Recommended
More Related Content
Similar to Sue Porter - Engaging New Audiences
Similar to Sue Porter - Engaging New Audiences (20)
More from benbnhc
More from benbnhc (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Sue Porter - Engaging New Audiences
- 1. Engaging new audiences: learning from the climate change, risk and disability project Sue Porter Norah Fry Research Centre
- 2. Climate change, risk and disability –findings Literature review – shared findings and sense-making via NCVO and WECIL • A culture of neglect • Experiences of discrimination • Lifestyle and independent living • Interdependence ‘…the disability perspective of interdependence is a practical guide from the margins for making new choices that may lead to a just and sustainable world—a concept that reduces the distance between each other and our environment.’ Erik Leipoldt • Individual or structural change?
- 3. Individual or social change needed? Individual lifestyle model – Structural model Broader societal changes are Literature and activists required in the organisation of advocate individual actions for social life and embedded power sustainability. relations. Focus is on sustainable Structural issues and consumption inequalities are reproduced in environmental inequalities Individual medical model – Social model Society needs to make structural changes to include It’s the individual that needs to disabled people. be ‘fixed’ by treatment, cure or Physical and social barriers to rehab. participation need to be addressed
- 4. What can we learn from ‘researching with’, rather than ‘communicating to’ communities • Lived experience • Different perspectives • Active partners • Remind ourselves of the need to remember the 3 legs of sustainability: • environmental, • economic and • social
- 5. Shared cause? “Having been involved in environmental and disability movements I've been surprised by the lack of crossover - and had interesting conversations with my disabled friends about how the more 'environmentally sound' shops etc. tend to be inaccessible, whereas the bigger chains are more likely to be accessible. One friend in particular complained of green campaigners advocating the use of bikes over cars etc, often don't take different forms of embodiment into account. She worried that such campaigns can even strengthen the discourse of disabled people are burdens on society”.
- 6. Shared cause? “I signed up for a Transition research network meeting, and on checking access was told (very apologetically) that I’d have to use the public toilet 120 yards down the street”. “Very interested (although unsurprised) to hear about your experience regarding the Transition Meeting - I have noticed here in Leeds meetings arranged in rooms that are "unfortunately not wheelchair accessible". “One of the reasons I became interested in this area of research was from my own experience of developing a chronic illness and finding I wasn't able to continue with many of my previous pro-environmental behaviours, whilst at the same time feeling quite judged for using a car and not cycling etc when I attended environmental events!”
- 7. Insights … for engaging with new and different audiences • Don’t assume you know how it is • Beware positioning other people e.g. as only vulnerable » Resources » Champions too » Valuing vulnerability • Being welcomed in – People don’t want to be excluded from the debates – People may need to be targeted and facilitated – Peer support groups and advocacy organisations can help to support debate and reach people others can’t.
Editor's Notes
- A culture of neglectReports of recent disasters, including those high profile ones in Japan (the 2011 earthquake and tsunami) and America (hurricane Katrina), tell of disabled people having been neglected, both in emergency planning and in the rescue efforts, and many disabled people dying as a result of this failure to include them. This exclusion can be seen as direct discrimination, based in ableist attitudes which assume, and plan for, a non disabled population. More recently both Japan and the US have established initiatives to involve disabled people’s organisations, and other community groups, in developing emergency plans and training staff such as planners and rescue crews. Experiences of discrimination Disabled people’s experience of discrimination extends to being viewed not as contributors of knowledge and insight, but only as a vulnerable group. Yet disabled people may have more to offer the debate around climate change from their different lived experiences, particularly around the idea of resources (both external resources and their own internal resources), which means that they may have a much more nuanced approach to conceiving of ‘limitedness’. Environmental/sustainability organisations have pointed out the problem of ‘mainstream’ views about ‘limitlessness’ – of resources, energy and consumption, and the need to change attitudes if we are to challenge this ‘addictive’ behaviour. Lifestyle and independent living Assumptions are made that everyone can be asked to make the same changes in their lifestyle. These ableist assumptions can lead to disabled people feeling pressured to reduce energy consumption, even when their particular needs require heating or cooling to maintain even temperatures, access to motorised transport, or to lifts etc in order to live independent lives. Some disabled people with acquired impairments have also reported feeling excluded from their previous involvement in environmental campaigns, for example because of their growing dependence on the car rather than cycling. Interdependence The experience of being in need and in receipt of care, which requires an interdependence with others, may also equip disabled people to contribute to the debates around sustainability and our relationship with the environment. Disability studies scholar Erik Leipoldt proposed that,‘…the disability perspective of interdependence is a practical guide from the margins for making new choices that may lead to a just and sustainable world—a concept that reduces the distance between each other and our environment.’ Individual or structural change? One way of conceptualising issues for both the environment and disability is to compare the debates around medical / social models of disability with the debate as to whether its changes to individual lifestyles / social structures which are required to protect the environment.
- The technical fix is a danger to both movements – we need to change society’s structures in line with a philosophy of equal rights and equal responsibilities
- Experts by experience Interdependency as a virtueShared campaign potential
- Lots of shared issues – transport, energy, access to wildernessMutuality
- Signal clearly that you think you don’t know how things are for this groupMake it clear you need input from their knowledge, rather than only to ‘take care’ of themOther organisations/agencies may also struggle to ‘reach’ this group – which is not even one coherent group!Signing, easyread, dvds etcSeek out disabled groups, put them on your list of key groups Some people need intermediaries, at least initially e.g. advocates Understand how people view/position themselves Meet in venues that are known to be accessible Consider relevant transport issues