Glossary of Terms

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  • Concept illustration of people getting resources from a computer

    Accessibility: Design, construction, development, and maintenance of facilities, information and communication technology, programs, and services so that all people, including people with disabilities, can fully and independently use them.1,2 Accessibility includes providing accommodations and modifications to ensure equal access to employment and participation in activities for people with disabilities, reducing or eliminating barriers to equitable opportunities, being committed to ensuring people with disabilities can independently access every outward-facing and internal activity or electronic space, and using best practices, such as universal design.1

  • Access and Functional Needs: This term refers to individuals with and without disabilities who may need additional assistance because of any condition (temporary or permanent) that may limit their ability to act in an emergency.2
  • Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): The ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, state and local government, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation, and telecommunications.3,4 To be protected by the ADA, one must have a disability or have a relationship or association with an individual with a disability.
  • Centers for Independent Living: Non-residential community programs designed and operated by people with disabilities to provide independent living tools, resources, and supports that fully integrate people with disabilities into their communities to promote equal opportunity, self-determination, and respect.5
  • CMIST Framework: A framework used to create inclusive emergency planning by addressing the access and functional needs of people with disabilities.6,7 CMIST is an acronym that organizes access and functional needs into five categories: communication, maintaining health, independence, support and safety, and t
  • Disability: There are many definitions of disability. An individual with a disability is defined by the ADA as a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment.4 The ADA does not specifically name all the impairments that are covered. CDC defines disability as any condition of the body or mind that makes it more difficult for the person with the condition to do certain activities and interact with the world around them.8
  • Disability Inclusion: The inclusion of people with disabilities into everyday activities. It involves giving fair treatment, eliminating stereotypes and discrimination, and changing products and procedures to make them accessible for people with disabilities.3 It also involves prioritizing input from people with disabilities, typically through disability-focused organizations.
  • Disability Rights: Federal civil rights that ensure equal opportunity for people with disabilities.9 These laws prohibit private employers, state and local governments, employment agencies, and labor unions from discriminating against people with disabilities. They also require accessibility of public facilities and public information (see Guide to Disability Rights Laws).
  • Disaster: An occurrence of a natural event, human-caused event, or disease outbreak that results in severe property damage, deaths, or multiple injuries.10,11 As used on this website, a “large-scale disaster” is one that exceeds the response capability of the local jurisdiction and requires state, and potentially federal, involvement.10 Refer to the Stafford Act for a full definition of a “major disaster.”12
  • Durable Medical Equipment (DME): Equipment and supplies ordered by a healthcare provider for everyday or extended use.13 Coverage for DME may include oxygen equipment, wheelchairs, crutches, or blood testing devices for people with diabetes.
  • Emergency: Any occasion that requires action to save lives and to protect property, and the public’s health, and safety.10 There are many kinds of emergencies, such as natural disasters, human-caused disasters, and disease outbreaks. Emergency can also refer to a dangerous incident requiring urgent attention that doesn’t cause disruption to communities or society (such as an injury or medical condition).
  • Emergency Management Services: The coordination of diverse professionals and resources to handle emergencies through mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery efforts.14
  • Emergency Preparedness: The steps taken to reduce risk before, during, and after an emergency (see Emergency).15
  • Emotional Support Animal (ESA): Any animal that provides emotional support or comfort to someone with a disability.16,17 ESAs are not trained to perform tasks for a person with a disability but provide companionship and may help with depression, anxiety, and specific phobias.
  • Evacuation: A well-organized, carefully planned, and closely supervised process of relocating people from dangerous or potentially dangerous areas.10,18
  • First Responder: A first responder could be anyone: a firefighter, law enforcement officer, paramedic, emergency medical technician, or other individual, who, through their professional or voluntary duties, responds to an emergency (see Emergency).19
  • Institutionalization: When people with disabilities are placed unnecessarily into long-term care facilities—including nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, and psychiatric institutions—including during and after an emergency or disaster.20
  • Paratransit: A transportation service for people who are unable to use the regular public transit system in their area due to functional limitations.21,22 Paratransit typically offers door-to-door rides for those who book in advance and need to travel within three-fourths of a mile from a regular transit route. Disability alone does not determine paratransit eligibility; the decision is based on the applicant’s functional ability to use the fixed route transit options and is not a medical decision.
  • Rehabilitation Act of 1973: The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in programs conducted by federal agencies, in programs receiving federal financial assistance, in federal employment, and in the employment practices of federal contractors. The standards for determining employment discrimination under the Rehabilitation Act are the same as those used in title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
  • Service Animal: Any animal trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability (including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability).23 A service animal is not considered a pet but rather an animal trained to assist people with disabilities.
  • Shelter: A facility that is designated as a temporary place for evacuees and disaster survivors to stay while displaced from their homes. 24 Shelters can be run by local or state governments or non-governmental organizations. Shelters can be congregate (households sleeping in a common area) or non-congregate (sleeping in separate rooms). The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities.4 The ADA requires shelters to provide people with disabilities equal access to programs and services.25,26
  • Shelter-in-Place: The use of a safe location or structure to temporarily separate people from a hazard, threat, or emergency (see Emergency).18
  • Trauma-Informed Approach: A framework that (1) realizes the widespread impact of trauma and understands potential paths for recovery, (2) recognizes the signs and reactions of trauma, (3) fully integrates knowledge about trauma into policies and practices, and (4) resists re-traumatization. It also includes six key principles for implementation: safety, trustworthiness and transparency, peer support, collaboration and mutuality, empowerment, voice, and choice, and cultural, historical, and gender issues.27
  • Whole Community Approach: This framework brings together everyone within a community, including residents, first responders, emergency managers, clinicians, and local leaders to (1) understand and meet the needs of the whole community, (2) engage and empower all parts of the community, and (3) strengthen existing relationships in communities.29