September 9, 2024

Why People with Disabilities Are More Vulnerable in Emergencies and How We Can Achieve Societal Equity

People with disabilities die at substantially
higher rates in natural disasters, police interactions,
and mass casualty events.

We will not have achieved societal equity until this
discriminatory bias has been eliminated.

This statement brings into sharp focus a dark truth: people with disabilities are often left more vulnerable and more likely to perish in times of crisis. Whether it’s during natural disasters, mass shootings, or police interactions, disabled individuals are at greater risk due to systemic failures in planning and support.

Tragic events such as the Georgia school shooting on September 4, 2024, the 2018 Paradise fire, the 2015 Bataclan theater attack, and the 2016 Sagamihara stabbings in Japan demonstrate that people with disabilities are too often an afterthought when it comes to emergency preparedness and response. Until we fix this, societal equity will remain an aspiration rather than a reality.

Georgia School Shooting: A Grim Lesson in Inadequate Planning

During the Georgia school shooting on September 4, 2024, it appears that a special education classroom was targeted. The teacher, David Phenix, was injured and remains in the hospital. Mason Schemerhorn, an autistic student, was not so lucky and he was killed.

This is not an isolated incident. Disabled individuals are often disproportionately affected in mass shootings because emergency plans fail to account for their needs. Without accessible evacuation routes or staff trained to assist in emergencies, disabled students, workers, and community members are placed in life-threatening situations that they cannot easily extricate themselves from. Many times disabled students and employees are excused from drills.

Natural Disasters: An Unfolding Catastrophe for the Disabled Community

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina exposed severe gaps in emergency preparedness for people with disabilities. Tens of thousands, including many with mobility impairments and chronic illnesses, were left stranded due to inaccessible evacuation plans and shelters. Many disabled individuals were unable to leave their homes, trapped without transportation or support, and emergency communication systems failed to reach those who were Deaf or hard of hearing. Approximately 49% of those who died were aged 75 or older, with many having disabilities, highlighting how the disaster disproportionately impacted vulnerable populations. This tragedy underscored the urgent need for inclusive planning in disaster response to prevent such inequities in the future.

In 2018, the Paradise and Camp fires in California destroyed nearly the entire town, but it was people with disabilities who suffered the most. For many, the fire’s rapid spread made evacuation nearly impossible, particularly for those with mobility issues, who found themselves trapped. Emergency services, stretched too thin, were unable to reach everyone in time.

Residents with hearing or cognitive impairments also faced significant hurdles. Communication systems were not designed with their needs in mind, and many were unaware of the impending danger until it was too late. The Paradise fire is a grim reminder of how emergency systems, which are often designed for the general population, can fail the disabled community.

Global warming is increasing the rates at which large wildfires and severe weather events occur. The time to address accessibility in the context of global warming-caused disasters is now, not after more people die.

The Bataclan Attack: Accessible Seating Became a Target

The 2015 Bataclan theater attack in Paris is another tragic example. Inaccessible escape routes and poor emergency planning meant that those seated in the accessible seating section could not flee as quickly as others. As a result, they were targeted by the attackers, who took advantage of their vulnerability.

This event highlights a critical issue: when accessibility features like seating arrangements are not accompanied by accessible evacuation plans, they can become dangerous. People with disabilities are often forced into positions where their safety is compromised due to poor design and lack of foresight.

Sagamihara Stabbings: Targeted Because of Disability

Perhaps one of the most shocking examples of the vulnerability of people with disabilities is the 2016 Sagamihara stabbings in Japan. In this horrific attack, a man broke into a care facility for people with disabilities and murdered 19 residents, claiming he wanted to "euthanize" those he deemed unworthy of living due to their disabilities.

This attack was not only a stark reminder of the prejudice and stigma that people with disabilities face but also a wake-up call regarding the physical vulnerabilities of disabled individuals in mass casualty events. The residents were unable to defend themselves or flee due to their conditions, and the facility itself was inadequately protected.

The Sagamihara stabbings underscore the fact that societal inequities, such as ableism, can have deadly consequences. When disabled individuals are seen as lesser or burdensome, their safety and well-being are often deprioritized.

Police Interactions: A Crisis for Disabled People

In addition to these horrific events, people with disabilities are also at higher risk of harm during routine police interactions. Disabled individuals, particularly those with mental health conditions, intellectual disabilities, neurodiversity, or speech/hearing loss are more likely to be misunderstood or seen as non-compliant by law enforcement, leading to unnecessary escalation and sometimes fatal consequences.

People with disabilities account for nearly half of all individuals killed by police. Miscommunication and a lack of training contribute to this horrifying statistic. For example, someone who is Deaf may not respond to verbal commands, or an autistic person may have difficulty maintaining eye contact, both of which are behaviors that officers may misinterpret as defiance. Someone with tics from Tourette syndrome could also be misinterpreted as being aggressive. Stress exacerbates all of these situation.

The risks are even greater for individuals with mental health disabilities, who are often subjected to excessive force or punitive measures because their symptoms are misunderstood. Until police forces are trained to recognize and appropriately respond to the needs of disabled individuals, this deadly trend will continue.

People with disabilities are rarely included or considered in disaster planning.

I experience this myself at work, where I have been excluded from evacuation planning and have no reliable plan other than my coworkers picking me up and carrying me downstairs in an emergency. Disaster planning for people with disabilities is NOT THE SAME as disaster planning for people without disabilities. If you don’t take the disabilities into account, you are guaranteed to fail and contribute to that higher death rate.

The Path to Equity

If we are serious about achieving societal equity, we must tackle these issues head-on. Reducing the mortality rates of people with disabilities during natural disasters, mass casualty events, and police interactions will require a comprehensive overhaul of how we plan, respond, and train for emergencies. Here are some steps we can take:

1. Inclusive Emergency Planning: Emergency response systems need to be inclusive of all people, regardless of their physical, sensory, or cognitive abilities. This means creating accessible evacuation routes, ensuring emergency alerts are available in multiple formats (e.g., visual and auditory), and developing evacuation plans that include the disability community from the outset. People with disabilities need to be evacuated first, not last, as the evacuation will take longer. Waiting until everyone else is taken care of devalues disabled lives and leads to unnecessary injuries and deaths.

2. First Responder and Law Enforcement Training: Training for first responders and law enforcement must include how to interact with people with disabilities. This includes recognizing different communication methods, understanding how certain disabilities may affect responses, and providing assistance in a way that respects the autonomy and dignity of disabled individuals.

3. Retrofitting Infrastructure: Many buildings, schools, and public spaces are not equipped to handle the needs of people with disabilities during emergencies. Retrofitting existing infrastructure to make evacuation routes more accessible and ensuring that future designs prioritize accessibility will save lives.

4. Community Involvement: People with disabilities should have a seat at the table when emergency plans are developed. Their insights and lived experiences can help shape policies that work for everyone. Additionally, community drills and preparedness programs should be inclusive, ensuring that everyone knows what to do in an emergency.

5. Legal Accountability: Stronger legal protections are needed to hold institutions accountable when they fail to protect people with disabilities during emergencies. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) must be enforced with greater rigor, and penalties should be imposed on institutions that do not comply with accessibility standards in emergency planning.

Conclusion: The Time for Change Is Now

We cannot claim to have achieved societal equity while people with disabilities continue to die at disproportionately high rates during natural disasters, mass shootings, police encounters, and other crises. The tragedies of the Georgia school shooting, California wildfires, Hurricane Katrina, the Bataclan attack, and the Sagamihara stabbings are painful reminders of the work that still needs to be done.

Inclusive planning, better training for first responders, and stronger legal protections are all critical steps toward ensuring that disabled individuals are not left behind in moments of crisis. Our success as a society will be measured by how well we protect our most vulnerable members, and right now, we are failing. It’s time to change that.

To paraphrase Rev. Benjamin Cremer

If only people with disabilities were fertilized eggs.

Then maybe we could get some legislation passed that would
protect their lives from being taken.