Today we celebrate the International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD). Each year, the United Nations announces a theme for the day, guiding global efforts to remove physical, technological, and attitudinal barriers for people with disability. These annual themes encourage us to work towards a more inclusive society. One where everyone is respected and can fully participate.

This year's theme is ‘Fostering disability inclusive societies for advancing social progress’. At its core, this means we all share a responsibility to make our communities fairer, ensuring the rights of people with disability are recognised, upheld, and celebrated. It’s essential that all levels of government work together to support and enhance the lives of people with disability, creating a society where everyone can thrive.

At the National Emergency Management Agency, we have been focusing on disability inclusive emergency management and preparedness. We are working to ensure that individuals with disability, along with their support networks, are well-equipped to respond in an emergency.

Empowering communities with disability inclusive emergency planning

This time last year, NEMA launched the Disability Inclusive Emergency Management (DIEM) Toolkit. The Toolkit’s goal is to foster inclusive and diverse communities across Australia, empowering people with disability to be actively involved in emergency preparedness and response.

To support the roll-out of the DIEM Toolkit, we held a series of Disability Inclusive Emergency Planning (DIEP) forums around the country. These forums brought together local governments, the disability community, emergency management agencies and community representatives and provided a space to explore how the DIEM toolkit can better support people with disability during disasters.

During the forums, participants engaged with the Toolkit to assess their levels of preparedness for disability inclusion in emergencies at an organisational level, and identified practical steps they could take moving forward to enhance their practices.

Voices from the forums: real impact, real change

Since launching the toolkit, feedback from participants across emergency planning, government, and disability sectors has been overwhelmingly positive. The collaborative discussions sparked new connections, with stakeholders continuing conversations and building networks beyond the forums themselves.

‘Bringing emergency services, council, and disability organisations together created real shared understanding, and the DIEM Toolkit will help us turn that understanding into clear actions. It made a meaningful contribution to strengthening our local preparedness.’

‘Having a structured approach to guide both our thoughts and actions while moving along the planning continuum has been really helpful,’ a forum participant from Frankston City Council told us. 

Building a more inclusive Australia

We all have a role to play in creating inclusive and diverse communities. To learn more about how you can support and celebrate people with disability, visit the IDPwD website.

For more information on the DIEM Toolkit and how you can implement it in your community, explore The Disability Inclusive Emergency Management Toolkit.