People with disabilities are people with physical challenges or mental impairments that have substantial and long-term effects on the ability of the person to go about their normal day to day activities. This group makes up to 15% of the total population. Most people with disabilities are not solely independent and may need assistance with their day to day activities. This can be mechanized assistance or a person who gets to offer a helping hand to undertake a task. Important to note is that, disability does not mean inability and thus disabled people are capable of living just like any other normal person. The only difference is that they need support ins certain areas of their weakness.
The way disabled people live in the developed countries is different from the way they live in developing countries. This is because of differences in technology, living standards, ability to afford and the environment in general. Social status despite economic status of a country also has an effect on the quality of life of a disabled person. One from a well up family has a better chances and opportunities in life as compared to one from a poor family. Likewise, the state of the environment is of importance to the welfare of the disabled.
Environmental degradation has physical, mental and social effects on the wellbeing of the disabled. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in his report mentioned that people with disabilities are highly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of environmental degradation attributed to phenomenon such as climate change. Social and economic status as mentioned above coupled with discrimination and marginalization play a very important role in determining the intensity of environmental degradation effects on the disabled.
Environmental degradation is the dilapidation in the state of the environment and its different functions rendering it unsafe to support life. This can be due to the unsustainable exploitation of the environment through activities such as mining, agriculture industrial processes. The most detrimental factor contributing to significant environmental degradation currently is climate change. Its effects have been noted to pose threats to the livelihoods of the disabled. Imagine a deaf person not being able to hear signals on emergencies, and a person with mobility issues not being able to run for their life and seek shelter or refuge, a mute person not being able to scream for help so that she can be heard and rescued and a blind person not being able to see where to run to.
Extreme weather events attributed to climate change such as cyclones, floods, tornadoes, destroy the natural and the built environment leaving people stranded, homeless, without food, without property and with poor access to transport and medical facilities. Disabled people have their special needs which include medication, wheelchairs, hearing aids, clutches among other equipment. They require constant check-ups at medical facilities and nurse aids visits. All this can be brought to a halt after experiencing environmentally degrading disasters. Migration and displacement are the survival measures taken when such phenomenon occur. Discrimination can be experienced when prioritising those to displace first. The economically active and capable could be displaced first and the disabled population be left out. Injury and death can be experienced during the occurrence of such disasters. The disabled can be the breadwinners who have been taking care of their families, leaving them stranded and to fend for themselves. Both mental and physical state get affected.
The majority of people living with disabilities experience poverty more than twice the rate of people without disabilities and might not have the means and resources to migrate, thus they are forced to remain in disadvantaged environments with no adequate housing, safe water and sanitary facilities, employment, support networks and health care facilities. Some disabled people have already existing underlying conditions and are thus vulnerable to attack by pathogens and are sensitive to changes, such environmental changes pose a threat on their health and could even lead to death.
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