While there is increasing concern and action around climate change, a new report shows that the world’s governments have largely ignored people with disabilities — who can be disproportionately affected by extreme heat, for example — in their climate mitigation and adaptation plans.
The report, which was released by McGill University’s Disability-Inclusive Climate Action Research Program (DICARP), found that fewer than one-third of countries even mention disability in their climate policies, and when they do, it is minimal.
« There’s nothing in these policies that had concrete mechanisms to include people with disabilities, to consult them and to ensure that their rights are respected in climate actions, » said Sébastien Jodoin, director of DICARP and Canada Research Chair in Human Rights and the Environment.
« We definitely need more research and dialogue to bring people’s disabilities and their rights to the forefront of the discussions around climate change, » Jodoin told What On Earth host Laura Lynch. « The reality is that ableism is still very pervasive in society. »
Jodoin speaks from experience — he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2015. Not only does extreme heat cause intense fatigue in people with MS, it triggers tiny electric shocks along the spinal cord. These symptoms made Jodoin’s first few summers after his diagnosis very difficult.
He quickly found and purchased an advanced cooling vest and sought further treatments for his condition, which he says is now under control. But he acknowledges that he has advantages others don’t.
« Those of us who have certain privileges will be affected differently by climate change, » Jodoin said. « That’s a huge focus of my work — not just looking at how people with disabilities are affected by climate change, but also how women, girls, racialized communities, Indigenous peoples with disabilities … are also disproportionately affected by climate change. »
Jodoin argues that overlooking people with disabilities in climate plans is a clear violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and is counterproductive to a more inclusive and resilient society.
Jodoin’s experiences with MS eventually led him to establish DICARP, an organization dedicated to researching and advocating for disability-inclusive climate action. DICARP’s research shows that Canada’s climate plans consider the rights of several minorities but not those of the disability community.
For example, current climate plans rarely consider those with schizophrenia in heat wave mitigation and adaptation. One-quarter of the people who died during the 2018 Montreal heat wave had schizophrenia, a death rate that Jodoin says is 500 times their proportion of the Quebec population.
One key reason for this is that people with schizophrenia take medication that makes them more sensitive to heat. This group also tends to be poorer, more marginalized and oftentimes lacks access to a dedicated support network. The City of Montreal now prioritizes people with schizophrenia as one of the vulnerable groups that need to be protected and require additional services during heat waves.
Jodoin maintains that when governments create plans that are disability-inclusive, it benefits the wider community and helps further the country’s transition to a low-carbon economy.
« If we can make our mass transit systems accessible to people with mobility impairments, we’re not just helping those people — we’re helping the parents with a stroller who want to take the subway, we’re helping the person who was injured that week and the person who’s elderly, » Jodoin said.
He has yet to have any formal conversation with the Canadian government but anticipates things will gain momentum soon. Last week, he gave a keynote speech at a meeting of the G7-Disability Commissioners in Berlin, Germany.
What On Earth reached out to Carla Qualtrough, Canada’s minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, for a response to Jodoin’s report. Tara Beauport, Qualtrough’s press secretary, responded by saying the minister attended the G7 Summit and plans to set up a formal meeting with Jodoin to discuss the report.
Jodoin remains hopeful that change is on the horizon. DICARP’s next step is to launch a report on disability inclusion in Canada’s climate policies in November and to present the latest research at the COP27 climate summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, that month.
« Around the world and in Canada, we’ve learned over the last 10 years about how to include women and Indigenous peoples in climate action, » Jodoin said. « I’m hoping that we can build on those experiences to bring in the disability community. »