Disability

The recently established Disability and Disasters Award supports people with disabilities working in disasters, as well as those who care for, study, or advocate on behalf of those with disabilities. Learn more about the award on the Disability and Disasters Award page.

This year’s winners include:

Elizabeth Davis
Elizabeth Davis

Elizabeth Davis is an emergency management consultant focusing on inclusive emergency management, marginalized population planning, disaster human services, and related issues through her firm EAD & Associates, LLC, which employs a holistic, client-focused approach to providing quality services and real-world solutions.

An accomplished public speaker, Davis is considered one of the nation’s “go-to” sources on the convergence of emergency management and disability access and functional needs. She began in public service at the New York City's Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities as assistant to counsel and senior policy advisor. She later became the first director of the National Organization on Disability Emergency Preparedness Initiative. Davis is an advisor to the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, sits on many research review boards and serves on several national advisory boards, including as an appointed voting member of the National Advisory Committee on Disability and Disaster to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the chair of the National Hurricane Conference Accessibility and Health Care Topic Committee, and first chair of the International Association of Emergency Managers Accessibility Committee. Over the years, she has received many awards and honors for her work. Davis is an inaugural inductee into the International Women in Homeland Security and Emergency Management Hall of Fame.

Davis received her juris doctorate and Master of Education from Boston University, with a degree in the socio-bicultural study of deafness and American Sign Language. She holds an undergraduate degree with a major in sociology and a minor in political science from Barnard College at Columbia University.

Annika Doneghy
Annika Doneghy

Annika Doneghy is a dual degree student at Case Western Reserve University. She is working towards a PhD in medical anthropology and a Master of Public Health degree concentrated on health policy and management. Her research uses an ethnographic approach to uncover firsthand narratives and experiences of individuals with disabilities and other health conditions as they navigate ongoing cycles of disaster and recovery. Her research reconceptualizes disability and recovery to consider wide-ranging human ability and diversity in disaster contexts, showing that many people with disabilities and other health conditions have different definitions and perspectives of recovery when compared to governmental and nongovernmental organizations. She aims to illustrate how traditional disaster practice and policy often fail to recognize these diverse and challenging experiences due to lack of inclusion and disability expertise. Doneghy received a master's in applied anthropology from the University of Kentucky and a bachelor’s in anthropological sciences from the Ohio State University. She is also a Bill Anderson Fund Fellow.

To see a list of all previous winners, please click here: Disability and Disasters Award Winners