Emergencies rarely happen when it's convenient. A power outage, tornado, flood, wildfire, or evacuation can quickly become more complicated when you rely on medications, assistive technology, service animals, or medical equipment. Taking time to prepare now can help you respond more safely and confidently when every minute counts.
The Wisconsin Council on Physical Disabilities' Be Prepared, Have a Plan: Emergency Preparedness Toolkit for Persons with Disabilities (revised April 2025) provides practical guidance, planning forms, and checklists to help people prepare for emergencies before they happen.
10 Steps for Emergency Preparedness
While the toolkit includes detailed worksheets and planning forms, these ten recommendations are a good place to start.
1. Set up a planning meeting
Talk with everyone in your household. Review the toolkit together. Plan how you'll respond to sudden emergencies. Prepare for what you'll do if you're at home, at school, at work, or on vacation.
2. Assign responsibilities
Decide who will be responsible for each task during an emergency. Make a plan to work as a team.
3. Plan where you’ll meet
You may be separated from your family during an emergency, such as a house fire or evacuation. Plan where you'll meet and how you'll contact one another. Decide how you'll get there, which routes you'll use, and whether there's an evacuation shelter nearby.
4. Plan how you’ll communicate
Decide how you'll contact family or housemates after an emergency. Text messages may work when phone calls don't, so discuss backup ways to communicate if cell service is limited.
5. Make plans for your pets and service animals
Decide who is responsible for each pet during an evacuation, and take pets with you if you can. Service animals need to stay with the person they have been trained to serve.
6. Have an evacuation plan and practice it twice a year
Practice your evacuation route. Find alternate ways to go in case roads or bridges are closed, and have a backup plan if public transportation isn't available.
7. Choose your emergency contact person
This should be someone who lives in another town or state — it's often easier to reach someone outside your local area during a disaster. Write their phone number, email, and address on the Family Emergency Planning Form, and make sure everyone in your home has a copy.
8. Pack emergency supplies that will last five days
Use the toolkit's checklists as a guide. Check your emergency kits every time you change the clocks in spring and fall, and replace anything that's expired — food, water, medicine, batteries.
9. Build your emergency kit over time
Use items you already have, or look for used supplies at second-hand stores or garage sales for your kits and go bag. You don't have to do it all at once — start with what you have, then build from there.
10. Sign up for emergency alerts
Stay informed by signing up for local emergency alerts and downloading a trusted weather or emergency alert app. Many counties offer emergency text or email notifications, and local TV stations often have apps that provide severe weather alerts, evacuation notices, and other emergency updates.
The Wisconsin Council on Physical Disabilities also offers a free Emergency Preparedness Planning App for Android and Apple devices. The app includes the toolkit's planning forms and checklists in a fillable format that you can save to your smartphone or tablet or print for later use.
If you don't use a smartphone, ask someone you trust to contact you during an emergency.
Helpful Emergency Supplies
Along with making a plan, the toolkit recommends assembling supplies that support your specific needs:
- Flashlights — regular and lantern-style. Lantern flashlights help with seeing faces, reading lips, and interpreting sign language.
- A whistle on a cord — if you're trapped or can't see or hear rescuers, a whistle can help them find you.
- Chargers — for phones and tablets, including a hand-crank charger in case the power is out for a long time.
- Waterproof storage for hearing aids, cochlear implants, glasses, and contacts, plus chargers and adapters for mobility devices and other equipment.
Emergency Preparedness Resources for People with Disabilities
The Wisconsin Council on Physical Disabilities maintains the most current versions of these emergency preparedness resources on its website. Whether you're creating your first emergency plan or updating an existing one, these free tools can help.
Take the First Step
Download the toolkit and work through one section at a time. You don't have to complete every step today. Start by creating a plan, gathering a few essential supplies, and talking with the people who may need to help you during an emergency. Small steps now can make responding later much less stressful.
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