Last reviewed: October 2023

Scenario: What would you do?

Imagine living with your elderly mother, when you’re told to evacuate because a wildfire has broken out and threatens to destroy your home. You have muscular dystrophy, so packing up the car and moving your mother isn’t easy, but you manage. When you arrive at the rescue centre, your bed is a mattress on the floor; you can’t get up without help. You can’t get your own food because the way to the other building is not accessible to you. There are no accessible toilets. The rescue centre is so inaccessible that you decide you can’t stay there. Despite the risks, you go back home.

This may not sound credible – who would leave the safety of a rescue centre to return to a home threatened by wildfire? But it’s a true story, retold by the Australian woman who lived it (and fortunately survived) in 2019.

Climate catastrophe planning must include disabled people

Unfortunately, there are many such personal stories from around the world. The United Nations (UN) acknowledges that ‘persons with disabilities are more likely to be left behind or abandoned during evacuation in disasters and conflicts due to a lack of preparation and planning, as well as inaccessible facilities and services and transport systems.’ It also states that most shelters and refugee camps are inaccessible with cases of people with disabilities being turned away from them.

A 2023 report from The National Council on Disability (NCD) in the USA, states that disabled people are two to four times more likely to be injured or killed in a natural disaster than those without a disability.

These statistics and experiences make uncomfortable reading and highlight the lack of inclusion of disabled people in disaster planning globally. A lack of big picture planning and how all the different factors are connected are likely to be key factors, as is a lack of including disabled people in the planning process. For example, how is a deaf person alerted about a climate event; how can they access help? How does a person with sight loss access a disrupted transport system, or people who use wheelchairs use  rescue centre facilities?

Beyond catastrophe: The everyday climate harms disabled people experience

Natural disasters are becoming increasingly common and more severe and make the headlines. However, climate change is affecting people with disabilities daily. For example, healthcare facilities are seeing an increase in demand of their services due to the effects of heat on respiratory, cardiac, and mental health conditions and medication. Buildings and transport systems are also often unprepared for increased temperatures and flooding which make getting to work and being productive more difficult.

Climate change will also have a longer-term effect on health as temperature extremes will make working outside or participating in sport increasingly difficult. One foreseeable result of this will be that disabled people who are currently able to work, play sport and live well will find this increasingly difficult.

All this may sound depressing. However, there are glimmers of hope with increased disability awareness. Countries such as Fiji are showing others how disability can be successfully included into disaster planning. By involving disabled people and looking at every aspect from communication systems, transport, and healthcare, to prevention and how they all integrate, they are able to protect more of their citizens and this can only benefit everyone. We should all learn from their experiences and ensure that nobody is forgotten in our climate change plans.

© This resource and the content contained therein are subject to copyright and remain the property of the Business Disability Forum. They are for reference only and must not be copied or distributed without prior permission.

If you require this resource in a different format, contact enquiries@businessdisabilityforum.org.uk.