ReliefWeb

Executive summary

This report is based on the results of a global consultation carried out in 2015 as a contribution to the World Humanitarian Summit and is intended to better identify the changes needed for a disabilityinclusive humanitarian response. A total of 769 responses were collected through 3 online surveys targeting persons with disabilities, disabled people's organisations (DPOs) and humanitarian actors.

The responses show that persons with disabilities are strongly impacted when a crisis occurs: 54% of respondents with disabilities state they have experienced a direct physical impact, sometimes causing new impairments. 27% report that they have been psychologically, physically or sexually abused. Increased psychological stress and/or disorientation are other effects of the crisis for 38% of the respondents with disabilities.

This consultation also confirms that persons with disabilities too often fall through the cracks of humanitarian response. Three quarters of the respondents report that they did not have adequate access to basic assistance such as water, shelter, food or health. In addition, the specific services persons with disabilities may need, such as rehabilitation, assistive devices, access to social workers or interpreters were not available for one out of two respondents with disabilities, further impeding their access to mainstream assistance.

Some of the main barriers preventing persons with disabilities from obtaining aid in crisis contexts are linked to the lack of accessible information on those services and the difficulty in accessing the services themselves: lack of physical or financial access, lack of staff trained in disability, or distance from the services.

85% of humanitarian actors responding to the survey recognise that persons with disabilities are more vulnerable in times of crisis and 92% estimate that these persons are not properly taken into account in humanitarian response.

Real efforts are being made to fill this gap as 63% of humanitarian actors state they have developed specific projects or policies. However, they still face significant challenges in making their assistance truly inclusive: insufficient consultation of persons with disabilities, lack of technical expertise on disability, or financial obstacles. Finally, only 30% to 45% of the services they provide are reported as accessible to persons with disabilities.

In times of crisis, DPOs declare implementing a wide range of activities aimed at persons with disabilities, with the main ones relating to raising awareness on the needs of persons with disabilities (71%), identification of persons with disabilities (62%), and initial needs assessments of persons with disabilities (53%).

As a matter of fact, 56% of humanitarian actors consider that improved coordination between mainstream actors, specialised actors, and DPOs should be a priority.

While most humanitarian actors pledge to target vulnerable persons in crisis time, few of them are putting in place specific mechanisms and procedures to effectively reach to, and taking into account, persons with disabilities in their programs.

Addressing these challenges is a human right imperative. It has also to do with an effective implementation of principled humanitarian aid. This ambition requires changes in policies and practices within the humanitarian community as a whole.