Disaster Response Guide
This resource guide was created to help autism service provider organizations quickly resume operations following a widespread disaster, minimizing disruption of services for autistic individuals and their families.
Background
On August 8, 2023, the island of Maui experienced one of the deadliest wildfires in modern U.S. history. In its aftermath, autism service providers struggled to continue delivering critical behavioral health services like applied behavior analysis (ABA). The wildfire demonstrated the need for a practical resource to support autism service provider organizations through future disasters.
In late 2023, a group of CASP members convened a workgroup to take this on. Informed by personal experiences with the Maui wildfires and other disasters, the workgroup created this easy-to-read resource with clear, actionable recommendations. For ease of use, the content is presented in the form of bullet points, brief narratives, and customizable templates.
Scope
Adequate disaster preparedness is essential. This guide summarizes general disaster preparedness recommendations for businesses and highlights special considerations for organizations that deliver autism services. However, its primary focus is to provide strategies that address the unique challenges autism service providers face during and after a disaster.
This guide includes information about client behavior changes that can result from a disaster. However, recommendations for addressing these behaviors with modified individual programming is outside our scope here.
