When the sirens wail in Israel, most of us move instinctively: gathering our children, grabbing our phones, running to safety. But for too many, especially people with disabilities, that flight isn’t just difficult — it’s impossible.
eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross recently shared his story of Yosef, an amputee with no way to reach a shelter in his four-story walk-up. Yosef’s situation is tragically common: an Access Israel report found that 42% of people with disabilities in conflict zones lack access to protected spaces. For many, there are no elevators, no ramps and no reinforced rooms they can reach in time. Even in major cities, shelters are often inaccessible. For the deaf or hard-of-hearing, alerts are not reliable. For others, the path to safety is blocked — sometimes literally.
However, inaccessible shelters are one part of the story. Inclusion isn’t just about mobility. During emergencies, individuals with cognitive disabilities or limited verbal communication face equally life-threatening barriers. How do you seek safety if you don’t understand the instructions? How do you navigate fear and disruption if your routines collapse and your support system is limited?
This is what we must understand: Physical and cognitive accessibility are inextricably linked components of emergency readiness, but too often one is considered without the other. That gap is a failure of imagination and policy.
Read the rest of Michael Lawrence’s Op-Ed published on eJewishPhilathropy online OR view article as PDF
