“Tides”
Sulaiman’s powerful words and thoughts on his life’s dream. Compassionate, courageous, and curious. Radical, restful, and regenerative. Always.
[OPEN QUOTE] “The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love — whether we call it friendship or family or romance — is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other’s light.” [CLOSE QUOTE]
– James Baldwin.
I love this quote above by James Baldwin. It has me thinking about how critical love is in my life and how important it is within the relationships that I create. More and more, this quote has me thinking about more than just my human relationships to also consider my non-human relationships and the broader ecosystems beyond nature. Love is the thread that connects us all, even if we’re too afraid to acknowledge it.
On 28 July 2023, I attended the “Climate Change Deliberation” virtual session via Disability Rights UK in partnership with NPC. Disabled people will be affected by the climate and nature crises more than most because we are more exposed to the health impacts of our changing climate and the impacts of related policies on their day-to-day lives.
The event was about how the nature and climate crises are impacting Disabled people and was an open space when Disabled people like me to share our thoughts DRUK and NPC wanted to know, “What Disabled people think about the climate and nature crises and what you think governments and charities should do in response.” Moreover, NPC’s report entitled “How will the climate and nature crises impact older people and Disabled people?” (though based on the UK, it applies to Disabled people across the world) highlights their research on how Disabled people are impacted severely by the nature and climate crises.
Pre-event, some abridged vital findings from the report were shared in the pre-read summary document as follows:
Direct impacts of the climate and nature crises:
NPC has researched what is already known about the impact of the climate and nature crises on Disabled people. This research found that the most significant risks are:
Heat – Heat exacerbates health issues and causes worsening symptoms for many conditions. Medication can also react negatively to heat and affect the ability to sweat or increase the likelihood of dehydration/overheating. In addition, information about how to stay safe in heat waves is often not accessible.
Extreme weather – (heatwaves, floods, storms) can disrupt regular medical appointments/access to medication.
Air pollution – can aggravate existing health conditions, a risk exacerbated by medical centres, care homes, and hospitals that tend to be located in areas of high air pollution. Air pollution increases the likelihood of respiratory conditions, which are already more common among people with learning disabilities. Mental health conditions, most notably schizophrenia and other psychotic conditions have also been linked to air pollution.
The most significant impacts of our declining natural environment on Disabled people include:
Access to green and blue spaces – Disabled people can face significant barriers to accessing green and blue spaces, such as parks, countryside, waterways and the sea, which are proven to positively impact physical and mental health. Having green space close to home particularly increases benefits for people in less affluent areas and those with lower mobility.
Compromised immune systems - can increase the susceptibility of Disabled people to health risks, including contaminated food/water and exposure to toxic chemicals and infectious diseases. This can lead to a culture of “protection” among Disabled people that prevents people from using community assets and experiencing well-being associated with green and blue spaces.
Other potential risks and impacts for which there is currently less evidence include:
Restricted support for self-care – Some Disabled people may need help to respond to climate impacts, such as moving to cooler spaces during heatwaves or being able to hydrate themselves.
Limited access to accessible housing – Given the general lack of accessible housing, Disabled people may be less able to respond to persistent climate impacts (such as flooding or other hazards) by permanently relocating.
Loneliness - is associated with poor health outcomes. More than half of Disabled people report feeling lonely. Research shows that access to green spaces can reduce loneliness.
Food quality and security – While the evidence is limited, there are indications that people with existing health conditions are most likely to be affected by declining nutritional content and rising food prices.
Micro-plastics – There is limited understanding of the impact of micro-plastics infiltrating our water and food, but the impact may be most significant for those with existing health conditions.
Policy impacts on Disabled people:
NPC has also researched how policy responses to the climate and nature crises will affect Disabled people. The policies that will have the most significant impact on Disabled people are in the following areas:
Renewable energy – Low-income groups, which are more likely to include Disabled people, are least likely to benefit from policies encouraging a switch to renewable energy sources.
Insulation schemes – Schemes installing insulation into cavity walls and lofts have successfully targeted homes with Disabled people. Disabled people are more feasibly to have higher energy use and are more likely to benefit from insulation schemes.
Active travel – Research in London shows that Disabled people are the least likely to be cycling / be open to cycling but more likely to travel independently in adapted mobility vehicles. Accessing city centres and city streets can be challenging in some cases due to road closures and rules on using mobility aids in pedestrianised areas.
Electric vehicles – While the evidence is limited, Disabled people report specific challenges around the accessibility of charging points, suggesting that they are less likely to have benefited from subsidies to purchase electric vehicles.
Low emission zones/emission standards - In London, some Disabled people and people on low incomes can access payments to scrap cars that don’t meet new emissions standards. However, Blue Badge holders without vehicle tax exemption will have to pay the charge to enter London’s “Ultra Low Emissions Zone”, which could disproportionately impact Disabled people in employment.
Public transport – Provision across the UK is reducing, and currently, Disabled people are less likely to use public transport, but improvements to the public transport network, particularly around accessibility, could change this.
Fuel poverty – Fuel poverty has significantly increased since 2021, and Disabled people are more likely to live in fuel poverty than other groups due to both low income and high energy needs. Where Disabled people do live in fuel poverty, they may also be likely to spend more time at home and have less agency to access alternative solutions such as warm banks. Policies to subsidise bills have targeted low-income groups and older people, so Disabled people are likely to have benefited from these policies.
Climate change adaptation and emergency preparedness – The Weather-Health Alerting System in the UK targets announcements to specific groups, including Disabled people. However, emergency preparedness work insufficiently considers practical issues, such as how to evacuate those needing medical support, and emergency planning literature needs to be made more accessible.
Skills and education – While there are early-stage policies around increasing green skills and jobs that acknowledge the need for these programmes to be accessible for Disabled people, there are relatively few specific examples of what these will look like.
Access to green space – The quantity and quality of urban green space has declined under recent policy. Disabled people are less likely to visit green spaces than other groups, with poor accessibility and a lack of facilities cited as a factor. Schemes where time in green spaces are available on prescription have shown a range of benefits for those who are Disabled and/or have a long-term health condition, so expansion of this offer has the potential to positively impact Disabled people.
Food policies – Disabled people are more likely to experience food insecurity or have specific dietary needs, so policies impacting the food system are likely to significantly affect them.
Waste and recycling – While there is limited evidence of policies in this area on Disabled people, many Disabled people raised concerns about the lack of appropriate alternatives to plastic straws during the consultation on the ban on plastic straws. For example, plastic single-use straws equate to just .03 percent of 8 million metric tons of plastics in oceans per year, and everyone is banning plastic single-use straws, but no one is thinking of the life and death real consequences of such actions to Disabled people.
Additionally, Disabled people are the world’s largest minoritised community (1.3 Billion people and counting), 80% of Disability is acquired in someone’s lifetime (between 16 to 64 years young), and if we’re lucky enough to live in old age, we all will become Disabled the older we get whether we accept it or not. Also, it’s critical to understand that there is no Regeneration without Disability Liberation.
Also, here is my blog post about Disability and COP26 with lots of profound insight via my platform that centre Disability into regeneration. There’s no regeneration without Disability liberation.
And radical answers are regenerated by radical questioning.
And my radical question that has been permeating my mind is:
With anti-ableism, anti-racism, accessibility, Disability Justice, curiosity, compassion, courage, interdependence, and love: Beyond sustainability, how can we daringly integrate Disability to reimagine regeneration conversations and solutions without systemically ignoring or erasing our lived experience, wisdom, richness, and Disability for our radical, loving, collective liberation?
So, I’m exploring a longtime dream and looking for support.
My life’s dream:
“Building and managing a nature reserve and wellness centre owned and run by Disabled people. The wellness centre will include an accessible care centre (for massages, facials, manicures/pedicures, haircuts, and pampering of Disabled Bodyminds), an accessible tattoo parlour, an accessible kitchen/food studio that supports the cultivation of mushrooms and truffles, an accessible dance studio, an accessible music studio, an accessible art studio, an accessible writing studio, an accessible film/photography studio, and an accessible community centre.
In a colonial, ableist, racist, capitalist, and oppressive world: We (Disabled people) often don’t have access to nature and wellness that doesn’t erase and commoditise our Disability or force Disabled people to be palatable. Instead, it will be a place where Disability has life-affirming, paradigm-shifting community care and our holistic healing, dreaming, creativity, joy, grief pleasure, ‘Access Intimacy’ (as defined by Mia Mingus), wisdom, richness, wellness, interdependence, and love cannot only exist but can thrive. It will be a tangible place where wholeheartedly Disabled people and our infinite imaginations can thrive.
Ultimately, it will be a place to reevaluate, redefine, reclaim, receive, and reimagine what is infinitely possible for our Disabled lives and existence: Post-colonial, post-ableist, post-racist, post-capitalist, and post-oppressive. One breath at a time. Because for many of us, a day at a time is too difficult. Because radical healing demands radical dreaming, and radical dreaming demands radical healing. And making this dream happen, I will continue to be radical in my healing and dreaming. [OPEN QUOTE] “We are not afraid to adopt a revolutionary stance — if, indeed, we wish to be radical in our quest for change — then we must get to the root of our oppression. After all, radical simply means ‘grasping things at the root.’” [CLOSE QUOTE] – Angela Y. Davis.
Like everything I do (and every interaction I have), through infinite interdependence and love, I will always continue to be radical, restful, and regenerative daily until my last breath.
If you care, will you support me through interdependence and love to make this dream tangible for our radical, collective liberation, healing, and thriving, if you dare?”
– Sulaiman R. Khan سلیمان راشد خان
Here’s to more radical, restful, regenerative (beyond sustainable), healing, accessible, liberated, caring, conscious, curious, compassionate, courageous, joyful, grieving, imaginative, interdependent, and loving adventures together for our collective liberation (including that of – by blood or bond – our human kin, non-human kin, and our inner and outer selves)!
Love can save us. Are you in?
[OPEN QUOTE] “Liberated relationships are one of the ways we actually create abundant justice, the understanding that there is enough attention, care, resource, and connection for all of us to access belonging, to be in our dignity, and to be safe in community.” [CLOSE QUOTE] – Adrienne Maree Brown.
Onwards and upwards.