Join AIDR, and the Collaborating4Inclusion project team as we invite expert speakers to explore how government, emergency services, people with disability and the services that support them are working together to put person-centered and capability-focused approaches to DIDRR into action.

Webinar three: Actions that service providers can take on DIDRR

Community, health and disability service providers (e.g., paid service providers and volunteers) are an untapped local community asset with potential to increase safety and well-being for people with disability in emergencies. Harnessing this potential is a complex challenge.

This webinar will share how Australian service providers are taking action on Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (DIDRR) in diverse service delivery contexts with different service delivery models, funding arrangements, and workforce capacity. We will share effective practices for linking personal emergency preparedness of people with disability (and other high-risk groups) to organisational preparedness and service continuity of the services that support them.

We will share case studies that showcase current progress, specific actions, implementation challenges and how they are being tackled, and what needs to happen next.

Guest speakers

Michelle Villeneuve, Associate Professor & Deputy Director, Centre for Disability Research and Policy, The University of Sydney

Associate Professor Michelle Villeneuve is the Deputy Director at The University of Sydney Impact Centre for Disability Research and Policy. Michelle leads an international program of research that addresses inequities that people with disability experience in everyday living and situations of natural hazard disaster and other emergencies. Michelle is leading the development of Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (DIDRR) in Australia - bringing together health, community, disability and emergency services sectors to establish cross-sector DIDRR policy and practice.

Michelle has over 20 years of experience working in regions of conflict and natural hazard disaster to develop community-led services and re-build opportunities for people with disability, including those acquired by human conflict and natural disaster.

Her partnership research keeps people with disability and their support needs at the centre of development and change.

Emma Birch, Regional Manager, Clinical, Rocky Bay

Emma is an experienced health professional with a demonstrated history of working in the hospital, health care and disability industry. Skilled in leading and delivering Allied Health Services, Project Management, Clinical Service Design/Planning and Health Education. Strong community and social services professional with a postgraduates in leadership, management and public health.

Parvathi Subramanium, Research Assistant, University of Sydney

Parvathi is an occupational therapist with experience in paediatric practice across a range of contexts including rural and metropolitan communities, educational and private practice settings.

John Fenech, Bushfire Recovery Manager, Community Development, St Vincent de Paul

John is a long time community development and program management professional who has worked broadly across Asia, the Pacific and now domestically, for organisations including World Vision, ChildFund Australia and the United Nations Development Program. He is passionate about creating space and time for communities to come together in order to elevate their voice, harness their skills and abilities, and realise their vision.

Heidi Chappelow, Project Officer - Emergency Management, Hunter Local Land Services

Heidi Chappelow is a co-founding member of P-CEP Connect Hunter. She directly experienced the life changing value of peer support while recovering from a significant injury. Heidi has since completed a Master of Disaster Resilience and Sustainable Development at University of Newcastle. Now, part of her role as Project Officer - Emergency Management at Hunter Local Land Services includes linking people and agencies in rural and isolated areas of the Hunter Region to inclusive, peer-led emergency planning.

Raelene Bock, Co-founder, PCEP Connect Hunter

Raelene is co-founder of PCEP Connect Hunter and is passionate about peer-led P-CEP and facilitating safe peer spaces. As a single mum, with four kids and complex disability, using the P-CEP tools has become a vital part of navigating everyday planning and being prepared for the small and large emergencies of life.

Aimee Parker
Community Connector, Singleton Neighbourhood Centre

Aimee is the ‘Community Connector’ at Singleton Neighbourhood Centre. Her vision for her community (Singleton LGA) is; ‘local needs, sustained by local resources’. She aims to progress this vision by supporting collaborative pilot initiatives, that effectively utilise shared resources and foster sustainable local connections. Aimee fundamentally believes that a ‘resilient’ community, starts with building individual capacity to achieve relevant and meaningful outcomes.

Aimee has 15years experience in specialised ‘inclusion’ roles (particularly Disability), spanning across NSW, WA and QLD (including Rocky Bay!). She has completed her Graduate Diploma in Policy and Applied Social Research at Macquarie University (in addition to Bach of Social Science at Newcastle University), increasing her professional capacity to develop a more tailored approach to service delivery.

Webinar host

Margaret Moreton, Executive Director, Australian Institute of Disaster Resilience

About Collaborating4Inclusion

The Collaborating4Inclusion research team works in partnership with government and emergency services, people with disability, and the services that support them to co-produce collaborative action so that nobody is left behind when disasters strike.

The Leave Nobody Behind project has been working across New South Wales and Nationally to develop research, policy, and practice that builds cross-sector community capacity to ensure that nobody is left behind when disasters strike. The final tranche in the project will be the development of a national framework for cross-sector collaborative action on DIDRR, supported and enabled by co-produced tools that everyone can use.

Webinar one: Actions government and emergency services can take on DIDRR

27 March 2023 | Watch online

For too long, disability has been kept in the ‘too-hard basket’. Emergency personnel have not had the right tools to support meaningful inclusion, participation and tailored planning for disasters; community, health and disability service providers have not been integrated into emergency planning; and people with disability have been overlooked in emergency management policies and practice decisions. Confusion persists about who takes responsibility for people with disability in emergencies.

This webinar will focus on the role and contributions of Australian government and emergency services to developing DIDRR at the local community level. Through case studies, we will explore approaches that government and emergency personnel are using to put people with disability and their support needs at the centre of inclusive emergency management policy, planning and practice.

Webinar two: Actions that people with disability and their representatives can take on DIDRR

17 April 2023 | Watch online

The biggest risk to safety and well-being of people with disability in emergencies is their exclusion from emergency management practices and policy decision-making.

Organisations of People with Disability (OPDs), Carer Organisations, and Advocacy Organisations can play a significant role in disaster policy, planning and interventions. Through their lived experience, leadership, and roles as disability advocates, these groups represent the voice and perspective of their members. With in-depth understanding of the factors that increase risk for people with disability in emergencies, they also have access to informal networks of support and communication. This information is not readily available within mainstream emergency management. 

In this webinar, we will listen and learn from people with disability, OPDs, carer representatives and advocates to learn about how they are taking action on DIDRR. We will share case studies that showcase how to keep people with disability and their support needs at the centre of Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (DIDRR). We will consider peer-led approaches, implementation challenges and how they are being tackled, and what needs to happen next.

Webinar four: Learnings from DIDRR Framework for Action

Dates and further information to come

In the final webinar, we will bring the puzzle pieces together to share a multi-sector DIDRR Framework for Action that has been built from the ground up.

EMPS CPD Hours

This webinar has been approved for EMPS Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points. The webinar has been allocated 1.5 hours of CPD.
For more information about EMPS CPD and to find out if you are eligible for EMPS CPD visit emps.org.au