Work with family and friends to explore possibilities.
Ask someone to be your advocate, a friend or family member or a community volunteer, who can ensure that all health and safety needs are met.
If you stay, it is important to consider unexpected events like losing electricity, not having support staff and not having medication or aids.
Consider what you will do if technology or the internet fails.
Create an emergency bag or kit.
Have multiple sources of information accessible to you, including:
- a battery-powered radio, and know your local ABC radio frequency
- a way to charge your phone
- follow your local ABC Facebook page or community information group
The importance of support workers
Disability Australia board director and Paralympian Marayke Jonkers learnt firsthand the importance of having access to support workers during emergencies when she was caught in Brisbane's rising floodwater.
"[My support worker] made sure me, my dog and my important technology got into a vehicle and got to safety, and then to home in a hell of a hurry," Ms Jonkers said.
Ms Jonkers said she was very grateful for the invaluable help.
Victoria's Country Fire Service has developed an e-learning module to help carers of vulnerable people prepare for fire season.
Rebekah Clarke from Leongatha in Victoria is a carer for her daughter and works for Gippsland Disability Advocacy.
Ms Clarke said vulnerable people did not always have the luxury of throwing together a last-minute plan in the event of an emergency.
"The day-to-day challenges carers must consider when caring for someone compound in the event of an emergency," she said.
"So it's vital our community is proactive and ensures everyone has a plan."
The Emergency Management Backpack Evacuation Resource (EMBER) is a disaster preparedness program developed by Flagstaff after the disability employment group was issued with an emergency bushfire evacuation warning in December 2019.
Chief executive officer Roy Rogers said the evacuation caught it off guard.
"We understood the shortcomings that existed in being able to communicate and being able to have resources for people with a disability during an emergency," he said.
Flagstaff has since been working on a backpack that contains emergency information, a checklist of things to pack for an evacuation, a torch, battery-powered radio and a first aid kit.
It has also developed the Nonverbal Communicator app through EMBER, which can be downloaded for free, making it easier to communicate with hearing impaired or non-verbal people.
Loading...Recovery a long haul
Recovery from an emergency is typically the longest and most difficult part of a disaster for an affected community. It can be especially traumatic and enduring for people with disability.
Things to be aware of include:
- Sudden changes in routines and accustomed habits — new routines may have to be explored and redundancies planned for, like having to navigate around road closures or how to access recovery assistance.
- Psychological distress and trauma — emergencies can force individuals with disabilities to confront the limitations imposed by their disability. It can be difficult to plan for this, but it is important to be aware of your own constraints.
- Disruptions to care — no access to normal medications, support services or non-urgent medical care. The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) can escalate enquiries from people affected by disaster, including for urgent assistive technology repair.
What tools are available
Those with a speech, language, or hearing disability can dial 106 for a teletype service instead of triple zero.
The Nonverbal Communicator app is free to download from app stores.
State agencies offer phone services, social media, and accessible websites, and Australian government websites must comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
- The Red Cross has a number of resources designed for different access needs, including plain English and simple English preparedness guides
- Information about the Person-Centred Emergency Preparedness tool-kit is available online
- The Bush Fire Social Story is a social learning tool for people with autism of all ages
- The Australian Psychological Society has a resource on practical coping tools to deal with the stress of an emergency
- Emerging Minds has created a Community Trauma Toolkit to help and support adults and children before, during and after a disaster or traumatic event
- The disability support guide offers advice on planning to stay safe during flooding
- The NSW Rural Fire Service offers a one-off service called AIDER (Assist Infirm, Disabled and Elderly Residents)
- The NDIA is able to support participants once people are out of immediate danger
- The Council for Intellectual Disability has easy read guides on many subjects including heatwaves and bushfires
- Victoria's Country Fire Association has an Easy English version of its Fire Ready Kit.
- Probono Australia includes bushfire resources for people with disability
- I'm Okay from the Physical Disability Council of NSW offers advice on preparing for an emergency (from 2013)
- A series of short videos from the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service educate and inform the community about fire safety.
- NDIS providers may offer tools and resources to help understand bushfire emergencies
- Get Ready Queensland's Prepare For Disaster with Disability offers tips for preparedness
- National Disability Services has resources on its website
- Western Australia's Department of Fire and Emergency Services' At Risk Program provides information to support agencies
- Accessible Accommodation has launched a Facebook group to connect people to accommodation that meets their accessibility needs.
ABC resources
When a community is under threat, updates are broadcast on the local ABC Radio station and published on local ABC Facebook pages.
Enter your postcode on abc.net.au/emergency to find incidents in your area.
Listen to audio warnings from ABC Emergency on Alexa devices or the Alexa phone app by asking "Alexa, are there any emergencies near me?"
Radio Text Services are also in development. The ABC has started providing texts with localised emergency warning information on digital plus DAB+ radios that have screens. These are primarily car radios but also work on stand-alone DAB+ devices.
DAB+ digital radio is currently available in the five metropolitan capital cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, as well as Hobart, Darwin, Canberra and Mandurah.