Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”
Between the indictment and arrest of Roger Stone, and the unmasking of mild-mannered Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) as a superhero, I’m not even going to try to work up any outrage this weekend – I doubt that I could, and I’d rather enjoy the lull. So, instead, I’ll be sharing an article from Yes! magazine by Megan Wildhood. Yes! magazine operates under a Creative Commons license, so I could just copy the article. Instead, I want to share parts with comments. But the amount I’m quoting would exceed fair use if that applied, so I wanted to explain up front.
The title of the article is “5 Ways to Protect the Planet Without Disenfranchising People With Disabilities.” As I have mobility issues myself, it caught my eye. And I know I’m not alone here. If not mobility issues, some of us have vision or hearing or immunity issues, or we rely on prescription medications to survive – which we would like to think would be considered in a disaster, or even not in a disaster when we needed assistance, but might not be.
Wildhood (a freelance writer who lives in Seattle, whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Sun, and America Magazine, among others, and had her first book, “Long Division,” published in 2017) points out
People with disabilities are disproportionately affected by disasters, which are worsening and increasing because of climate change. The National Council on Disability estimated that a “disproportionate number of the fatalities” amid Hurricane Katrina were people with disabilities. Typical evacuation routes and disaster plans are often not accessible to this vulnerable group, while interruptions to electricity are deadlier for those who require machines to treat medical conditions.
And it isn’t just disasters like fires, superstorms, and floods. Extreme heat, which up to 75 percent of humanity may be at risk of experiencing by 2100, has adverse physical and mental health effects in healthy individuals. But people with neurological conditions who cannot sweat or regulate body temperature are even more vulnerable to extreme heat.
And those are just a few examples.
She notes that the needs of people with disabilities can even be thought to be in opposition to the needs of the planet. The issue which leaps to mind – at least to my mind – is the current real and warranted concern about single-use plastic straws. Yes, they end up filling oceans with plastic particles – if they haven’t killed wildlife first – wildlife who can get them stuck up their noses. Wildlife who think they are edible and can fill their stomachs with, essentially, poison. But, unless we want to replace throwing away straws with throwing away people (yeah, some people might, but I trust no one here), we must come up with a way to deal with straws which allows people who need their assistance to be able to drink.
Wildhood identifies five initiatives which – well, I’ll let her say it:
Actions that protect the environment don’t have to disenfranchise the disability community. In fact, the needs of people with disabilities are not an impediment to good planet care. They’re essential to it. When we pursue the inclusion of people with disabilities, caring about nature can come naturally. Here are five initiatives that can safeguard people with disabilities and the planet, too.
1. Universal Health Care
2. Disaster Planning
3. Corporate Accountability
4. Universal Design
5. Stronger Environmental Regulations
The one that probably needs more explanation is universal design. I’m not an expert, but the basic concept of universal design is that we need to include consideration of disabilities into all facets of design of everything from entire buildings down to forks and spoons, so that instead of making “accommodations,” we are improving accessibility for disabled and abled alike.
These principles make environments more inclusive, often while conserving more energy and materials than conventional design. Installing ramps, for example, especially in single-family homes, can be less energy-intensive and more cost-effective than stairs, while meeting diverse needs. Installing power doors with motion sensors eases entry into grocery stores and office buildings while cutting down on energy by preventing doors from being left open, savings which can add up.
The Global Universal Design Commission was formed to work on this. It is global, and has 
projects in many nations. Of course, you won’t hear anything about it at Fox News.
Stronger environmental regulations probably sound like a fever dream, given the “President” and Congress we have. But the “President” and Congress we have are not necessarily the “President” and Congress we will have forever, especially if we keep working as hard as we worked in 2018.
Environmental pollutants harm all of us, but especially the most vulnerable. While those with asthma or more severe breathing disorders such as COPD may be particularly affected by smoke from California’s wildfires and other air pollution, for example, we all need clean air to breathe. According to data collected in 2013 from MIT, air pollution causes 200,000 early deaths a year in the United States.
That is no surprise to anyone in California … or even in Oregon. And don’t even think about letting me get started on the hormone disruptors in the thermally printed receipts we get every time and every place we spend money.
I can, and do, ask Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone to look into all of these areas, but this really is a case where we need to be working on it ourselves. More power to all of us.
The Furies and I will be back.
Cross posted to Care2 HERE.
