Channeling the Storm: Disrupting Definitions of Vulnerability in Risk Communication

In studies of risk communication, particularly in weather and climate contexts, vulnerability is often treated with a priori assumptions about specific population characteristics. How might mediums, modes, and messages of communication shift when vulnerability is instead understood to be contextual, dynamic across space and time, and malleable rather than a static, predictable and all-encompassing condition? Insights and stories from focus groups about risk, communication, and decision making following hurricanes Sandy, Matthew, Irma, and Harvey reveal ways in which people who might a priori be labeled vulnerable demonstrate agency, capacity, and creativity, even while experiencing institutional constraints because they belong to particular populations.