Resources on climate change and disability

Climate breakdown and adapting to it impact all areas of life, so the connections with disability are equally plentiful. This collection of resources is full of wisdom from disabled people and allies on how we're being impacted and how we're responding to work for disability-led climate justice.

This is an evolving collection of resources lovingly compiled by Áine Kelly-Costello. Please do share further resources by leaving a comment, or contacting Aine on email ainekc [at] gmail [dot] com, or on Twitter at @ainekc95.

Our latest climate piece explores whether COP27 will contribute to disability-inclusive climate justice. For more on the Debrief, see:

• Our features exploring the impacts of the climate crisis on disabled people.
• Curated news items on the climate crisis and disaster risk response.

Last updated: November 2022. This work is done with support from CBM Global and readers.

Contents

• Understanding disability and climate justice
• Impacts of climate breakdown and disaster risk response
• Adapting to climate change
• Policy and advocacy
  

Understanding disability and climate justice

Perspectives from disabled people

• Indigenous People With Disabilities Are on the Front Lines of the Climate Crisis, by Jen Deerinwater Truthout, International
• “Indigenous women with disabilities are not just victims but we are key to climate solutions” (Pratima Gurung, Nepal)
• Disability Visibility Podcast on Climate Action episode with Kera Sherwood-O’Regan (Aotearoa New Zealand, includes transcript)
• Climate Change, Environmental Activism, and Disability covers environmental racism, poverty and other intersections. (US)
• Disabled people cannot be expected losses in the climate crisis. Julia Watts Belser, (Truthout, US, 2019)
• Climate Darwinism Makes Disabled People Expendable, by Imani Barbarin (Forbes, US)
• Eco Ableism and the Climate Movement (Young Friends of the Earth Scotland)
• Eco ableism in society and the climate movement (Elleonora Alli Uddman; Fridays for Future)
• Disability Justice, Climate Change, and Eco-Ableism Panel (includes transcript, Daphne Frias; Annie Segarra; Gabi Serrato Marks; Colombia University; US)
• Crip Resilience is Nature's Brilliance (podcast episode with transcript, Sins invalid; US, 2020)
• Cripping Climate Activism (Anna Maria Joseph, Women Enabled International, Oct 2022)
• Cripping the Anthropocene a podcast from Sins Invalid exploring the connections between disability justice and climate justice (includes transcript, US)
• Tori Tsui dismantles the euro-centricity and ableism of ‘eco-anxiety’ and outlines why mental health is planetary health (Atmos, Hong Kong/UK)
• The missing conversation about disabled leadership in climate justice, (Áine Kelly-Costello; Stuff, Aotearoa New Zealand)

Artistic and spiritual responses

• Rituals for Climate Change: A Crip Struggle for Ecojustice, forthcoming book (Naomi Ortiz, 2023)
• Crip Ecologies: Complicate the Conversation to Reclaim Power (Naomi Ortiz, Feb 2022)
• Comic panel on disability and plastics  by Ananya Rao-Middleton for Greenpeace UK (includes transcript)
• We Love Like Barnacles: Crip Lives in Climate Chaos Poster (sins Invalid)
• Despair, Hope and Healing: Three movements for climate justice Rebekah Ubuntu (audio description and BSL options, 2019)
• Crip Ecologies: Changing Orientation (Petra Kuppers, Poetry Magazine, January 2022)

Theoretical approaches

• Global Disability Justice In Climate Disasters: Mobilizing People With Disabilities As Change Agents (Alina Engelman, Leyla Craig, and Alastair Iles; Health affairs, October 2022)
• Climate Change, Disability, and the Capability Approach (The Sangyan)
• Disability and climate change: a critical Realist model of climate justice (Molly King)
• Exploring Discrimination in Climate Change Policies: Intertwining Disability Justice and Climate Justice - Anna Landre
• Disability, Climate Change, and Environmental Violence:  (Julia Watts Belser, 2020)
• Linking UNCRPD and climate resilient development (Eriksen et al.)

Resource collections and literature reviews

See the Debrief news collections on the climate crisis and also on disaster risk reduction and crisis response.

• Suggested syllabus on disability and climate justice by Molly M. King. Links to resources structured by topic.
• Connections Between Climate Change and Disability. Resource collection prioritising disabled people's perspectives. (Disability and Philanthropy Forum)
• Disability and Climate Change archive (led by Julia Watts Belser)
• Climate justice and disability reading list from SustainedAbility network
• Disability and climate evidence compilation (SD Direct)

Impacts of climate breakdown and disaster risk response

See the Debrief library for the latest news covering disaster risk reduction and crisis response more widely.

• Demanding Inclusion in Disaster Risk Reduction, Disability Rights Fund
• Conversation with Carlos Kaiser about inclusive DRR and problematic narratives facing disabled organisers in Latin America (includes transcript)
• Why are people with disabilities left out of disaster planning? (Al Jazeera, October 2022)
• Our Lessons: disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction report (Pacific Disability Forum, International disability Alliance, CBM Global, March 2022)

Health

• Climate change and the right to health of people with disabilities (PJS stein for The Lancet)
• Climate Change and the Health of People with Disabilities (EPA, US)

DRR Capacity building

• The Gaibandha model  - report on capacity building good practices for persons with disabilities in flood-prone areas of Bangladesh (CBM, 2018)
• Training for Care workers as first responders (California)
• Disability inclusive DRR and emergency response - a good example of training evaluation reports from Kerala, India, (2016 onwards)

By country/region

• Disability and climate change in the Pacific, report (Pacific Disability forum), Aug 2022
• “Every High Tide Reaches My Doorstep”: How People with Disabilities Face Climate Change in Solomon Islands (Solomon Times Online)
• Impact of Climate change on persons with disabilities in Nepal (case study from CBM Global)
• Barriers and Enablers of Persons with Disabilities as Climate Change Agents (Bangladesh and Madagascar, Eleonora Moen, Sept 2022)
• Data & evidence missing on the impact of climate change on persons with disabilities in Bangladesh (CBM Global)
• Story on intersectional climate impacts on disabled people in India (Health Policy Watch)

Flooding

• Flooding impact on disabled people in Kerala (Newzhook, India, August 2020)
• Article on Australian research with tips on not leaving disabled people behind in flooding (The Conversation)
• Research on effect of Australian flooding during and after floods (BMJ), 2022

Extreme heat

• Disability in the Heat - Why authorities need to prioritise people at highest risk as temperatures rise (Áine Kelly-Costello, Disability Debrief, India and global)
• Extreme heat in Canada: Human Rights Watch documents impact of lack of access to cooling and targeted support
• Risks of extreme heat for people with chronic illness (Statnews, US)
• Easy Read story on UK eatwave (Easy News, July 2022)

Power outages

• Survival for folks who need #PowerToLive during a power shut off California US, Fat Rose, Access-Centered Movement, and Disability Justice Culture Club, (living document)
• Load shedding life-threatening to people with disabilities (South Africa, Rolling Inspiration)

Fire

• Wildfires are especially dangerous for people with disabilities, audio and text (Yale climate connection US)
• What it's like to experience a bushfire evacuation while living with a disability (SBS; Australia), Jan 2020

Drought and water scarcity

• Disability inclusive drought response in Kenya (UNFPA), April 2022
• Factsheet; Disability Inclusion in Drought and Food Crisis Emergency Response (CBM, Handicap International, Kenya Red Cross Society and the Association of the Physically Disabled of Kenya, 2011)

Superstorms

• Texans With Disabilities During Winter Storm Uri: A Qualitative Study (Angela Frederick) 2022
• Was sandy a turning point for
• Reporting on impacts of hurricanes on disabled people in New Orleans (Nola)
• Katrina disabled survivor and care worker tells her story (AP news), October 2022

Adapting to climate change

Displacement, relocation, migration

• Seeking a disability lens within climate change migration (Bell et al.)
• Disability, Displacement and Climate Change (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, UNHCR, International Disability Alliance)

Urban design and transport

• Journal of Public Space: issue on inclusive and accessible public space
• Bristol Disability Equality Forum's Community Climate action plan; see also interview on Disability Debrief on its development.
• Leaving nobody behind: creating an inclusive car free future (Car Free Megacities)
• Crip Mobility Justice: Ableism and Active Transportation Debates (Aimi Hamraie)
• Misusing and devaluing disabled people in cycling and urban planning debates, Piece by Gabrielle Peters
• List of resources Regarding inclusive and accessible urban development (World Blind Union)
• What is Climate resilient inclusive design and why do we need it? (Global Disability Innovation Hub at COP26)
• Escooters - accessibility, safety and environmental concerns (BBC)
• Glasgow disabled facing hostility for car use (Herald Scotland)

Economy and employment

• Persons with disabilities in a just transition to a low-carbon economy (ILO; international)

Agriculture and food

• Where Food Sustainability and Disability Clash (Jacqueline Raposo for Foodprint, US)

Policy and Advocacy

Climate policy

• Disability Inclusion in National Climate Commitments and Policies report (Disability Inclusive Climate Action Research Program and International Disability Alliance). See also associated Guardian article.
• Report on how UK disability strategy addresses climate change (Oxford Disability Law and Policy Project)
• Climate policy and activism need to make space for disabled people (Pauline Castres, BMJ, international, 2022)

Capacity building and leadership

• Conversation with Fionn and Jonathan Angus  on doing nature and climate education as a person with intellectual disability on Enabling Commons podcast (Ireland, includes transcript)
• Conversation with Nkhasi Sefuthi on capacity-building among NGOs on climate change in Lesotho on Enabling Commons podcast (includes transcript)
• Conversation with Ipul Powaseu on disability and climate justice in Papua New Guinea on Enabling Commons podcast (also covers intersections with gender and geographical challenges, includes transcript)
• Conversation with Gordon Rattray and Mary Keogh on leadership on disability and climate on Enabling Commons podcast (Europe/global, includes transcript)
• What do climate-focus agencies need to be doing to ensure the inclusion of persons with disabilities in their work, and what should disability organisations need to be doing to ensure a focus on climate in their work? (Center for Inclusive Policy)

COP and international advocacy

• Disability Inclusive climate action advocacy paper to COP26 (Global Action on Disability (GLAD) Network Disability Inclusive Climate Action Working Group)
• Multiple access failures at COP26 ‘send shocking message’ to disabled people (Disability news service), Nov 2021

Financing

• Ford Foundation on partnering with frontline disability communities
• Join statement on Social Climate Fund (European Disability forum)