Disability impacts all of us. Chances are that we ourselves or someone we love lives with at least one disability–a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. Around 16 percent of the global population (close to one billion people) lives with a disability. And in the U.S., the rate is about 1 in 4 (over 70 million) adults.
The climate crisis also affects us all. For the disability community, however, the effects of climate change present a higher risk of climate-related harm. The need to ensure that disability rights are respected, protected, and fulfilled in climate change solutions is an urgent public health imperative.
Magnified Impacts for People with Disabilities
Climate change and dangerous weather impact every one of us, yet the impacts on health, safety, and quality of life are magnified for people with disabilities (PWD). PWD experience unique climate change-related barriers and challenges, such as discrimination, inaccessible transportation, and inadequate shelter options. Further, emergency communication to people who are blind and deaf is often insufficient or nonexistent. The disability community is often the most impacted by the climate crisis, yet the most overlooked when it comes to planning and preparedness.
Social Determinants of Health and Ableism
Because disability intersects with all other identities, people with disabilities face compounded impacts and oppressions. For example, older Americans are significantly more likely than younger adults to have a disability. Due to intergenerational trauma, oppression, and poverty, American Indians and Alaska Natives are more likely than Americans of other racial and ethnic backgrounds to report having a disability. Climate change and incarceration are both a result of intentional structural and policy decisions, rooted in racial, economic, and political injustices. PWD, people of color, and low income people are also overrepresented in the prison system. Severe weather, such as extreme temperatures, has devastating consequences for people who are imprisoned.
Discrimination and structural barriers impede financial security and upward mobility for PWD. In fact, 25% of Americans with disabilities live in poverty, more than twice the rate of nondisabled people. And living in poverty often means living in areas that experience both environmental racism and more devastating effects of climate change. Many people even acquire disabilities because of environmental pollutants in the water and air. PWD often live disproportionately closer to the particulate matter emissions and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from fossil fuel burning. In fact, the poorest communities have 41% less tree cover than the wealthiest ones. Less tree cover means more heat islands, leading to more heat-related illness and death.
Inclusive and Accessible Design Benefits Everyone
When we center people with disabilities in climate change research, planning, and design, everyone benefits. Consider the fact that anyone, at any time, can experience a disability. Some people are born with a physical or mental disability. Others acquire disabilities through illness, injury, pregnancy, trauma, or environmental injustice. Using a disability-centered framework can enhance our public health and healthcare practice for everyone.
For example, primary care providers can address the social determinants of health and help their patients with disabilities and other chronic health conditions prepare for extreme weather. And expanding the accessibility of public transportation benefits everyone. This includes young people, undocumented people, people who have aged out of driving, and people who don’t drive because of disability or environmental concerns. In other words, more transportation choices positively impact communities at large, and contribute to a healthier planet.
Disability-Inclusive Climate Justice is Good Public Health Practice
Centering the voices, expertise, and experiences of people with disabilities across the spectrum is essential to climate justice work. The disability community must be involved in the planning of all climate mitigation and adaptation efforts. No one knows better the needs and adaptations necessary to protect and save lives than the community itself.
Traditional Western values of autonomy and independence promote ableism in climate change policies and physical infrastructure. Feminist disability studies urge us to center the values of solidarity, mutual aid, and care. Interdependence is the idea that we all need one another to survive and thrive. Disability communities are experts in community care, born out of necessity from a lack of responsive services and support. We must involve disabled activists in climate leadership and include the disability community in grantmaking work that addresses climate change.
Forward-Thinking Companies
Thankfully, there are forward-thinking organizations and companies that are leading the charge in disability inclusion and climate justice. For example, some organizations in California and Puerto Rico are providing free or low cost energy storage and microgrids to support PWDs and low income communities.
Microgrids are small-scale electricity networks that can operate independently or connect to the larger grid. They bring life-saving electricity to disabled people who use electric-powered equipment for their care. This benefits people who use oxygen tanks, ventilators, and wheelchairs, as well as those who require prescription medications that require refrigeration, like insulin.
These types of energy solutions also provide reliable, renewable, and affordable power to larger communities, businesses, and utilities facing severe weather.
Organizations Leading the Way
Local Resilience Hubs and Long-Term Recovery Groups can help communities better coordinate critical emergency services. They can help prepare to for and recover from natural disasters in a culturally responsive and community-driven way. Local health departments also play a key role in climate preparedness communication.
Internationally, the Ford Foundation and Global Greengrants Fund are working to support initiatives at the intersection of disability and environmental justice. Since older adults are a large percentage of those living with disabilities, the American Society on Aging advocates for including aging policy in climate action. SustainedAbility has been fighting to get the United Nations to incorporate disability justice into the Climate Change Conference (known as COP26) framework and ensure that the disability community is heard in UN Climate Negotiations. The Disability Justice Project helps produce films centered around the experiences of disabled people, largely around climate change and biodiversity destruction.
There is no justice without disability justice. And there is no climate equity without inclusive climate action. We must build collective resilience against climate change to protect our fragile planet and promote a sustainable future. A disability human rights approach will help get us there.
