Our society must include persons with disabilities in tackling climate change

This article explores the daily difficulties people with disabilities face in extreme weather, what policies and measures can support them, and how to engage them in climate change mitigation and adaptation in their daily lives. Since the CarbonCare InnoLab’s Paris Watch Programme was launched, five community dialogues have been held so far. The first four were focused on the residents of subdivided housing, the welfare and the community health care sectors, and outdoor workers.

This document focuses on the rights of the persons with disabilities who are facing the impacts of extreme weather. The participants in this community dialogue felt that their plight and hardship in the extreme weather were neglected by society. In fact, there is still much room for improvement in how to support them in addressing climate change, in addition to the current policies and supporting measures. Even in mitigating climate change, the author stresses that they can also make contributions like ordinary people.