Programme:

12.30 Welcome and introductions

12.40 Sarah Bell, University of Exeter: The need for a disability lens in climate change discourses.

13.30 Gordon Richardson and Emma Geen, Disability Equality Forum Climate Action and Disability Group at Bristol City Council: How Bristol is including disabled people in climate change discussions.

13.45 Discussion

14.00 End of event

 

Dr. Sarah Bell, University of Exeter

Inclusive climate action: Repositioning disability rights and knowledges

Biography: Sarah is a Senior Lecturer in health and disability geography at the University of Exeter, whose work is underpinned by a passion for qualitative methodological innovation, designing sensitive approaches that promote critical awareness of varied ways of embodying and interpreting everyday geographies. Much of Sarah’s research examines experiences of health, wellbeing, disability and social inclusion in and with diverse forms of ‘nature’ - from parks, gardens, woodlands, coast and countryside to the weather, seasons and climate change. More information about this work is available online: www.sensing-nature.com Most recently, Sarah has been developing new collaborations to understand how climate change – and prominent societal responses to it – are shaping the everyday lives and adaptive capacities of people with varied experiences and histories of disability.

Abstract: Climate change poses major risks to human health and livelihoods, in ways that are compounding and creating new forms of health inequality. Disabled people – including 15% of the global population – are disproportionately exposed to these risks, experiencing higher injury and death rates and fewer opportunities to influence climate policy or action. By homogenising disabled people as climate ‘victims’, current efforts to tackle these inequalities largely fail to address the social, cultural and political conditions that exacerbate such risks. This presentation will reflect on how disability has been positioned within climate change scholarship to-date, before considering opportunities to harness climate action to create more inclusive, liveable places where disabled people can thrive and flourish in our ever-changing world.

 

Gordon Richardson, Disability Equality Forum Climate Action and Disability Group at Bristol City Council

How Bristol is including disabled people in climate change discussions.

Biography: Gordon is currently Chair of the Bristol Disability Equality Forum, Disability Commissioner for Bristol and Chairman of the British Polio Fellowship. Gordon had polio as a young child which left him paralysed from the shoulders down and a wheelchair user throughout. After a successful career as a Chartered Accountant and qualified Financial Advisor he took early retirement to concentrate on charity works.

Abstract: Gordon will outline how Bristol is including disabled people in climate change discussions, and how the city is taking measures to address the climate emergency, particularly in relation to disabled people.