Climate policy and activism need to make space for disabled people

Last year at COP26, inaccessibility was briefly the subject of media attention when it was reported that Israel’s energy minister, Karine Elharrar, who is a wheelchair user, couldn’t access the conference centre in Glasgow. But lack of access to the climate space for the one billion disabled people across the world doesn’t stop at the built environment: it is multifaceted and embedded in the wider climate action movement and the political and policy frameworks that govern and influence it.Climate change disproportionately affects disabled people as it widens health and socioeconomic inequalities and threatens to destroy or damage the physical environment, which includes accessibility features such as ramps and lifts, as well as resources and equipment disabled people rely on for both medical and non-medical reasons. Moreover, 80% of disabled people live in developing countries, where the most severe effects of climate change are seen and will continue to be experienced…
Read Original Article: Climate policy and activism need to make space for disabled people »