Australia's disability inclusive emergency management toolkit
Categories: Action Line 2: Evidence-based policy strategy and capacity building, Leadership and governance, Climate-smart workforce
Country: Australia
Organizations: National Emergency Management Agency, Australian Government, Australia
The intervention
The DIEM Toolkit was developed to assist emergency planners, government agencies, and disability and community organizations in working together to ensure individuals, organizations, and communities are prepared for emergencies, including climate disasters. The Toolkit was rigorously field-tested to evaluate its effectiveness in assessing current practices and guiding the development of disability-inclusive emergency management strategies.
Key Features of the DIEM Toolkit:.
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7 guiding principles ensure national consistency in the development of disability inclusive emergency management
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E-Learning modules and case studies demonstrate practical applications of the toolkit
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Principles and Practical Action Guide: Designed for emergency planners, this guide identifies barriers to safety and well-being for people with disability and outlines steps for inclusive emergency management at the community level. The guide aligns with the DIEM Practice Standards: Inclusive Planning, Strategic Partnerships, and Accessible Resourcing.
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The Organisational Emergency Preparedness Profile: Assesses preparedness levels and capabilities of organizations, enabling collaboration with disability representatives, advocates, and service providers to develop effective strategies.
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Resource Map: A curated collection of best-practice resources for disability-inclusive emergency management, designed to promote innovation and collaboration.
The DIEM Toolkit works together with the Person-Centred Emergency Preparedness (P-CEP) Toolkit. Together, these resources support individual, organizational, and community-level emergency planning, ensuring that people with disability remain central to emergency management efforts.
Success factors
DIEM builds on a decade of partnership research led by Collaborating4Inclusion and several government, community, disability, and emergency sector partners. This research outlines roles, responsibilities, and accountability mechanisms needed to advance inclusive emergency planning.
The Toolkit’s success is attributed to:
- A structured framework that guides emergency planners through self-assessment and inclusive planning.
- Tools to establish baseline preparedness and track progress in reducing disaster risks for people with disability.
- Nationwide endorsement by the National Emergency Management Ministers Meeting, ensuring consistency across Australia and alignment with Australia's Disability Strategy (2021–2031).
Recommendations
Effective disability-inclusive emergency management requires collaboration among government agencies, emergency services personnel, people with disability, families, service providers, and communities. Key recommendations include:
- Co-design with people with disability: Inclusive planning ensures that emergency management strategies are effective for everyone.
- Adopt person-centred, capability-focused approaches: Embedding these principles into disaster risk reduction addresses shared responsibilities and upholds international commitments such as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
- Align practice with policy: National leadership should ensure that human rights-based practices align with policy guidance to create inclusive emergency management strategies.
- Focus on Practice Standards: Emphasizing growth and shared responsibility through Practice Standards like Inclusive Planning, Strategic Partnerships, and Accessible Resourcing supports continuous improvement in disability-inclusive emergency management.
Key resources
Author Information: The DIEM Toolkit was developed by the University of Sydney's Collaborating4Inclusion research team, funded by NEMA. The project was co-designed with people with disability and practitioners from the disability, community, emergency, and government sectors across Australia.