Nothing about us without us: The urgent need for disability-inclusive climate research

Around the world, disability communities are becoming increasingly vocal in calling attention to the ways in which they are disproportionally affected by climate change and the need to ensure that disability rights are respected, protected, and fulfilled in climate solutions. As we will explain in this opinion, one key element of this emerging agenda for disability-inclusive climate justice is the need for in-depth and participatory action research on the intersections of disability and climate change.

Very little is known about how and why people with disabilities are affected by different climate impacts, the contextual factors that shape their exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, and the solutions needed to ensure their resilience. The lack of research concerning the implications of initiatives addressing climate mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage for disability communities is even greater. There are very few studies examining how policies and projects to decarbonize products, services, and infrastructures, and enhance land-based carbon sequestration impact people with disabilities. There is even less research on how these efforts can be designed in ways that dismantle, rather than reinforce, existing social, physical, and economic inequities. More broadly, scholarship is lacking on whether and how evidence and advocacy influences policymakers’ perceptions of alternative climate actions and the implications of their decisions on disability communities.