Humanitarian settings vary widely due to the nature of a crisis (natural hazard, conflict, displacement, political crisis,etc.), its location (urban, rural, remote islands), and whether it is a rapid, slow onset or protracted crisis. The recommendationsin these guidelines are relevant to all settings but need to be adapted and localized to take account of context.
Contextual factors that should be considered when implementing the guidelines include:
To illustrate, OPDs in an affected area may be under-resourced or inexperienced or may not represent the population of personswith disabilities. Where this is the case, it may be necessary to build their capacity on humanitarian action or create andempower community peer-support groups of persons with disabilities. The aim should be to enable OPDs to participate in consultationson assistance and protection during all phases of a humanitarian response (including preparedness, the response itself, andrecovery).
In all circumstances, humanitarian actors, together with OPDs, must identify and address factors that make it difficult forpersons with disabilities to access assistance and protection (see the section barriers), as well as factors that promote their inclusion and protection. This is necessary both to ensure that every member of anaffected population receives the services to which he or she is entitled and to strengthen the accountability of the intervention.