Cripping Climate Activism

By Anna Maria Joseph

Illustration: A person with burgundy colored hair, wearing a green top and blue pants is sitting on a wheelchair, holding a white color board with blue text that says, “Nothing about us, without us” in all caps. There are symbols of a wheelchair user and an ear with a hearing aid on it. The person is facing a closed door that is greyish blue in color and has the twinkling stars in light blue. The door has a pale-yellow board hung on it that says “climate forum” in all caps, with text yellow in color. The wall around the door has bricks that are orange in color, followed by pastel green, yellow and brown colors. There is a blanket of green leaves that hangs from the top of the wall. A blue pot with an orange flowering plant sits beside the door and has a note in yellow with the text, “gone 4 lunch” in black and all caps. The ground is grey in color. The person on the wheelchair looks dejected at not being able to attend the climate forum.

With the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (or COP27) happening next month, many are awaiting to see how world leaders are going to demonstrate their commitment to climate action. Although more disabled people are being invited to these conferences, there is still a long way to go to ensure the proper representation of disabled voices. Last year, during the COP26 in the U.K., the Israeli Energy Minister, Karine Elharrar was unable to attend the conference because there was no wheelchair access, reflecting the inaccessibility of these events. To help ensure that activists from spaces that are marginalized have better access to the conference this year, Friday’s for Future MAPA has resorted to crowdfunding. Nancy Marangu, encouragingly writes about how the COP27 can be a reset on climate justice for disabled people.

To learn more about the experiences of advocating at the intersections of disability, gender, and climate, I spoke to activists Lakshay, Tej and Áine. Read on to know more.

How are disabled people a part of MAPA (Most Affected People and Areas)? What do we hope to achieve with this recognition?

Illustration: A person wearing a coral orange top with stripes of blue inverted triangles in a mandala-esque design and jeans, blue belt and blue shoes, sits on a stool with their eyes closed, and head raised hopefully looking towards the light. They have purple hair that flows down their shoulders, with a yellow barrette on one side, pinned above their right ear. In one hand, they are holding onto a blue leash that’s tied around a dog with black and white fur, wearing an orange coat. Their other hand is holding down a pull chain that lights up a yellow spotlight above them. A bulb that is attached to an orange bulb holder is visible. The background is in dark blue with twinkling stars shown in light blue. There is imagery of sunflowers in three places in the illustration–four sunflowers growing from the ground beside the stool that they are sitting on, on the left side of the top they are wearing, and as a brown line illustration on their left arm.

Lakshay: Disabled people are two to four times more likely to die following a natural catastrophe than non-disabled people. And despite the fact that 15% of the world’s population has some form of disability, there is very little research on the intersection of climate change, gender, and disability. Disabled people are not disabled due to their impairments, they are disabled by structural and systemic barriers within society.

This inaccessibility and lack of a disability focus framework also inform climate policies. Within the broader climate justice discourse and movement, the needs and experiences of people with disabilities have been ignored and alienated. There are ableist assumptions that disabled people cannot contribute to the conversation.

Disabled people overcome everyday obstacles in a world designed for the able-bodied, showing their adaptive capacity and resilience, which can offer insights into how we can also adapt to complex changing climate conditions. We must take down the systemic barriers that exclude disabled people and fight for their rights to be recognized.

Would you say that the climate justice movement is inclusive of disabled people? How can we do better?

Content note: sexual violence

Tej: The climate justice movement is definitely not inclusive of disabled people. Most of the organising that is done is not accessible, whether it is online or offline protests. I have assisted with organising some of the activities of an organization focusing on climate in Bangalore and have seen a lot of issues with organising, first-hand. In this organization there are no disabled activists that I know of because there’s no space for them–mobility of disabled folx is incredibly limited due to poor public infrastructure.

The UK’s disabled protests are better documented in the media than most other countries in the world. A disabled XR activist from the U.K. told me that they were receiving a disability allowance from the government and that they could not protest the government because they were at risk of losing this allowance and being blacklisted. The police are also more likely to attack disabled protestors and take away their disability aids, like wheelchairs.

As an autistic person, I have had several concerns with the climate protest space. I had raised an issue with XR about sexual predators and other people who threaten the safety of the space. But I’d been told that this was not an issue that needed to be attended to because it was personal and “did not affect the movement.” And there are no spaces for you to calm down if you’re feeling overstimulated or overwhelmed during a protest. It is also assumed by the organisers and the media that everyone who participates in a protest is okay with being photographed. A lot of us cannot be seen in these photographs because disabled folks have the most to lose.

Lakshay: How many disabled people do you witness in photographs and news stories of climate demonstrations (although, disability is a wide spectrum, with many people having ‘invisible’ disabilities)? There remains an obvious absence of the disabled community within the climate justice spotlight and dialogue.

Within the movement, there are often shortfalls, even though there has been increasing inclusivity and progress. The lack of Sign Language interpreters for speeches excludes the deaf and hard of hearing. Demonstration marches conducted at a fast pace and for long distances can prevent wheelchair users and those requiring assistance with mobility from participating. Large, claustrophobic, noisy crowds can dismay potential activists on the autistic spectrum.

Climate justice groups are beginning to recognise the requirements of disabled people and the importance of having disabled members in organising teams. Along with this, the pandemic and the increased importance of online mobilization have contributed to a rapidly evolving movement.

Does being a disabled person who functions on crip time affect your interactions in the climate movement? How so?

Illustration: On a purple background with pink twinkling stars, there are 4 visuals. One is on a yellow background in the shape of a speech bubble which features a person with purple hair in their room, advocating from their bed, on their laptop. They have their headphones on and are wearing a yellow shirt. A portion of their room is visible and includes a blue bedside table with medicines on it and a red first aid box, a stand above their bed with books and plants, and another bedside table on the opposite side of the bed in green color, on which their walking stick rests. A visual on an orange background shows a close-up of their laptop screen, which presents a blog with the title, ‘MAPA’. There is another visual on a green background, again in the shape of a speech bubble which features two people attending a climate protest. One person is standing holding a yellow board with black text, “most to lose” in all caps, and the symbol of a wheelchair user. They are with another person who is in a purple color wheelchair. Their faces are blurred out in black color. There is a final visual featured on a greyish-blue speech bubble. It shows a climate activist speaking at the UN. They have their blonde hair braided and are wearing a purple top and blue jeans, fastened with an orange belt. There is a graph behind them that shows how the climate crisis is escalating.

Áine: Yes, it definitely has affected my interactions in the climate movement, especially since I got long Covid in early 2020. I was born blind and have been involved in climate action since before I got sick. Being disabled even then did have some impacts (I gravitated towards more writing-oriented tasks and other areas where I felt my strengths were), but not nearly to the same extent. I’ve spent significantly more time in bed and I have had a bare minimum of in-person interactions. My work has been completely online. I did my thesis on climate journalism and interviewed journalists over Zoom. My thesis took 17 months instead of the allotted 3 months. If my university had been strict with the timeline, I simply wouldn’t have finished and wouldn’t have been able to get my master’s degree. Even though my neurodivergent brain’s tendency is still to procrastinate and then hyperfocus on tasks till they’re done, there’s no just getting away with the odd ten-hour workday, never mind all-nighter, without a serious crash. This, coupled with my energy levels being fairly unpredictable, limits the effectiveness of even the most well-intentioned planning.

What are some access needs that you could benefit from as a disabled climate activist?

Áine: A recognition that climate justice, like disability justice, is a long-term struggle is critical. Having unmanageable expectations around time leads to the contributions of many disabled and chronically ill people being side-lined.

Being open to everyone’s communication needs is important. For me as a blind and chronically ill person, this can mean avoiding some project management systems which are not screen reader accessible, and also being open to sending voice messages if that happens to be accessible for everyone in the group. I appreciate visually significant information, such as descriptions for PowerPoint images, descriptions indicating race or gender, and verbalizing the results of a visual show of hands. It also really helps if when suggesting actions, people remember to suggest alternatives for visual actions.

When I hopefully slowly get back to some in-person meetings and events, it would be super useful if, for any snacks provided, there is an ingredient list so I can find out exactly what’s in there. There are lots of disabled people and people with health conditions who would appreciate being able to make a reliable assessment about what they can eat based on an ingredient list.

Would you have any advice to share with other disabled people who are trying to be a part of the climate movement?

Áine: There are so many ways you can contribute to the struggle for climate justice, including from bed, without joining a local climate group. Take whatever strengths you already have and think about what it could look like to incorporate it with climate advocacy–perhaps in your art, story-telling, social media posts, or within a disability organisation you’re part of. Remember to ask to be paid for your time and expertise! Also, don’t let other people guilt-trip you for using single-use plastics or other non-biodegradable items which make life easier in some way for you as a disabled person.

Learning about disability rights has provided me with the affirmation that disabled protest is valid. I hope reading these narratives has helped you redefine some of your understandings of what makes an activist, so we can all participate in the climate movement and advocate for climate justice.

About the author, the illustrator, and the people interviewed

Anna Maria Joseph (she/they) is a psychologist and freelance writer, who explores the intersections of disability, gender, and the climate crisis.

Yvie is a digital illustrator working from her bed in North Wales. She is autistic, has ADHD, and has been living with M.E., since 2018. Yvie is a mum of three neurodivergent teens, two Border Collies and prefers the vegetables grown in her own garden.

Lakshay (any/all) is an experienced campaigner, mobilizing youth for climate justice and focusing on the impact of the climate crisis on marginalized communities and associated issues such as migration, disaster-related relief work, and rehabilitation of livelihoods. He works as a Program Manager at People’s Resource Centre.

Tejaswi (they/she) is a neuroqueer journalist and researcher. They are currently the editor of Gaysi Family, a queer-owned, queer-run media platform and create and curate sex-ed content for That Sassy Thing. They’re also a consultant to Crea’s Sexuality & Disability practice.

Áine (they/she) is a multiply-disabled story-teller living in Aotearoa New Zealand, who has campaigned with 350.org and conducted trainings on making climate organising more accessible and disability-focused. They write about disability and climate for the Disability Debrief newsletter.