The panel discussion was attended by 39 participants from different organizations, namely: the Administration of the Republic of Slovenia for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief; the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia, Civil Protection Directorate; the Association of Societies of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing of Slovenia; the Association of Societies of the Blind and Visually-Impaired of Slovenia; the Regional ACPDR units of Trbovlje, Novo Mesto, Murska Sobota, Ptuj, and Maribor; the Red Cross of Slovenia; the Ljubljana General Police Directorate; the Joint Municipal Administration of the municipalities of Dolenjska; the Municipality of Maribor – Joint Municipal Administration; the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs; the Cynological Association of Slovenia; the Trbovlje Volunteer Firefighting Unit; the Novo mesto Fire and Rescue Centre; the Kranj Fire and Rescue Service; the Association of Professional Firefighters of Slovenia; the Slovenian Association for Fire Protection; the Celje Professional Firefighters Unit; the Zasavje Centre for Social Work; and the Digitas Institute.

The participants of the panel discussion were informed about the project’s purpose and goals, and the activities that will be carried out within the project, namely an analysis of the current situation, the experiences of first responders, and guidelines for people with disabilities with instructions on how to act if a natural or other disaster occurs. The review of legislation in the field of protection against natural and other disasters with regard to the inclusion of people with disabilities was presented to all participants during the panel discussion. The representatives of two organizations, the Association of Societies of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing of Slovenia and the Association of Societies of the Blind and Visually Impaired of Slovenia, presented the obligations that the state has towards people with disabilities, and the need to involve different organizations and stakeholders in the planning and management of disaster response and prevention. They emphasized the crucial importance of taking into account the different needs of people with disabilities in the activities of prevention and response to natural and other disasters.

The central event was a discussion on the topic “Experiences in rescuing people with disabilities during natural and other disasters”. In the discussion, the participants exchanged experiences, presented the normative regulations, and pointed out that this area has been insufficiently taken into account by all the participants of the panel discussion. Activities should be focused on raising awareness and familiarizing people with disabilities with disaster prevention and correct behaviour in the event of disasters, as well as on informing first responders about the needs of people with disabilities. Although in this project the ACPDR has focused on the preparation of guidelines for the deaf and hard of hearing and the blind and visually impaired, in the future it will also be necessary to prepare guidelines for other types of disabilities. The accepted conclusions of the discussion will be presented at an international conference in Montenegro. The main conclusions of this activity in the project will be prepared and guidelines on providing assistance to people with disabilities in the event of natural and other disasters will be published, in cooperation with all the project partners.