Three disability-related links for Wednesday, June 19, 2024.
1. Disability in the Heat
Áine Kelly-Costello, Disability Debrief - July 25, 2024
“I've wanted to take a deeper look into extreme heat on the Debrief for a while, because its myriad impacts on disabled and chronically ill people are still not widely-recognised. It also challenges a lot of things many of us, especially from cooler climates, may take for granted, like the ability to go outside and get fresh air, or the ability to get a good night's sleep. Have a read and let me know what you think!”
2. Hundreds died because they couldn't escape B.C.'s extreme heat. Alerts wouldn't have saved them, advocates say
Courtney Dickson, CBC - June 8, 2022
“One of her key recommendations, which she says went ignored, was to make air conditioners or other cooling devices available as medical devices this coming summer. She argues that last year's deaths were caused not by a lack of knowledge about the risk of heat, but instead by the inability of poor, disabled and elderly people to escape it.”
3. Should FEMA recognize extreme heat and wildfire smoke as ‘major disasters’?
Haley Smith, Los Angeles Times - June 17, 2024
“In 2022, FEMA rejected a request from California for a major disaster declaration in response to a heat wave that baked the state for 10 days, killing 395 people and pushing the power grid to its limits. In its rejection, the federal agency said the ‘precedent is to evaluate discrete events and impacts, not seasonal or general atmospheric conditions,’ according to the petition.”
It’s extremely hot here in the Northeastern United States this week, where I live. My little corner of New York State is getting a relatively mild dose of it. But over the next week or so, I expect to hear and read about some dire situations for people with disabilities. For some it will be because their particular disabilities make it harder to tolerate high heat. For them to, and others, it will be because they can’t afford air conditioning. That seems to be the key element in whether disabled people can get through heat waves and heat domes safely and comfortably, and whether high temperatures become life threatening for them.
I did some searching for the articles above, and included one about a particularly devastating heat dome that took place in British Columbia a couple years ago. It’s the first thing I thought of when the weather services started talking about a heat dome assembling over the Northeast. To me the most meaningful takeaway is Gabrielle Peters’ assertion that as with so many dangers disabled people face, they need material help — in this case buying them air conditioners — and information and awareness-raising alone just doesn’t cut it. I get why governments still fail to deliver. But I don’t think it’s a mystery at all. We know how to make these things less terrible for disabled people. It’s just a question of whether we’ll do it or not.
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There may or may not be some financial assistance for air conditioning. See:
"Can You Buy An A/C Unit With LIHEAP?" article at National Council on Aging - https://www.ncoa.org/article/can-you-buy-an-air-conditioner-unit-with-liheap
and
"State Cooling Programs at Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program - https://liheapch.acf.hhs.gov/tables/FY2013/cooling.htm
Also some local governments and local charities have air conditioning programs. I suspect there are waiting lists, especially this week.