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Activism
Activism
While not the only change-making tool, activism plays a powerful role in creating change on local, national, and international levels, both formally, through laws and policies, and informally, through information-sharing and community building. Climate and environmental activism, however, have a history of exclusion of various groups of people. Accessible activism may look different than the traditional "in-person rally" that so many people understand activism to be, but it is essential in ensuring that a diverse range of voice are present in change-making spaces.
People with Disabilities (PWD) Taking Lead in Climate Action
People with Disabilities (PWD) Taking Lead in Climate Action
PWD have a valuable skillset in regards to disaster planning and their resilience is something that can be brought to the broader community and aid in disaster planning. The relationship between disabled people and climate change is often approached with a lens of vulnerability, while their expertise and interconnectedness is not valued.
Disabled people are the experts in their own needs in regards to climate change and their insight lead to more robust and comprehensive disaster planning and mitigation.
Disability and neurodivergency can be a tool to greater advocate for important causes. Greta Thunberg is a youth advocate from Sweden who says with the right opportunities, her diagnosis with Asperger’s syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and selective mutism gave her a "superpower" within her fight for climate justice.
Exclusion from activist spaces
Exclusion from activist spaces
Environmental activism has historically been very exclusive and discredited the expertise, perspectives, and lived experiences of communities of color or other minority groups. Because of the nature of protests, rallies, and other forms of demonstrative activism, many people with disabilities feel unwelcome or unsafe participating. The following drop-down sections detail some ways that activism remains exclusionary.
Erasure
Erasure
Activists of color are often excluded from climate justice movements. Ignoring the impacts of whiteness, colonization, and ableism in relationship to climate change is ignorant and does not change the realities felt around the world. Many communities globally work to protect the environment and create change, but would not be considered "climate activists because they [don't] ascribe to that notion of being part of those movements."
Tokenism
Tokenism
Tokenism describes when a small number of people from an under-represented group are used in order to diversity. Diversification is essential in climate justice, especially recognizing how people from different countries, income levels, and abilities face different risks and responses to the climate crisis. However, some activist spaces diversify for the sake of diversity, not because they truly value the expertise of diverse activists.
"But after a while I realized I would only be called upon when climate organizations needed an inspiring story or a “diverse” voice, contacts for a campaign, or to participate in a workshop for “fun” when everyone else on the (all-white) project was getting paid." - Karin Louise Hermes, a Filipino former activist.
Exploited for inspiration
Exploited for inspiration
While seeing people with disabilities as inspirational might not seem all bad on the surface, viewing people's disabilities as inspirational often adopts a lens of pity. "Inspiration porn" takes stories of people with disabilities "overcoming" their disability, which implies that disability is a burden, struggle, or barrier that people need to prevail over. This form of inspiration is objectifying and demeaning, but often not recognized as a form of ableism.
Misrepresentation
Misrepresentation
When disabled people are not called upon to share their perspectives with climate change and eco-ableism on their terms, it leads to a misrepresentation of their needs and experiences. As an already under-researched minority group, this puts them at higher risk of inaccessible preparation, communication, and policies.
"The knowledge and experience of individuals with disabilities can serve as a resource for both disabled and non-disabled individuals in adapting to the impacts of climate change." - Molly King, Ana Martinez, and Emily Pachoud
Accessible Activism Guides
Accessible Activism Guides
Activism can take many different forms in various spaces. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, people were searching for ways to keep themselves and their communities safe while still organizing for causes that are important to them. Finding alternatives to in-person activism has always been and continues to be a priority for many disabled activists, as it is not necessarily the disability that is barring someone from participating, but ableism. There are many ways to be involved in protests beyond the streets.
A guide on how to think through your skills and come up with ways that you can use them to create change on various levels, including a 5-step guide on "navigating dis/ability and anxiety in the call to action."
This guide helps organizers think through accessibility needs before, during, and after the protest, considering the needs of various disabled groups of people, while also taking into account that everyone has different needs. It is available as a PDF, Word document, or Easy Read PDF.
This Google Doc includes resources on how to plan accessible protests, how to prepare to protest, and COVID-19 safety. It also includes various links to further explore accessibility needs in activist spaces.
"In my current interpretation of what being an activist is, is doing whatever you can to spark change and create change."
Some Disability + Climate Activists
Some Disability + Climate Activists
"A proudly disabled story-teller, researcher, and advocate", musician, paralympic swimmer, writer, and activist from New Zealand
Explores topics of climate, environment, migration, blindness, COVID-19, welfare, journalism, and disability leadership
Author, activist, artist in Bristol, UK
Co-author of community climate action plan by and for Disabled people for the Bristol Disability Equality Forum and the Protest for All guide giving disability inclusion advice for climate activism groups
Autistic youth activist from Sweden, who gained popularity for her "school strikes for climate change," which started in 2018
Passionate about global environmental justice, climate change, and justice for Palestine
Latina disabled youth activist, freelance organizer, and wheelchair user with Cerebral Palsy from West Harlem, New York, United States
Fights for increased youth voter turnout, sustainable peaceful development, and climate justice
Indigenous and disabled storyteller, activist, author, and rights advocate from Te Waipounamu, New Zealand
Her work centers against structural oppression, especially in regards to climate change, Indigenous Rights, and the rights of Persons with Disabilities
Based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Seeks to create more acessible emergency response systems and projects for people with disabilities in Indonesia
Japanese-Haitian queer disabled woman in Berkley, California
Working to amplify the voices of marginalized populations through work as co-founder, executive and artistic director of Sins Invalid, advocate, artist, author, and community organizer
Largely credited with providing the framework for disability justice, alongside Mia Mingus, Stacey Milbern, Leroy Moore, Eli Clare and Sebastian Margaret
The above photo was chosen for the sign that says "Don't turn a blind eye to climate change," aiming to comment on the casual ableism that exists in many activist spaces. It is meant to contradict the sign in the photo below, where a disabled person in a wheelchair holds a sign that says "I (symbol of an eye) am not disposable!"
Sources Used & Suggested Reading
Sources Used & Suggested Reading
Environmental hazard and disabled people: from vulnerable to expert to interconnected - Sue Porter, 2013. An academic article moving beyond a focus on vulnerabilities to explore how disabled people bring their lived experiences to disaster preparation and climate conversations, linking together commonalities between disability and climate movements.
Disability & Climate: Beyond Vulnerability - Sarah Bell, Emma Geen and Rebecca Yeo. This article challenges the vulnerability narrative that often accompanies discussions of disability and climate change, if disabled people are even mentioned at all.
Greta Thunberg: story of the climate activist with autism as her superpower - Aruma. This blog post gives context and history behind Greta Thunberg's climate justice activism, specifically highlighting how her diagnoses impact her passion.
'Like I wasn't there': climate activist Vanessa Nakate on being erased from a movement - Kenya Evelyn, 2020. This Guardian article includes an interview with 23-year-old Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate and discusses the racism and discrimination activists of color face in the environmental justice movement.
Conserving Biodiversity, Preserving Mental Health - Words by Tori Tsui (as told to Daphne Chouliaraki Milner), 2022. A story about activism, the ableism of eco-anxiety, how mental health is connected to climate, and the euro-centricity of environmental activism.
Why I Quit Being a Climate Activist - Karin Louise Hermes, 2020. This article by a Filipino former activist shares experiences of racism, disrespect, tokenism, and devaluation that ultimate led her to quit climate activism.
Inspiration porn and the objectification of disability: Stella Young at TEDxSydney 2014 - TEDx Talks, 2014. A 9 minute YouTube video where Stella Young explains how societal attitudes towards disability have caused people to view those living with disability as "inspirational" and "extraordinary".
Disability Justice, Climate Change, and Eco-Ableism - Columbia Climate School, 2021. An hour-long YouTube video of a panel of disability justice advocates who explore climate change inequities and impacts, specifically discussing Eco-Ableism.
Beyond the Streets – Accessible Version - Jane Berliss-Vincent, 2014. This screen-reader accessible version of "26 Ways to Be in the Struggle Beyond the Streets" contains action items, suggestions, and resources on activism that does involve protesting.
A Nervous Wreck’s Disabled Guide to Stepping Up - Mahdia Lynn, 2017. A guide on how to think through your skills and come up with ways that you can use them to create change on various levels, including a 5-step guide on "navigating dis/ability and anxiety in the call to action."
Protest for All - Emma Geen. This guide helps organizers think through accessibility needs before, during, and after the protest, considering the needs of various disabled groups of people, while also taking into account that everyone has different needs. It is available as a PDF, Word document, or Easy Read PDF.
"Accessible Activism" Guide by various disabled activists - This Google Doc includes resources on how to plan accessible protests, how to prepare to protest, and COVID-19 safety. It also includes various links to further explore accessibility needs in activist spaces.
Disability Justice - a working draft by Patty Berne, 2015. A must-read on disability justice history, contextualization, and principles. Disability justice centers the experiences of those facing multiple forms of oppression, which distinguishes it from the largely un-representative disability rights movement.
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