B.C.’s climate adaptation disability crisis

Robin Richardson-Dupuis

“Last year was, for many in B.C., the year that climate change whiplashed into the present tense. It is here. It is disproportionately killing disabled people. 

For years, research has shown that in emergency contexts, disabled people are significantly more likely to suffer morbidity and mortality. During the heat dome, for example, people with schizophrenia were four times more likely to die. 

It is, in part, a lack of anticipation. When the heat dome came, there was no plan to distribute air conditioning units to people whose medical conditions make them heat-sensitive; there was no plan to transport those with mobility limitations to cooling centres, nor any teams deployed to bring batteries or back-up generators to the homes of those whose power was cut.”

- Extract from “B.C.’s climate adaptation disability crisis” by Astra Lincoln, on Briarpatch Magazine