Fully Including People with Disabilities
Marsha Saxton, International Liberation Reference Person for People with Disabilities
My comrades and I are working on responses to the climate crisis. When we mention our work on “the climate crisis and disability,” some people look puzzled. Then we ask, “In any disaster, guess who dies first?” The answer is people with disabilities. We are uniquely affected by the climate crisis. Can you run from a fire? Jump in a boat? See your way out of the rubble? Tolerate extreme heat or cold? Hear the warning sirens?
The term people are using for us is “people with access and functional needs.” This term also refers to “vulnerable others,” such as elders, those not in the labor force, people below the poverty level, and people without a vehicle in their household. Most of the people in these vulnerable populations are People of the Global Majority. And the number of vulnerable populations is increasing with the climate crisis.
We need specific, accurate ways to assist people and ensure their long-range survival. I’ve chosen to work on this because I’m concerned, but also because disabled people are generally required to live creatively in order to survive and we can help everyone think “outside the box” [outside the usual ways].
The United Nations Convention on the Human Rights of People with Disabilities, which over 160 countries have signed, has brought global attention to disabled people’s needs for legal protection, increased services, and representation in government and the media. But we have to periodically fight back against government attempts to roll back human rights laws and scapegoat people with disabilities as burdensome drains on the economy. I’m particularly proud of the disabled women’s movement—which has created a strong network of relationships, done writing, held conferences, and provided services across borders.
IN RC
At a recent RC workshop I led in London (England), several emerging leaders with hearing impairments spoke out about access to communication being at the center of inclusion. We must continue to improve hearing and vision assistance, wheelchair access, and all other appropriate accommodations at our workshops and in our classes.
The work of allies is essential. And it must include dismantling stereotypes, discharging on early struggles about one’s own body and feelings about
“independence” and needing help, and reaching for more interdependence.
Our constituency has done good, hard work on internalized oppression, and that has increased our confidence and leadership. Yet competition from many other priorities tends to marginalize the work on disability liberation. The reality is that fully including people with disabilities benefits everyone. For example, it’s a strong contradiction to everyone’s isolation.
El Cerrito, California, USA