Scant mention of disabled community, despite higher risk of climate change impact
Climate change is a threat to human wellbeing and planetary health, says the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report , and it will expose people to increased risks of climate-sensitive illnesses and injuries. But despite climate change being likely to cause disability and health conditions, there was little mention of the disability community in the IPCC report. Disabled people are additionally at risk to some of the consequences of climate change, said Dr Esther Woodbury, lead adviser at the Human Rights Commission. She lives with a mobility impairment. Disabled people were likely to be left behind in critical events, such as natural disasters like flooding and fires, and there were a lot of risks for disabled people not being able to be evacuated, she said. READ MORE: * Climate Change Commission fell "well short" in carbon-cutting advice, lawyers argue * Prepare now for climate turbulence or pay extra when it hits, says mammoth global report * Disabled people disproportionately affected after disasters - research Theres likely to be more climate refugees in the future and, as we know, disabled people are massively discriminated against in a lot of immigration settings in New Zealand, so thats a real concern to me. Chapter 13 of the IPCC report, on climate-resilient development in Europe, mentioned disabled people but only very briefly, and in regard to transport: At city level, there are examples of good practice in climate-resilient development that consider social equity which integrate a gender-inclusive perspective in its sustainable urban planning, including designing public spaces and transit to ensure women, disabled people and other groups can access and feel safe using these public amenities. But the issue of access to environmentally friendly transport was much bigger than the safety of disabled people using public amenities, Woodbury said, noting that much of society was critical of car use. In her PhD research in 2012, Woodbury looked at car use in the disability community. She found some disabled people werent using public transport because it was unsafe, it was difficult to access, or disabled people experienced negative attitudes from bus drivers and other passengers. Having access to private transport meant that disabled people were able to participate on equal grounds as nondisabled people. Chapter 7 of the report addressed how climate change would affect physical and mental health and wellbeing. It predicted increased risks for mental health and wellbeing associated with changes caused by impacts of climate change on climate-sensitive health outcomes and systems. Woodbury stressed the importance of planning ahead to create a disability-inclusive and environmentally friendly future by designing it to be accessible, affordable and acceptable. She said disabled people were aware of environmental concerns about car use, and if there were more options, they would use their car less. But they were overwhelmingly put into a position where the only way to get mobility was through private transport. Being able to leave the house independently and have some autonomy over their mobility was also important to their mental health, she said. If we are pushing towards more public transport use, the whole system must be accessible, Woodbury said, with wheelchair-accessible bus stops and ramps up on to roadside kerbs, otherwise disabled people would be cut off from using public transport. I think its really important that disabled people be part of the [climate change] conversation themselves and the conversation should be about the disproportionate effects on disabled people, said Woodbury. Aine Kelly-Costello is a blind and chronically ill storyteller, and campaigner for disability and climate justice. She said there was eco-ableism happening in the climate change movement. The push for the use of electric vehicles (EVs) was an example of eco-ableism. There are now minimum noise standards for EVs which is a critical safety measure, especially for those of us who can't see them moving, said Kelly-Costello. So we need to keep tabs on whether those are sufficient for safety in real life. Calls for more subsidies for EVs should also push for subsidised EVs for disabled people, including ones big enough to fit wheelchairs, she said. The vehicles themselves need to be designed in a way where they can be modified, and the charging stations also need to be accessible. When it came to the framing of disability and illness in the IPCC report, it was deficit-based and disempowering, Kelly-Costello said. The narrative in the IPCC report, that climate breakdown makes people sick which causes a population-level health burden with shortened life expectancy, comes across as limiting and fatalistic to me, she said.