As part of a review of our Ask IMPACT guide on climate change, Isaac Samuels, member of IMPACT’s Co-production Advisory Group, wrote the below.
Speaking as someone who has lived with disability and has had to rely on different bits of social care over the years, recent debates about adult social care and climate change are a solid start, but could go further in recognising what climate change actually feels like for people who already deal with limited energy, mobility barriers and unpredictable access to support.
A few thoughts that might help deepen these debates:
- First, we talk a lot about the system and its structures, but we’d do better to focus more on the reality for the people inside it:
- For many disabled people a heatwave is not just uncomfortable, it can be dangerous and it can make everyday support fall apart. Many disabled people already struggle to regulate temperature or cope with fatigue, so a spell of extreme heat can knock someone sideways. Poorly designed buildings turn into ovens, and people end up trapped in their own homes because it is simply too hot to move about or because their equipment will not run safely. These are not rare or dramatic moments, they are becoming yearly occurrences for some of us.
- Flooding is similar. It is not just about damaged buildings. If a person’s home floods, they may lose adapted equipment, medication or mobility aids. Even one broken ramp or lift can completely cut someone off. When services flood it is not just an organisational issue, it means older people and disabled people getting moved at short notice or missing out on essentials. That uncertainty bites hard.
- Disruption to social care delivery is probably one of the most frightening parts. Many of us rely on small bits of support to live safely. If staff cannot reach us because of storms or heat, or if rotas fall apart, it is not just inconvenient, it can be unsafe. Most people in the sector want to help but without proper planning they are left scrambling, and the person receiving care ends up bearing the stress.
- Food access is also a bigger issue than it might sound. Disabled people often rely on deliveries or predictable routines to eat well. If supply chains falter or prices spike the first thing to go is quality. People end up skipping meals or relying on whatever is cheapest, which has long term health impacts.
- Water scarcity sounds abstract until you remember how many people depend on regular washing to prevent infections, or need water to mix medication, or use medical kit that must be cleaned safely. For someone with limited mobility even a small reduction in water access can snowball into a real health risk.
- Air and water quality affects people with respiratory conditions, neurological conditions or compromised immune systems far more severely than most realise. A bad pollution day is not an annoyance, it can mean staying indoors, worsening symptoms or ending up in hospital.
In short, the challenges are real and growing, and people who rely on care often feel them in their bodies long before the system notices them on paper. Talking more openly about these practical examples will make the case for change more grounded.
- IMPACT’s review suggests that the sector could do more to prepare for climate emergencies – but this needs much more of a push. For disabled people, preparation is not just about emergency plans for buildings. It is about making sure people have power for ventilators, fridges for medication, accessible information and a way to get help when roads are blocked. So many of these things are currently left to individuals or families rather than being planned for at system level.
- The sector often talks about change in ways that does not match the daily pressures on people who rely on care. Asking the sector to reduce travel or energy use is fine, but not if it ends up making support less flexible or harder to access. Disabled people should not end up carrying the burden of the solutions. We need to see inclusive planning from the start so that any climate actions are tested against real life impact on people who draw on care and support.
- We often overlook important emotional issues. Many disabled people already feel forgotten in crisis situations. If the sector is behind on climate preparedness it will reinforce that sense of being an afterthought.
- Some people (and IMPACT’s guide) make a helpful link with COVID – but we need to speak more plainly about what that period was actually like for disabled people. During the pandemic many of us dealt with cancelled care packages, staff shortages, rules changing every five minutes and a constant feeling that our needs were an afterthought. Climate disruption is not an abstract idea but something that could hit the same pressure points again – disabled people can so quickly end up isolated when systems come under strain. We also need to remember that not everyone experienced COVID in the same way. Some people saw innovative support, neighbour networks and different ways of working that actually helped. Others saw their needs de-prioritised – so the lessons from COVID are really mixed and very revealing.
- There are real consequences to all this. Resilience for social care is not just about finances and demand, it is also about whether a person who needs daily support can actually get it when roads are flooded or when support staff are stretched so thin that visits are cut back. Some support already feels fragile, and climate change could make this worse.
- Mitigation and adaptation are important, but we need to be more people-focused. For example, talking about low carbon transport is one thing but if that results in fewer services or longer waits then disabled people end up bearing the cost. Likewise, adaptation is not just big infrastructure projects, it is also making sure that someone has a back-up charger for medical kit, clear information in accessible formats, or somewhere safe and cool to go during extreme heat. Discussing these smaller everyday examples would make ‘adaptation’ feel relevant to people who draw on care and support, and show the real consequences of us as a society not being ready or getting it wrong.
- Above all, co-design is crucial. If the sector wants to change how it uses buildings, travel or equipment then disabled people and unpaid carers need to be involved from the beginning. Otherwise plans can end up neat on paper but impossible to live with.
We know all this already – but climate change is so serious that it just makes these longstanding lessons even more important.