This article by Emma Geen from the Climate and Disability Programme is reproduced from Bristol 24/7. The original article can be found here.

Talking about disability rights in environmental spaces can get you some odd looks.
It’s not uncommon for people to look over me or appear disappointed when they realise that I, a Disabled woman, will be representing projects instead of colleagues from ethnic minority or working-class backgrounds.
Panels on justice and climate change rarely include Disabled speakers and these events are often run in inaccessible venues, using inaccessible language. So it would be easy to write off the climate movement as an ally to the disability rights movement.
Yet I genuinely believe that action on climate change is the greatest opportunity we have in our lifetimes to make society accessible. And I know that addressing climate change won’t work if Disabled people aren’t included.
I recently started as the Climate and Disability programme associate for Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership. Part of the National Lottery funded Community Climate Action Project, it’s working to centre the needs of Disabled people in Bristol’s action on climate change.
The project will build on Bristol’s climate action plan by Disabled people, which I led on co-producing in 2021.
Centring the needs of Disabled people in climate issues is essential because we face unique risks and have unique skills and insights to offer.
UNESCAP research shows that Disabled people are up to four times more likely than non-Disabled people to be injured or die in climate disasters. The cause of this doesn’t lie with Disabled people, but prejudiced or inaccessible cities and emergency services.
For example, Bristol’s pavements are very poor – often bumpy and cracked or blocked by cars, bins and businesses. It’s hard enough for many Disabled people to use them on an average day but consequences could be disastrous in the event of climate disasters such as flash floods.
New barriers can also be created for us by climate action that doesn’t consider our needs. The plastic straw ban made little difference to quantities of plastic waste but did impact the people who need them as an assistive aid. Clean Air Zones introduced across the UK have made it harder for many Disabled people to get around.
That doesn’t mean environmental action is bad for Disabled people.
In 2022, 300 people a year were dying because of Bristol’s dirty air. These were all people who were disabled and then killed by delayed environmental action. Disabled people need clean air.
But problems arise when Clean Air Zones don’t give Blue Badge holders exemptions, when people aren’t alerted that they’ve driven through a zone and are hit with surprise fines, and when buses aren’t affordable or accessible.
Barriers are created by poor design, not by action being taken.
I passionately believe that climate action can and should make society better for Disabled people. Creating climate-friendly cities means they must be designed in a way that ensures all citizens can easily live environmentally-friendly lives, which means making them accessible.
To take the problem of poor quality pavements: fewer cars will mean less pavement parking. And when Bristol digs up roads to install the planned neighbourhood heating networks it’s an opportunity to improve the accessibility of streets – enabling everyone capable of walking or cycling to drive less.
Looking more widely, new green sector jobs could be used to close the disability employment gap. Energy that is better for the planet should also mean cheaper energy for Disabled people. And since huge changes will be coming to public transport, it won’t be much more work and money to make it more accessible at the same time.
But for this to happen Disabled people must be given a seat at the table.
The Climate and Disability programme is running various projects to ensure these positive changes are built into our city’s climate action.
To share a few of these: an Inclusive Transport Advocate role has been created in partnership with Sustrans to encourage public transport improvements that serve both the planet and Disabled people.
Research with the Centre for Sustainable Energy is exploring how to make the coming changes to energy good for Disabled people.
And a forum of local Disabled people will champion the climate action plan for Bristol’s community of Disabled people, and invite environmental organisations to learn from us how to make their work better for Disabled people.
If the environmental movement stops ignoring Disabled people and starts allying with us, then it will find that we have a huge amount to offer.

Looking at the numbers alone, Government statistics put us at 24% of the population. That’s a huge number of people who can help drive action. Or, indeed, the kind of numbers that will mean a project fails if we can’t take part in it.
We also have unique skills. Ableist people often try to downplay Greta Thunberg’s identity as a Disabled woman, thinking it will discredit her.
Yet Greta says her Autism allows her to “think outside the box.” She used this original thinking to spark one of the largest and most impactful environmental movements the world has seen.
Many Disabled people hold important wisdoms about not pushing past limits, rest, how to care for each other and value all life – exactly the kind of knowledge we all need to live through an era of climate change.
A green future is an accessible one. But to make that happen Disabled people must be invited in.
This is an opinion piece by Emma Geen, the Climate and Disability Programme associate for Bristol Climate and Nature Partnership. She co-produced the world’s first community climate action plan by and for Disabled people, is an advisor on the Sensing Climate research project and a Personal 2 Planetary fellow.
Find out more about the Climate and Disability programme at bristolclimatenature.org/projects/community-climate-action/climate-and-disability