Occupational therapy's role in disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction: Addressing the emergency preparedness needs of people with disabilities

An increase in global catastrophes has drawn worldwide attention to the need for disaster mitigation at the community level (Mawardi et al., 2021). Disasters are classified as natural (e.g., hurricanes and floods), technological (e.g., building collapse and hazardous material spills), and intentional (e.g., active shooter incidents and hate crimes) (Smith & Scaffa, 2020). Research shows that people with disabilities are most at risk when confronted with disasters due to functional impairments (physical, sensory, cognitive, psychosocial) and a lack of emergency preparedness training (Engelman et al., 2022). This article proposes a disability-inclusive solution to conceptualize occupational therapy’s role in disaster preparedness for people with disabilities.