Readily Achievable and Rarely Acknowledged: Disability Justice in an Era of Climate Calamity

Climate change represents one of the most significant global challenges of our time, with far-reaching implications for environmental sustainability, economic development, public health, and social justice. As the impacts of climate change become increasingly evident, legal systems at the national, regional, and international levels are being called upon to develop effective frameworks for mitigation, adaptation, accountability, and resilience. Given the pivotal role that law can play in shaping climate governance, this blog series, edited by Dr Azadeh Chalabi, brings together academics, legal practitioners, and policymakers to contribute blog posts on the theme “Law and the Climate Crisis". Contributions to the series seek to foster critical engagement with the evolving relationship between law and climate change while exploring innovative legal responses to contemporary environmental challenges.

By Robin Happel

Keywords: disability rights, accessibility, climate law, climate change, and disability justice

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Introduction

People with disabilities are frequently the first to bear the brunt of climate disasters, yet among the last to be rescued. Globally, individuals with disabilities are an estimated two to four times more likely to die or be injured during climate calamities like fires or floods. Extreme heatwaves – statistically the deadliest natural disaster in the United States – are uniquely dangerous for people with multiple sclerosis, dementia, or who rely on medications that can cause increased heat-sensitivity. 

Although the risks disabled citizens face during climate disasters arise from a constellation of causes, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other experts identify several primary vulnerabilities. First, decisionmakers may not fully consider people with disabilities during disaster planning. This is partly due to a lack of greater emphasis on disability rights in scientific and legal literature, and even within the broader climate movement. Second, even if disabled people are included in evacuation plans, early warning systems may not be accessible. This risk is particularly acute for people with hearing or vision loss, who may struggle to hear or read emergency alerts. Third, for chronically ill or disabled patients who rely on ongoing care, disasters frequently disrupt or overwhelm medical services, even after the disaster ends. Finally, people with disabilities face other intersectional challenges, and are statistically more likely to live in poverty than their neighbors who are not disabled.

Legal Protections

Though often overlooked, protections for people with disabilities are a growing area of both international and domestic law. Beginning with the international Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, a key United Nations document on disaster preparedness, people with disabilities are explicitly included in Paragraph 7, Paragraph 19(d) and (g), Paragraph 32, and Paragraph 36(a)(iii). The Sendai Framework emphasises not only the unique vulnerabilities people with disabilities face, but also the critical importance of including them in policy planning and collecting disability-disaggregated data to aid decision making. Sadly, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) reports that approximately 85%  of people with disabilities have not participated in local disaster planning, and there is still a significant gap between the Sendai Framework goals and disaster preparedness in actuality. This gap is particularly pronounced in the Global South, where 80% of people with disabilities live. Nevertheless, clear inclusion in the Sendai Framework helps to shine a light on the risks people with disabilities face during and after disasters, and will hopefully lead to further progress.

Moving from international agreements to international courts, the historic advisory opinion on climate change and human rights in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights clearly  recognises people with disabilities. The landmark case of Müllner v. Austria, currently pending in the European Court of Human Rights, similarly alleges that Austria violated the rights of petitioner Mr. Müllner, who has multiple sclerosis, by failing to take more aggressive action on climate change. As multiple sclerosis is exacerbated by heat, this case directly ties disability rights to climate action, and could be a significant precedent.

Pivoting to domestic courts, past precedent has demonstrated that decision makers who fail to consider disability in disaster planning may be held accountable in U.S. courts. Voglewede et al v. City of San Antonio and Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled (BCID) v. Bloomberg challenged local disaster response plans in the wake of a Texas winter storm and hurricane in New York City under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In Voglewede, the plaintiffs reached a settlement with San Antonio to make the city’s disaster planning more accessible for disabled people. And, in BCID v. Bloomberg, a federal judge found that New York City’s emergency preparedness plan violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Future Litigation

Similar to the legal reasoning in Müllner v. Austria, the Americans with Disabilities Act contains sweeping language regarding federal funding. Could, for instance, government spending such as fossil fuel subsidies violate the ADA by disproportionately burdening people with disabilities? Although U.S. courts have historically been reluctant to rule on climate cases under political question doctrine – essentially, the view that climate change is a political question to be settled by other branches of government – climate litigation that includes the rights of persons with disabilities could be a novel approach. Some scholars have also suggested Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits disability discrimination in federally funded activities, as an area of potential environmental justice litigation, although Section 504 is currently under attack in the courts.

The reality is that people with disabilities are themselves among the most powerful agents of change. Although historically underrepresented in and underserved by the legal profession, lawyers and litigants with disabilities have great potential to reshape climate law – not only to advance disability rights, but also to create more inclusive, responsive, and effective legal frameworks for everyone. As climate challenges intensify, ensuring that disabled voices are heard in courtrooms and policymaking processes is not simply a matter of fairness; it is essential to building a more just and resilient future.

Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash

Author Bio

Robin Happel is an environmental and non-profit lawyer based in New York. She has previously worked with the Yale Law Environmental Protection Clinic, Appalachian Mountain Advocates, the IUCN, World's Youth for Climate Justice, and other environmental and civil rights non-profits.