Every year on 19 August, World Humanitarian Day recognises the people who respond when crisis hits, and the millions of lives caught up in disasters and conflict around the world.
It’s a day to honour humanitarian workers, but also to ask an honest question: when the worst happens, who gets left behind? Too often, the answer is people with disability. They are among the most at risk in any emergency, and among the most overlooked in the response.
The numbers are hard to sit with. During disasters, death rates for people with disability can be two to four times higher than for the general population. When evacuations are ordered and early-warning systems sound, they are frequently designed without a thought for physical access or accessible communication, so people who cannot move quickly, see an alert, or hear a siren are simply left behind.
We are getting better at this in Australia at least. With the introduction of AusAlert the new national emergency warning system designed to send near-instant messages to compatible mobile phones, tablets, and smartwatches. The system integrates with assistive technologies like screen readers, Braille displays, and hearing aids, but its loud 10-second siren may still cause distress for people with sensory sensitivities.
Relief packages routinely miss the essentials that make survival possible, like wheelchairs, hearing aids, other assistive devices, and specialised hygiene products.
Up to three-quarters of people with disability affected by a crisis lack proper access to food, safe water, or shelter.
None of this is inevitable. It happens because systems are built for an imagined “average” person, and because the people most affected are rarely in the room when plans are made. The good news is that we know what better looks like.
Inclusive humanitarian action rests on a few clear principles. These are:
1. The first is a twin-track approach: providing targeted, disability-specific support while also making accessibility a standard part of every general program, not an afterthought bolted on later.
2. The second is meaningful participation, which means involving people with disability and their representative organisations in planning, designing, and evaluating the response, because the people who live with these barriers are the ones who understand them best, and
3. The third is better data. Collecting disability and age disaggregated information is how aid actually reaches those most at risk, rather than assuming everyone’s needs are the same.
At its heart, this is the same principle that guides good support anywhere: it’s person-centred and strength-based. It starts with the person’s own needs and capabilities, follows their lead, and builds systems that include them by design rather than excluding them by accident. Preparedness is what turns those principles into action before a crisis hits, not during it.
If you or your team want to build that readiness, NGO Training Centre’s Emergency and Disaster Management course is a practical place to start. It helps workers understand the risks people may face, plan ahead for emergencies, and respond in ways that keep the people they support safe and included.
Rather than treating disability as an afterthought, it builds the habit of asking who might be at greater risk and what they will need, so that when a real emergency comes, everyone is accounted for and no one is left behind.
To every humanitarian worker who shows up in the hardest places, and to every person with disability whose resilience is tested by crises they did not create: we see you. World Humanitarian Day is a reminder that a response is only truly humanitarian when it leaves no one behind.
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Author: Amanda Robinson (She/Her) BA, MMHealthPrac.
Dja Dja Wurrung and Taungurung Country
Amanda, Head of Learning and Development and an experienced specialist in NDIS and Aged Care, promotes capability and sustainability within the disability and health sectors. With over 15 years of experience, a Master’s in Mental Health Leadership and Management, and an MBA underway, she offers extensive expertise and personal insight as someone with lived experience of disability. A military veteran and dedicated carer of a veteran, Amanda advocates for Human Rights, striving to reduce stigma and eliminate barriers for those with disability and mental health challenges. She is enthusiastic about fostering strong stakeholder relationships through her advocacy, communication, strategic thinking, and analytical abilities.
