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Chapter 51 - Caring for People who Have Disabilities and Are Affected by Emergencies, Incidents, Disasters, and Disease Outbreaks

from Section 6 - Designing, Leading, and Managing Responses to Emergencies and Pandemics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2024

Richard Williams
Affiliation:
University of South Wales
Verity Kemp
Affiliation:
Independent Health Emergency Planning Consultant
Keith Porter
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
Tim Healing
Affiliation:
Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London
John Drury
Affiliation:
University of Sussex
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Summary

This chapter focuses on caring for people who have disabilities who are affected by emergencies and pandemics. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 1.3 billion people have some degree of disability. It highlights the wide spectrum of severity of disability that people display, and points out that how data are collected, combined with the lack of clear definition of the term disability, makes it hard to be precise about the numbers and proportions of people with serious intellectual or developmental disability compared with those with a range of physical disabilities, or with both. It concludes that the principle of equity demands that people who have disabilities need to have individual plans for their care. It proposes that emergency planning should take account of the needs of vulnerable people, including those people who have a disability, and that they have a role in planning for, preparing for, and responding to emergencies.

Type
Chapter
Information
Major Incidents, Pandemics and Mental Health
The Psychosocial Aspects of Health Emergencies, Incidents, Disasters and Disease Outbreaks
, pp. 388 - 393
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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