We’ve been lucky enough to interview Isabel Laderman, who has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome as well as a passion for climate justice, and is the founder of Disability Awareness Around the Climate Crisis.
Words by Ana Yong
Reviewed by Brett Stadelmann
Introduction
Isabel Laderman, founder of Disability Awareness Around the Climate Crisis, is a passionate advocate for disability rights and climate justice who has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. She has been actively involved in raising awareness about the intersection of disability and environmental issues. Isabel contributes regularly to discussions on policy and accommodation through her work with the University of Minnesota’s Disability Resource Center.
She has written impactful articles, including one editorial entitled “Never Again” for the Minnesota Daily that reflects on the importance of learning from past atrocities such as the Holocaust, to ensure that they are never repeated. The piece emphasizes the dangers of fascism, discrimination, and systemic violence, urging readers to remain vigilant against these forces. It draws connections between historical events and current societal issues, highlighting the need for continued education, remembrance, and advocacy to combat hate and promote justice. The editorial calls for collective action to prevent history from repeating itself and to foster a more just and inclusive society.
Here, we are fortunate enough to interview Isabel, and she shares her thoughts on these critical issues, offering a deeper understanding of her perspectives and motivations as an activist and educator.
1. How do you balance your advocacy work between climate justice and disability rights?
I don’t think it’s necessary to balance between the two because for me, they are so intertwined that if I’m doing one, I’m doing the other.
2. Can you share an experience where your disability influenced your perspective on environmental activism?
When I was in high school, there was a polar vortex made worse by the climate crisis. The day after we got several feet of snow, I had an appointment at the hospital. We barely made it and almost spun out on the way there. As I got home, I saw my neighbors digging out another neighbor’s car from the snow. It turned out that the neighbor needed to get his liver dialysis and everybody else came together to help him.
This day was life changing for me because for the first time, I had a concrete understanding of how the climate crisis influenced my disability and how essential community care is.
3. What unique challenges do disabled individuals face in participating in climate activism, and how can these be addressed?
It can be hard to go to in-person events and protests, whether for accessibility reasons or because we’re still in the midst of a pandemic. Too often climate events don’t consider things like wheelchair access, places to sit, or sign language interpreters.
Additionally, disabled people often get excluded from climate activist’s goals and main message, which can make disabled people feel like there’s no point in participating in the first place. I think having disabled people in leadership will ensure disability and accessibility are always considered. Given that 1 in 6 people in the world are disabled, I don’t think it’s a difficult ask.
4. How do you think climate policies can be made more inclusive for the disabled community?
The most common form of ableism in my opinion, whether intentionally or not, is excluding and ignoring disabled people. Sometimes policies are outright ableist or directly attack disabled people, but most of the time they just never mention us.
The first step towards inclusion is simply that, inclusion. Disabled people need to be remembered and considered. This is most effective when disabled people are a part of every step of the process, making sure accessibility is prioritized.
The great thing about this is that what benefits disabled people benefits accessibility for all. For example, many non-disabled people don’t realize how inaccessible our infrastructure is until they have young kids. By creating wheelchair accessibility, you are also benefiting those who have kids that need strollers!
5. Can you describe a project or campaign you’ve worked on that successfully integrated both climate and disability advocacy?
DAACC‘s education curriculum integrates climate and disability advocacy. We believe that raising awareness is the first step towards change and want to give people the tools required to take the next step: direct action.
An example of this is one participant who was helping her state with a project on electrical grid reliability. She attended one of our workshops and left promising to make sure disability was considered and electricity access for hospitals was prioritized, something she hadn’t thought about before.
Those are always my favourite parts of DAACC, seeing accessibility and disability spark new ideas in people for projects and campaigns they’re already working on.
6. How do you stay motivated and resilient in your advocacy work, especially when facing setbacks?
For a long time, I thought my role in the climate movement was as a spokesperson for disability inclusion. I’m going to be quite honest, I took a huge step back from public climate work because of the setbacks I was facing, including getting hate mail and ableist/sexist online attacks.
When I started college, I started doing a lot more local work in survivor advocacy and violence prevention education. I learned a ton about oppression, history, and boundaries. I realized the power of a healthy support system and rest rather than pushing through by yourself.
I also realized that trying to be a spokesperson was very much individualistic thinking, instead of the collectivist activism I now know is the most effective. I know I’m not doing as much climate work as I used to, but by doing the work to heal and ground myself in my local community through education and violence prevention, I do feel as if I’m still making a difference.
7. What are some misconceptions people have about the relationship between disability and climate activism?
A lot of people will tokenize or inspirationalize disabled activists. Too often I’ve heard things like, “well if this person in a wheelchair can show up to a protest, anybody can.” Or I’ve heard nondisabled activists try to be the “voice for the voiceless.” A lot of time the intention behind these statements is to help climate advocacy, but the impact is actually really harmful for disabled activists who don’t need anyone to speak for them. I hope people can take the time to see the disabled community as the powerful community it is.
8. What role do you think technology can play in making climate activism more accessible to disabled individuals?
Technology has already vastly improved communication, such as for non-verbal people. It also allows for online activism for people who might not have the capacity to show up.
The answer to this question is so broad, so I’ll just give a couple of examples on how technology can help: 1. automatic closed captioning, 2. virtual/hybrid events, 3. social media awareness, and 4. organizing chats/online spaces.
9. Can you share any inspiring stories of collaboration between climate activists and the disabled community that have impacted you?
The wording of this question implies that climate activists and the disabled community are separate, but most of my experience has been with people who are both.
If this is specifically asking about collaboration between nondisabled climate activists and disabled people, I suppose my answer would be the DAACC workshops. Many of the people who attended were nondisabled organizers who wanted to learn more, often due to the one or two disabled activists who were their co-organizers.
Watching people learn about disability for the first time, or at least learn about it for the first time from someone who was actually disabled, was an inspiring process and part of the reason I fell in love with education as a whole. To be vulnerable with their lack of experience and still be so willing to learn was something I really appreciated.
10. What advice would you give to other disabled individuals who want to become involved in climate activism?
My top piece of advice, both for climate activism and in general, is to come up with some clear and concise boundaries. Decide if you’re willing to be in the press or not, because it can come with a lot of ableism and backlash.
Decide how you’ll respond if you find yourself invited to an event as a token. Decide your boundaries around social media use, etc. You don’t have to sacrifice your mental health for any activism, in fact doing so only hurts the movement.
I’m so glad I was able to explore boundaries so much in college and learn what I was and wasn’t willing to do.
My other piece of advice is to find community, whether locally or with disabled activists across the world. This is another area where technology can play a role, as it can help you come in contact with fellow disabled people from all over. Having a community and support system is so powerful.
In Conclusion
We would like to thank Isabel for taking the time to share her valuable insights and experiences in this interview. Her dedication to advocating for social justice and amplifying the voices of marginalized communities is truly inspiring. We appreciate her thoughtful contributions and wish her all the best as she continues to make waves in everything she does.