| Summary: | The often-neglected intersection between disaster and disability in disaster management initiatives perpetuates a disproportionate impact on people with disabilities, reinforcing existing barriers and eroding overall resilience. Through an exploration of personal perspectives among 17 people with socially determined, self-identified disabilities amidst Indonesia's disaster landscapes, we seek insights on amplified risks but also resilience pathways carved through cumulative exposures. Despite infrastructure barriers exacerbating disaster anxieties, there was resilience exhibited by people supporting one another through wisdom gained from repeated exposures, thus countering their exclusion. Findings also reveal societal forces sustaining unequal marginalization through stigma, yet unexpectedly cultivating solidarity as disability groups unite amid crises. Herein lies an appeal to leverage currently overlooked capabilities by meaningfully engaging disabled experts with lived experience navigating exclusion to guide context-driven strategies that fill gaps when systems fall short. We thus respond to calls for inclusive paradigms championing priority-setting participation of people with disabilities in directing equitable resilience initiatives benefitting all. Looking ahead, at the intersection of disability and disaster, the stage is set for more participatory efforts that embed disabled individuals as leaders to champion inclusion and social justice in the face of intensifying risks as more equitable communities are built. This research explores the lived experiences of 17 people with disabilities during disasters in East Java, Indonesia. Despite growing government commitments to disability inclusion, people with disabilities still face amplified risks and barriers when catastrophes hit. The study reveals how inaccessible infrastructure, fractured communication channels and dismissive attitudes sideline disabled citizens, obstructing evacuation and access to essential post-disaster services. However, the conversations also spotlight remarkable resilience as participants supported one another by sharing wisdom accrued through recurrent turbulent exposures. Hence while validating exclusion, findings uniquely contribute textured insights illuminating sociocultural forces shaping both adversity and solidarity. Looking ahead, the study underscores twin imperatives: dismantling barriers perpetuating unequal treatment amidst crises, alongside championing participatory involvement of disabled individuals to guide context-driven strategies that fill gaps when systems fall short. Ultimately, the research calls for inclusive paradigms that embed disabled experts as leaders to champion accessibility, social justice and equitable resilience.
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