Disability and Disaster Explorations and Exchanges

Disability and Disaster adds disaster research to the expanding area of disability studies. This edited collection includes writings by international scholars and first-hand narratives from individuals with disabilities, or knowing people with disabilities, affected by disaster. In this collection, the editors, Laura M. Stough and Ilan Kelman, have embraced the call from the disability community to write "nothing about us without us," while incorporating reflections from scholars studying why certain groups are more vulnerable to disasters than others. In these first-hand narratives, authors with disabilities do not label themselves as "victims" of disaster or of disability. Rather, they portray agency and self-reliance. As such, these narratives present a counter-narrative to the assumed vulnerability and weaknesses of individuals with disabilities.