Accessible emergency response planning

Topic: Explores how to provide accessible support in emergencies.

Level: Intermediate

Audience: Emergency and first responders

Length: Four hours

Objective: Apply your understanding of disability and best practices for supporting people with disabilities during an emergency.

Designed for emergency and first responders, this session explores how to support disabled people during an emergency, including during an evacuation or emergency protocol. Building from an initial foundation of accessibility knowledge, this session encourages learners to identify practical strategies for accessible emergency response.

By the end of the session, learners will be able to:

• Define key terms, including disability, accessibility, and accommodation
• Describe respectful ways to ask community members if they require accommodation or accessibility support
• Describe the major groups of apparent and non-apparent disabilities
• Identify key strategies for supporting people with functional limitations during an emergency, including during an evacuation
• Describe opportunities to offer accessibility support in their role in a variety of emergency settings