InxGa1−xN disks in GaN nanowires (DINWs) have emerged as a viable technology for on-chip tunable visible spectrum emission without the use of a phosphor. Here we present a study of the optical emission and absorption dynamics in DINWs that incorporates the important role of background disorder states. The optical emission in the system is dominated by quantum-confined excitons, however we show here that the excitons are coupled to a large density of background disorder states. Rapid non-radiative decay (compared to other decay rates such as spontaneous emission) from disorder states into excitons is observed after optical excitation of our sample that dominates the nonlinear absorption dynamics. Because disorder states are ubiquitous in InGaN layers, we believe that this result reveals an important new decay channel that should be incorporated in future modeling and engineering of InGaN-based optical devices in general.