Overview

Up to 14 million older people with disabilities may be affected by humanitarian disasters. These people are among those most at risk, yet little is known about their particular experiences. Their rights and needs are widely overlooked in humanitarian response. Humanitarian policy and programming is increasingly focusing on the inclusion of older people and people with disabilities. However, it is often assumed that older people and people with disabilities can be supported simply by implementing needs-based assistance; there is limited evidence and attention paid to the intersection of older age and disability, the particular experiences of older people with disabilities in humanitarian crises, and the extent to which their rights are upheld in humanitarian contexts. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of older people with disabilities across a range of humanitarian settings. We found that older people with disabilities fared worse than older people without disabilities. We identified a number of barriers that made it harder for them to escape from danger and exercise their right to humanitarian assistance and participation. Considering that disability is most common among older people, and that numbers of older people are rising globally due to population ageing, there is a need to increase the visibility of older people with disabilities in humanitarian action and promote their meaningful inclusion. This involves not just addressing their needs for assistance and protection, but also enabling them to participate in decisionmaking on issues that affect them, so that they can exercise their rights in full.