a short blog by Joe Buckley
To mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities and UK Disability History month, Sheffield Green Party makes clear that the climate crisis is a disability justice issue.
Disabled people across the world are on the frontline of climate breakdown, facing higher rates of injury, illness and death in climate disasters.
Disabled people endure the sharpest impacts of poverty, inequality, and marginalisation.
This means they are systematically denied the resources needed to withstand and recover from climatic disasters and economic shocks.
Many disabled people find it harder to reach safety in the event of evacuation due to extreme weather, while climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction mechanisms are often not disability-inclusive.
Disability activists and organisations have been organising and campaigning on this for years. At a global level, The International Disability Alliance (IDA) and others have been pushing for disability inclusion to be embedded in COP outcome documents. At the recent COP30, movement pressure helped to secure a just transition action mechanism which explicitly recognises the need for disability-inclusive universal social protection as essential for climate resilience. Greens fully support this.
In Sheffield, Green Councillors have spoken out against the Government’s cuts to disability benefits: Greens stand with disabled residents and opposed the city’s Public Space Protection Order, which targets the most vulnerable, including disabled people: Sheffield’s new anti-begging order has been criticised for targeting the most vulnerable. Is it also unlawful?.
This comes at the very moment when we need stronger, not weaker, disability-inclusive social protections. These policies deepen inequality and make our communities less resilient to climate and economic crises.
Councillor Marieanne Elliot said “Disabled people and carers must not be made to pay the price for a broken and underfunded care system when removing essential support will deepen hardship and cost more in the long run.”
Councillor Angela Argenzio said “There are choices that the Government could take, but choosing to target the most vulnerable people is ethically and morally unjust.”
“Disabled people live on average 20 years less than able bodied people and there is more that must be done to bridge that gap in life expectancy.”
Green Party Leader Zack Polanski is clear that “The Green Party fights for the thousands and thousands of disabled people in the UK who have found themselves at the sharp end of brutal government cuts.” This is recognised by leading disability organisation, Campaign for Disability Justice, here: Greens show contrast with other major parties on disability cuts and refusal to stir up hostility to claimants
Climate justice is disability justice. To build a fair, resilient future for everyone, disabled people must be centred as leaders and partners in shaping solutions. The fight for a liveable planet is inseparable from the fight for disability rights, justice, and dignity.
