feature image photo by Elijah Nouvelage / Stringer via Getty Images
At least three of the people who died in the Los Angeles area fires last month were disabled individuals who physically could not escape without assistance. Their deaths were met with shockingly cruel comments online, blaming them for not leaving—even though they physically could not evacuate on their own. This is not an isolated incident. Disabled people are frequently left behind in disasters, their needs ignored by emergency systems that fail to account for the barriers they face.
These tragic events highlight a devastating truth: despite the fact that more than one in four Americans have a disability, disabled people are often forgotten in emergencies, and their preventable deaths are largely ignored. This has always been an issue, but with the increase in disasters caused by climate change and cuts to services by the Trump administration, it’s essential we understand and fight back.
A History of Abandonment
A study by the United Nations found that people with disabilities are two to four times more likely to die in disasters compared to the general population. This risk is even higher for those who experience multiple layers of marginalization and oppression—such as LGBTQ individuals, BIPOC communities, and those from low-income backgrounds. In fact, these communities are also more likely to have a disability compared to the general population. For example, 40% of transgender adults and 36% of lesbian and bisexual women report having a disability.
During Hurricane Katrina, thirty-four residents of a nursing home in Violet, Louisiana, perished in the floodwaters. Twenty-three people died in a Bellaire, Texas, nursing home during Hurricane Rita. According to a White House report, 71% of those who died in Louisiana during Katrina were over the age of sixty (and most elders naturally become disabled as part of the aging process). A National Council on Disabilities (NCD) report found that many disabled individuals who wanted to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Katrina had no way to do so: buses lacked wheelchair ramps, wait times were hours long in sweltering heat, and some were even turned away from emergency shelters due to their disabilities.
The 2018 Camp Fire, which destroyed the town of Paradise, California, killed at least eighty-five people — most of whom were older and/or disabled. A state audit found that Butte County had failed to adequately prepare for the evacuation of people with disabilities, mirroring failures seen in other disasters across the country.
Why Disabled People Struggle to Evacuate
Evacuating during a disaster is not a simple task for many disabled people. Numerous systemic barriers prevent safe and timely evacuation, including:
- Inaccessible Shelters: Many shelters lack ramps, accessible restrooms, and even the most basic medical support. A 2023 report by the National Council on Disability found that many shelters failed to provide safe spaces for people with mobility impairments or severe medical conditions, forcing them to choose between staying in unsafe conditions or risking further harm by leaving.
- Public Transportation Limitations: Public transit, a lifeline for many disabled people, often shuts down or becomes limited during emergencies. A disabled individual may be left stranded when buses or trains are halted,
- Medical Equipment: Devices or medications requiring electricity, such as ventilators and power wheelchairs, can be difficult to evacuate with and may not be accommodated at a shelter.
- Health Risks: Respiratory viruses like COVID-19, RSV, and the flu spread rapidly in crowded shelters, posing a higher risk to immunocompromised individuals.
- Financial Barriers: Many disabled people live on low incomes and cannot afford transportation or alternative lodging.
- Communication Barriers: Emergency warnings are not always accessible to the deaf, blind, or cognitively disabled communities.
- Mobility Restrictions: Most buildings have non-functioning elevators during power outages, leaving those with mobility disabilities stranded.
- State-Dependent Medical Coverage: Medicaid and other medical coverage are often restricted by state, limiting evacuation options for disabled individuals who rely on medical care.
- Lack of Access to Caregivers: Caregivers may be unable to reach a disabled person to help or may be living in an area that was already evacuated.
The Consequences of Being Left Behind
The consequences of being left behind in a disaster are often devastating for disabled individuals. Those with medical conditions may lose access to life-sustaining medications, equipment, or treatments, leading to severe health complications. The loss of housing can also mean loss of access to accessible accommodations in that housing such as an accessible-entry tub, adjustable bed, or toilet grab bars. Others may be forced into institutional settings if community support systems break down, stripping them of their independence.
A study by the United Nations found that after disasters, 75% of disabled individuals lack access to basic disaster assistance like food and water. Similarly, following a disaster disabled people, compared to non-disabled people, have a five to ten times greater risk of experiencing food and water shortages, a lack of electricity, isolation, unsanitary conditions, fear of crime, and exposure to financial scams.
The trauma of being abandoned or struggling to survive in an environment that does not account for their needs can have long-term psychological impacts. These failures in disaster response not only endanger lives but also reinforce systemic neglect, making future emergencies even more perilous for disabled people.
Policy Failures and Neglect
Despite repeated tragedies, federal and state emergency plans consistently fail disabled people. A 2019 audit of California’s emergency planning found that counties lacked comprehensive plans for alerting, evacuating, and sheltering disabled residents. FEMA has issued best practices emphasizing the need for accessible transportation and shelters, but these remain largely ignored in the county plans.
In 2018, under the Trump administration, FEMA slashed the number of Disability Integration Advisors (DIAs) deployed to disaster zones from 60 to just five, drastically reducing the number of trained professionals available to ensure the needs of disabled people were met during disasters. Now, with a second Trump administration already attempting to slash staff and services at FEMA, the CDC, and other critical government agencies, these problems are likely to intensify.
The Path Forward
It doesn’t need to be this way. Disabled advocates have long been pushing for disability-inclusive solutions at both the federal and local levels, yet government response remains inadequate. The REAADI for Disasters Act would establish a National Commission on Disability Rights and Disasters, ensuring disabled voices are included in disaster planning. Passing the Disaster Relief Medicaid Act would allow Medicaid recipients to retain benefits when displaced across state lines due to disasters. The National Association of the Deaf recommends that emergency budgets should allocate at least 15% for disability accommodations. Governments must also improve emergency communications by ensuring all disaster warnings are available in accessible formats, including ASL interpreters and live captioning. Additionally, investing in community-led disaster response efforts, with disability-led organizations at the forefront, is crucial to effective and inclusive emergency planning.
In fact, a recent example in Guam shows that working with the disabled community directly saves lives. In May 2023, Typhoon Mawar devastated Guam with its strongest storm in over 20 years, leaving widespread destruction and knocking out power, water, and communication services. Despite the extensive damage, no lives were lost. To support disabled residents, FEMA teamed up with Guam’s Department of Integrated Services for Individuals with Disabilities, focusing on addressing mobility needs, medical equipment reliance, and access to essential aid. They provided assistance through home visits, aid distribution, and recovery centers. Although many villages suffered severe damage, these efforts helped protect the island’s most vulnerable communities.
In the face of government neglect, disabled communities have long taken matters into their own hands, relying on mutual aid to fill the gaps. Grassroots networks provide real-time support, offering everything from evacuation assistance to access to life-sustaining medical equipment. Unlike traditional emergency response systems, which often fail to prioritize accessibility, mutual aid operates on principles of solidarity and collective care, ensuring that disabled individuals are not left behind. Digital platforms and social media have further strengthened these networks, allowing disabled people to share resources, request help, and organize in ways that bypass bureaucratic red tape.
During the 2021 Texas winter storm, when many disabled residents were trapped in freezing conditions without power, disability-led mutual aid groups coordinated heating supplies, accessible transportation, and emergency food deliveries when state agencies failed to respond adequately. In California community-led efforts, such as the Disability Justice Culture Club and MaskBlocLA, have organized supply distributions, coordinated accessible transportation, and shared life-saving information tailored to disabled needs and the disabled community
“As a disabled community organizer I try to find things that I can do, sometimes in partnership with others, and things that I want to do that addresses a need,” said disability justice leader and founder of Disability Visibility Project Alice Wong. “When the wildfires broke out in Los Angeles a few weeks ago, it became very clear that the city, state, and federal government was not rapidly responding to needs on the ground. Even though disabled people have been advocating for mask wearing in public since the beginning of the pandemic, and hey, we’re still in a pandemic, a rapidly spreading wildfire with smoke clogging the skies is a public health hazard.”
On January 23, MaskBlocLA (MBLA) posted an update to their social media saying that they had distributed 281,690 masks to the community so far. “The need for masks at this moment remains more important than ever in this city since the air we breathe is toxic,” they described in their post. “The fires that burn through our neighborhoods release toxic material and particulates into the air that can linger for weeks to months and will continue to have both short-term and long-term health impacts. It’s been a race against time to get masks into the hands of community members and onto faces to minimize the acute and long term effects of breathing in this air. Over the past two weeks, MBLA has worked to distro masks at schools, workplaces, grocery stores, community centers and places of worship all over LA, which has been crucial in ensuring that BIPOC communities, disabled/immunocompromised people, unhoused community members, and children and elders have access to PPE. The same communities most harmed by COVID are the same ones most harmed by climate crisis.”
Wong launched a community fundraiser to help bring masks to Los Angeles communities affected by dangerous air quality by supporting the existing community-led effort of MaskBlocLA. “On Twitter I learned that mutual aid groups who were already in place, often made up by disabled and queer volunteers, have been distributing masks as fast as possible. So I decided to post on Instagram and my other accounts an offer for a signed copy of my latest anthology, Disability Intimacy: Essays on Love, Care, and Desire, for every one hundred dollar donation to Mask Bloc LA, a mutual aid group that distributes masks for the most impacted people. After a few posts I raised over five thousand dollars. Many organizations have been saying money is the most useful thing people can donate and in my small way I was able to raise an amount that I wouldn’t have been able to donate as an individual. It was an all out community effort that was manageable for me and I am so thankful and proud of the communities I belong to in these online trash heaps also known as social media. Community care is powerful and this was just one example of it in action.”
Disabled people are not dying in disasters due to personal negligence or an unwillingness to leave — they are dying because emergency systems are not built with them in mind. Until disaster preparedness prioritizes accessibility, these preventable tragedies will persist. The question is not whether another disaster will strike, but whether we will finally ensure disabled lives are protected when it does. As climate crises escalate, the fight for better policies and the expansion of disability-led mutual aid must go hand in hand. While systemic change is essential for true disaster preparedness, the ongoing failures of government planning mean that disabled communities must continue filling the gaps themselves, working to protect people who are often abandoned in times of crisis.
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Thank you for this!!!