Disasters pose substantial risks for people with disabilities. Disabled individuals may face reduced access to needed services during the response to and recovery from a disaster. Disaster response planning often fails to consider the specific needs of people with disabilities, leaving them without the basic accommodations required by law. Additionally, disaster plans may explicitly or implicitly deprioritize access to care for disabled individuals. This chapter examines the legal challenges that arise for people with disabilities during disaster responses, describes how legal protections for people with disabilities apply during and after disasters, and outlines a series of recommendations to improve legal protections and support systems for the rights and needs of people with disabilities when disaster strikes.

The social model of disability was implemented in the United States partially through the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and most notably through certain universal accommodations for physical disabilities. The social model has also been applied to mental health, but the ADA did not provide for universal accommodations in mental health. In this Chapter, the authors conduct a systematic review of PubMed and PsycARTICLES to identify evidence for potential universal accommodations in mental health and discuss the policy and ethical considerations of implementing universal accommodations in mental health.

This chapter introduces the reader to the textbook and to the novelties and intricacies inherent to international and European disability law and policy. In that regard, the chapter begins with an overview of the developments that led to the emergence of disability law as an academic discipline. Thereafter, the chapter briefly discusses how the language of disability has changed over time. It then goes on to provide an account of the aims and objectives of this textbook, and it outlines the guiding perspective and the methodological approach adopted in the book. Finally, the chapter ends with an outline of the structure of the textbook as a whole.

This chapter introduces the reader to the textbook and to the novelties and intricacies inherent to international and European disability law and policy. In that regard, the chapter begins with an overview of the developments that led to the emergence of disability law as an academic discipline. Thereafter, the chapter briefly discusses how the language of disability has changed over time. It then goes on to provide an account of the aims and objectives of this textbook, and it outlines the guiding perspective and the methodological approach adopted in the book. Finally, the chapter ends with an outline of the structure of the textbook as a whole.