This paper focuses on the effects of the hurricanes on people with all types of disabilities. The National Council on Disability (NCD) released another report that addressed in detail the specific challenges for people with psychiatric disabilities. Please refer to "The Needs of People with Psychiatric Disabilities During and After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: Position Paper and Recommendations" for a more detailed report about the population of mental health consumers affected by the hurricanes. Additionally, although the focus is on the emergency preparedness and response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, many of the problems addressed in this paper are systemic in nature and were not caused solely by the hurricanes. The challenges faced by people with disabilities during and after the Hurricanes, while unique in scope and proportion, were similar to the challenges people with disabilities face on a day-to-day basis. Therefore, many of the findings and recommendations related to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita echo NCD's previous research on improving the daily quality of life of people with disabilities. When America embraces the twin principles of inclusion and accessibility for everyday programs, policies, and infrastructure, Americans with disabilities surely will be counted among the survivors of the next disasters. NCD made detailed recommendations for disaster preparedness in its 2005 report, "Saving Lives: Including People with Disabilities in Emergency Planning. Since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita," many interested policymakers and emergency planners have used NCD's research to make their emergency plans more inclusive of people with disabilities. Some of the key recommendations from that report, along with recommendations based on lessons learned from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, are included in this report under the Recommendations for Emergency Preparedness section. A section on Education details the crucial challenges for disaster recovery efforts in continuing the education of student-evacuees while rebuilding educational services on the Gulf Coast. (Contains 89 endnotes.)