Emergencies —whether triggered by armed conflicts, migration crises, or environmental disasters— exacerbate the vulnerabilities of people with disabilities. Barriers in communication, inaccessible technology, and lack of inclusive planning often prevent equal access to safety, information, and essential services.

Objectives:
•    Showcase user perspectives: Highlight the lived experiences of people with disabilities in crisis situations (migration, war, environmental disasters).
•    Explore technological advances: Present accessible digital solutions (te-lephony, applications, communication systems) that enable inclusive emer-gency response.
•    Encourage collaboration: Connect stakeholders from government, indus-try, and civil society to improve preparedness strategies and tools.
•    Promote policy and practice alignment: Ensure accessibility is central to European and global emergency frameworks.

Details on the event:

• Target audience: Persons with disabilities and their representative organisations, technology developers and industry leaders, policymakers and emergency planners, NGOs and humanitarian actors, researchers and accessibility advocates.
• When: Wednesday 18 February 2026. 16.30 - 19.30 (CET)
• Format: Hybrid
• Where: United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV), Plenary M1. Wagramerstrasse 5. Austria
• Type of event: Workshop and mutual learning session
• Language: English
• Accessibility information: Accessible venue. Captioning in English and IS
• How to participate:
  • Onsite registration: invited guests by Zero Project.
  • Online registration: free online registration here.
• More information on the event.