Down Syndrome in the Era of Climate Change

On Season 10, Episode 2 of The LowDOWN: A Down Syndrome Podcast, Glen Hoos gives us the lowdown on how climate change impacts people with Down syndrome. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Today on the Lowdown It Downs is in Podcast Glen ,
whos gives us a lowdown on howclimate change impacts people
with Down Syndrome. Over toyou, Hannah and Marla .

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Thanks, Danielle.
This episode is brought to youby our Season 10 sponsor, the
Ames Family Foundation. Helloeveryone and welcome to the
Lowdown Podcast. My name isHena , and joining me is my
wonderful co-host, Marla.
Hello, Marla. I am excitedbecause Me too , we're doing
something that we haven't done.
Yeah. It's been 10 wholeseasons for the most part,

(00:39):
where we've had our wonderfuleditor marketing guru, Glen
Huss , beyond the other side. Imean, he's been a guest here
and there. Mm-Hmm .
. But today it's,he's gonna be our sole guest
talking about a topic that he'svery passionate about. Um, so
yeah. So today's episodefocuses on a topic that often
does not get much attention,and many people may not link it

(01:00):
to the world of disability, andespecially the world of Down
Syndrome. We are so happy towelcome our wonderful producer,
turn to guest Glenn Hust , tothe lowdown to talk about the
effects of climate change forindividuals with Down Syndrome.
Glen has worked at the DownSyndrome Resource Foundation in
a variety of roles since 2012.

(01:21):
Earlier in 2024, he addedsustainability to his portfolio
of responsibilities becomingDsfs first Director of
Communications andSustainability. Glen has a very
personal connection , uh, tothe work of DSRF as one of his
four children is A-D-S-R-Fstudent, Rebecca, who we all

(01:42):
know and love , um, who hasDown Syndrome and autism, while
another child has multipledevelopmental disabilities,
including autism, also who weknow and love. Glen is also an
active member of the BC ClimateEmergency Campaign, and is
dedicated to ensuring that thevoices of people with Down
Syndrome and other disabilitiesare centered amidst the climate

(02:05):
crisis. So, very importanttopic. Welcome to the Low Down
, Glen .

Speaker 3 (02:09):
Thank you, Hannah .

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Very happy to have you. Are you excited to talk to
us instead of just listening?

Speaker 3 (02:16):
I'm always excited to talk to you, but I usually
prefer to do it without amicrophone. Yes.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
I mean, fair enough.
Yes. Fair enough. Usually like, but this is important. We're
gonna, we're gonna go for it.
Exactly. So Glen knows that wehave a tradition of asking
secret questions. And the funpart about this is that these
questions were even a secret toGlen . So I get us started and
then I'll hand it over to Marlato finish off. Um, Glen , if
you could choose onesuperpower, what would it be?

Speaker 3 (02:44):
Oh , one superpower.
Um, maybe I'll just go basicwith flying. Okay . Sometimes I
have dreams where I have theability to fly, and it seemed
kind of fun. .

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah , it does .
Yeah . And very like,environmentally friendly and a
sustainable layer . True .
Around True . I

Speaker 3 (03:03):
Solve my guilt

Speaker 2 (03:04):
Getting airplane .
Exactly . Perfect. ,excellent. Multiple on multiple
fronts. It works. Um, okay,second question. If you could
rewrite the ending to anymovie, what movie would it be?
And like a brief synopsis oflike, what would that, where
what movie would you like torewrite the ending for? You
don't have to give me theending, but just

Speaker 3 (03:23):
My word. These are difficult questions.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
.

Speaker 3 (03:30):
Um, what movie would I rewrite the ending for? Can I
go TV show instead? Sure.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's fine.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Uh, I'll go with The Sopranos. Oh , it's well known
to have a very controversialending. Mm-Hmm. .
Don't know exactly how itended. Mm-Hmm . .
And I'm a very kind of blackand white person I like to come
out of Yeah . These and TVshows and knowing definitively
what happens .

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yes . Yes . You need a conclusion of some kind. Yeah
, exactly. Yeah . Yeah . I

Speaker 3 (03:59):
I don't even particularly care what the
ending is.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah . Just need to know, need to happen . Answers.
Answers, yes. Yes, exactly.
Okay. Marla, over to you.
Alright . Question for you,which song would be the anthem
of your life if you couldchoose?

Speaker 3 (04:15):
So, I'm well known as a fan of the band, the
Airborne Toxic Event. You sureare. Most people have never
heard of. Mm-Hmm.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
.
That's also true. Yep .

Speaker 3 (04:23):
Mm-Hmm . If I was to pick one of their songs , uh,
it would be one called All AtOnce, which is how Your Life
Can Change in the Blink of AnEye, which I feel like has
happened to me multiple timesin my life. Mm-Hmm.
. Um, but also, Ikind of want to just say Bruce
Springsteen Born to Run because , that's my favorite

(04:43):
album of all time. And it cameout the same month I was born.
So both , yeah .

Speaker 2 (04:49):
Oh's true thematic

Speaker 3 (04:50):
50 next year, so Wow. Yeah. It's not really
lyrically, but spiritually.
Okay .

Speaker 2 (04:56):
I'll go with that.
Great. I love how much thoughtyou had into this. Yeah .
That's awesome. I think you'reallowed to have two. It's not,
it's not a real category, soyou can have as many as you
want, really . Yes , exactly .
Perfect . So I think that'scompletely fine. Um, let's talk
about climate change. So we'llstart with some context. How
did you first become aware ofthe problem of climate change?

(05:17):
And basically why do you care?
Why are you personallyconcerned about it?

Speaker 3 (05:22):
So, strangely enough, I can almost pinpoint
it to the month a hit . Um , inthe summer of 2017, there was
an article , uh, published thatgot an extreme amount of
attention. Mm-Hmm .
basicallyoutlining where the climate's
at, where it's going, howquickly things are going south.

(05:45):
Mm-Hmm . . And ,um, in climate circles, I know
a lot of people who that issort of their personal wake up
call, and it certainly was forme. Um, and , um, I'm very much
, uh, an all or nothing person.
Once I get interested insomething , I go like
all the way and learn likeeverything there is to learn

(06:08):
about it. Yeah. Literallyreading that one article just
made me want to learn more. Andsince then I've probably read
in the neighborhood of like 50books and 5,000 articles. I'm
gonna guess. Wow . Mm-Hmm.
Yeah . Aboutclimate change and sort of
doing a , a self , uh,education about it. Mm-Hmm.

(06:28):
. Mm-Hmm.
. Um, then it got, uh, it got more personal in
2021 when we had the BC heatdome , um, where we had
temperatures approaching 50degrees in , in bc. And , uh,
experiencing that with my twokids with disabilities,
particularly my daughter Becca,who you mentioned, has down

(06:51):
Derman autism. Um, Becca isextremely particular to put it
lightly about , um, how thingsin her environment need to be
Mm-Hmm . and whatshe's willing to do and what
she's not willing to do. Andamong the things she's not
willing to do is she doesn'tlike fans. She won't let you

(07:13):
open her window at night. Shewon't drink water. Mm-Hmm.
. So basicallyall of the basic things that we
do when we're too hot Right?
Yeah. Are things that she justliterally refuses to do. Yeah.
No matter how uncomfortable shemay be feeling from the heat.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
Mm-Hmm.
. So , and weknow that people with Down
syndrome are very poor heatregulators. So I can imagine
that that must have been a, notlike a stressful time for you
guys too , because she waslike, you need to cool off some
way, but Yeah. Those major waysyou're not Yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:45):
So fortunately being the avid wedger weather watcher
that I am, I knew this wascoming. Mm-Hmm. .
And , uh, several days beforeit came, I booked us a hotel
room. Mm-Hmm . .
'cause I figured that was theonly way we were gonna stay
cool. Was to get somewhere thathad air conditioning. Mm-Hmm.
. So we literallyjust hunkered down for , uh, 72

(08:06):
hours Mm-Hmm . and airconditioned dark hotel room.
Mm-Hmm . . Um, sowe didn't even actually
experience that much of theheat do ourselves, but that's
when I really started to , um,think particularly about how
climate impacts people withdisabilities Mm-Hmm.
and, and startedto feel a need to , uh, to, to

(08:29):
learn more and work in thatarea. Mm-Hmm. .

Speaker 2 (08:32):
And for reference for people who are listening to
this from further away and aresurprised by the fact that we
don't have air conditionershere by and large , um, that's
because we're used to a PacificNorthwest sort of climate and
microclimates being rainforestor temperate rainforest. So we
don't, we didn't need them ,um, before, in the before times

(08:53):
that it was never actually thathot or that cold. Um, and all
the windows for a very longtime until recently were single
pane glass. So not built forthis kind of energy efficiency
that would be assumed to bestandard or basic in a more
extreme Mm-Hmm . , um, climate. Mm-Hmm.
. Yeah. Um, sofor people who are not

(09:13):
following climate news veryclosely, maybe you can give us
a little bit of summary so thatpeople feel up to speed of
where the planet is at at thistime.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
Sure. So, I don't wanna be alarmist or scary

Speaker 2 (09:29):
That's hard in this topic. The

Speaker 3 (09:31):
Unfortunate reality is, is things are not
particularly good. Um, I'mgonna refer later to , uh,
Georgetown University has , um,a public archive project on
climate and disability, andthey've put out a , a helpful
plain language guide to climatechange. So I thought I would

(09:51):
read their definition ofclimate change. Mm-Hmm .
in plainlanguage, climate is the
measure of things like theweather and temperature over
time in an area of the world,climate change is when the
weather and temperature allover the world changes. This
makes the environment harderfor everyone to live in. Um, I

(10:12):
don't want to turn this into ascience lecture , but I
thought , uh, since we probablyhave people with differing
levels of understanding Mm-Hmm. of climate
change, I should maybe quicklycover the basics of what it is,
what causes it. Um, the firstthing I would say is that
climate change is real . Mm-Hmm. , and I
hate to have to say that, but ,um, like other issues, it's,

(10:36):
it's become politicized andYeah . And now there's , uh, a
segment of the population thatdoesn't believe what the
scientists have to say. And ,um, I think it's an underplayed
, uh, fact. Um, how much of ascientific consensus there is
about it when it , when itcomes to the basics about
climate change, there's about a99.7% scientific consensus that

(11:00):
this is real. It's caused by hahumans, and it's getting worse
very quickly. Mm-Hmm.
.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
And for outside reference, that is an extremely
high number. You don't see thatkind of consensus in areas of
medicine, in areas of therapy,and even in areas of education
and how to teach math, forexample. There's nowhere near
that level Yeah. Of consensus.
Yeah. So this is very, veryhigh. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
Yeah. That's right.
So what is causing climatechange? It's, it's primarily
driven by the burning of fossilfuels like oil, gas, and coal.
Uh, those fossil fuels causepollution that stays in the
atmosphere and prevents heatfrom escaping the earth, which
causes the temperature on earthto go up. Um, this overheating

(11:48):
causes dangerous extremeweather as we're seeing more
and more, and that leads tomany negative , um, social
economic and physical impacts.
So, in terms of where we're at, um, personally, the first
time I ever heard about climatechange was as a primary school
student in the 1980s Mm-Hmm .

(12:11):
. And , um,unfortunately, we've reached a
stage now where everything theywere starting to warn about in
the 1980s is starting to cometrue. Um, at the time I kind of
filed it away as something Imight have to worry about.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah. Down the line , very

Speaker 3 (12:27):
End of my life.
Yeah. But , uh, it's, it'sreally recognized now that the,
the 2020s in particular hasbeen , um, a turning point ,
uh, into , into a whole new ,um, environment worldwide. Um,
in the last two, well, we'renot quite through 2024 yet, but

(12:49):
, uh, right now, 2024 is ontrack to be the hottest year on
record in the history ofhumans, which would only beat
the record that was set lastyear. So these have been the
two hottest years on record.
We've broken the record forhottest day on Earth four times
in the last two years, andwe're seeing the predicted

(13:10):
impacts everywhere around theworld. But just speaking in our
own neck of the woods in thelast few years, we've had the
2021 heat dome, which wasfollowed a couple months later
by floods, which caused bytrenchill downpours that were
supercharged by climate change.
We've had wildfires all overthe place. Uh, last year. 2023

(13:34):
was by far the biggest wildfireyear in Canadian history. We've
had entire towns and parts oftowns , uh, destroyed by fire,
like Litton West Kelowna , andthis summer Jasper. And , um,
basically we're, we're nowright at the ceiling of what

(13:54):
scientists have defined as asafe level of temperature
increase, and we're crossinginto the threshold , um, into a
climate state that humans havenever experienced before. Yeah
. So that's my very , that'sconcerning , very
cheerful update of where thingsare at and why one might be
concerning. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
Mm-Hmm .
. Mm-Hmm .
, let's intersectthat now with the Down Syndrome
community and why you thinkit's important for the Down
Syndrome community to be awareand involved.

Speaker 3 (14:27):
Right. So, I mean, the most obvious answer is that
this is a problem that impactseverybody, right? Yeah . No
matter what community you'repart of. Mm-Hmm.
, uh, it's sort of an all handson deck problem that's going to
take everyone Mm-Hmm .
and to solve it.
Mm-Hmm . . Um, Ihave a quote that I like from
Rupert Reed. Uh , he says, ifyou care about anything at all,

(14:50):
then whether you know it ornot, you care about the climate
crisis for we are on track tohave it sweep away all that we
hold dear. If you care aboutthe arts or about disability
rights, or about your ownchildren, then you care about
climate. But I think for me, itreally goes beyond that. Um,
because as my experience withBecca shows , um, people with

(15:14):
Down Syndrome and otherdisabilities have higher
vulnerability to Mm-Hmm .
the impacts ofclimate change. And that gives
those of us in the disabilitysector, or with disabled people
in our lives, even more reasonto be concerned Mm-Hmm .
than a typicalperson might have. Um, I think
those of us who are parents ofkids with disabilities spend an

(15:37):
extraordinary amount of time,energy, and resources to create
the best possible future forour kids. And when you come to
realize that climate change issomething that could
potentially put all that injeopardy, it quickly rises to
the top of things Mm-Hmm .
that we need tobe thinking about.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
Mm-Hmm.
. Um, yeah. Ithink I'm really struck by the,
I think I wanna say multiplelevels of vulnerability. So
there's health, vulnerabilityand exposure to things in the
air. Things like smoke thatwould be riskier for somebody
who's prone to infections andthings of that nature. And then

(16:18):
there's the routine orientedvulnerability of how difficult
it is to do fast pivots forsafety purposes, such as
evacuation. Yeah. Needing totemporarily go somewhere else.
Needing to change a routine.
Today, we can't go outsidebecause it's X, y , Z. Um, and
having to make all of theseshifts , um, can be very, very,

(16:41):
very challenging. Mm-Hmm.
. And I thinkour, our group of people that
we strive to support here tendsto be marginalized anyway. Um,
and so, like all of the othermarginalized groups are going
to receive fewer protections ,um, with regards to , and won't
be pushed on the list. Yes.
Mm-Hmm . things.

(17:02):
Maybe wanna speak to some ofthose things. Some of that ,
um, intersection between maybedisability justice and climate
justice, and how the concernsmaybe relate and overlap.

Speaker 3 (17:13):
Yeah. That's really good. Um, so I think what we've
come to understand is that allsocial justice is
intersectional. Mm-Hmm.
, you can't puteverything in its own neat
little box. Um, in the socialsciences, disability is
sometimes referred to as athreat multiplier. And it's far

(17:33):
from the o only one, basicallyany factor that causes people
to be marginalized. Mm-Hmm .
, race, income ,uh, gender, gender orientation.
Mm-Hmm . , um,all those things are, are
threat multipliers. And whatthat basically means is that
for virtually any socialproblem you can think of,

(17:53):
disability exacerbates theimpact. Mm-Hmm. ,
people who have disabilitieswill tend to experience the
consequences of social problemsearlier and to a more severe
degree than people withoutdisabilities. And I think this
was really evident during covidHmm . Um, where people with
disabilities not only had worseoutcomes with respect to severe

(18:16):
illness and mortality, but theyfelt the strain on the
healthcare system more thanmost. Mm-Hmm . Because they
rely on that system more thanmost. Mm-Hmm. ,
um, when we quote unquotereturn to normal, a lot of
people with disabilities wereleft behind with our society
dropping protections that werestill necessary for people who

(18:36):
are more vulnerable. Um, Ithink we all know families who
stayed in lockdown for farlonger than the general public
Oh , yeah . Because of , ofrisks to their loved one.
Mm-Hmm . . Andeven when it came to the
government's economic response,it disproportionately benefited
people without disabilities.
Um, they instituted a $2,000 amonth benefit for people who

(18:59):
lost employment due to COVID .
And that's significantly morethan people with disabilities
receive. Yeah .

Speaker 2 (19:07):
Ever , every month ever gonna say Yeah .

Speaker 3 (19:10):
To live on. Mm-Hmm .
. So that's kindof typical of , of how these,
these issues work. Mm-Hmm.
, um, you know ,when we talk about climate
change , um, scientists warnthat we're headed for a
situation that's gonna be farmore disruptive than covid for
a much longer time. Andunfortunately, people with
disabilities are again, on thefront lines in terms of

(19:31):
experiencing the impacts ofthat. Mm-Hmm. . So
an intersectional approach tothe climate issue recognizes
that there can be no solutionswithout centering the needs of
those who are most deeplyimpacted. And that includes for
sure, people with disabilities.
Mm-Hmm. .

Speaker 2 (19:47):
And one of the things that I think is
interesting here is while wehave certainly seen the impacts
of climate change, we haven'texperienced that much, to be
honest. Mm-Hmm. .
Um, and I think there now thereare communities, whole
communities who have been wipedout. The whole town is gone,
it's been burned. And thosewould probably be the people to

(20:09):
talk to. Mm-Hmm . and the disabled individuals in
those communities. Mm-Hmm .
, their voicesshould really be amplified and
future policy development , um,because they're the ones who
have seen the sort of the fulltruth of the situation that
we're now living, whereas manypeople haven't. Mm-Hmm .
, I don't think,or we can kind of just read on

(20:30):
a headline , have some denialabout what's , what's actually
happening. Yeah . Um, I dothink it's important to make
this discussion concrete asmuch as we can. So I'm hoping
you can give us some examplesof how the climate crisis is
impacting people with Downsyndrome and other disabilities
as well. Um, and what you'dlike to say around some, some

(20:50):
of that.

Speaker 3 (20:50):
Sure. Uh, so I, I tend to think of it in three
categories, which, which I'llgo through. Sure. Uh, health
and safety impacts, socialimpacts and transition impacts,
which I'll explain, but healthand safety, that's kind of like
the most obvious level. Mm-Hmm.
, um, people withdisabilities , um, are at

(21:13):
greater risk during extremeweather events. Heat, floods,
fire, drought, storms, all ofit impacts people with
disabilities more. Um, theresearch has shown that people
with disabilities are two tofour times more likely to die
or be injured in thesesituations. Mm-Hmm.
, um, Hina , youand I actually co-wrote an

(21:34):
article on , uh, how peoplewith Down syndrome Mm-Hmm .
are at muchhigher risk of heat illness
Mm-Hmm. , uh, dueto multiple factors pertaining
to how their bodies regulatetemperature. Yeah. Um , and
interestingly, in the lastthree months since the
beginning of June, that articleis far and away the most viewed

(21:57):
page on our PSRF website.
Mm-Hmm . . Yeah .
It's like three times higherthan the second highest page

Speaker 2 (22:03):
. Oh . I suspect that has everything to
do with the extreme heat. Yeah.
Yeah . That's been, yeah .
Widespread this summer. Yeah.
And I think a lot of peopledidn't even think about that. I
mean, you know, that thispopulation is certainly more
fragile and more vulnerable toheat. I mean, we all, everyone
has a hard time during extremeheat, but these guys have a ,
for multiple reasons,physically communication

(22:24):
purposes for various reasons,it's so difficult for them to,
to manage in those extremetemperatures. Mm-Hmm.
. Yeah . And Ithink there's, there's extreme
temperatures and then there'sprolonged temperatures Yeah .
Where it doesn't, it doesn'tcool off. Yeah . Right . So
there's no relief for heat justgoes on for a very, very long
time. And there's, that's kindof a compounding issue and
issue . And we see the effectsof it in our sessions as well.

(22:44):
We see kids that have had roughsleeves because it's been too
hot, or they are not eating ordrinking the way they normally
do because the , thetemperatures are, you know,
just too much for them tohandle. So it definitely makes
an impact for us. Yeah .

Speaker 3 (22:58):
Um, apart from that , uh, Marla you mentioned as
well that , um, emergencyplanning does often does not
adequately account for needs ofpeople . Mm-Hmm .
. Mm-Hmm . withdisabilities, you know, they
may need more time, time ,

Speaker 2 (23:13):
A big factor. They

Speaker 3 (23:15):
May , might not have access to a personal vehicle.
Uh, they might not be able toevacuate without access to
medicine, medical devices, andhealth services. Mm-Hmm.
, um, I wasactually reading just last
night , uh, an article about itwas called BC's Climate
Adaptation DIS DisabilityCrisis. And , uh, this isn't

(23:38):
down syndrome specific, but ,uh, across disabilities. But it
said , uh, when the heat domecame, there was no plan to
distribute air conditioning topeople whose medical conditions
make them heat sensitive. Therewas no plan to, to transport
those with mobility limitationsto cooling centers, nor any
teams deployed to bringbatteries to the homes of those

(24:00):
whose power was cut later inthe year. There was no plan to
fly in life sustaining medicalcare when the floods caused a
month long interruption totransportation networks.
Highways in the province werein shambles, rendering rural
dialysis patients unable tomake it to their appointments.
People who need specializeddiets to keep medical symptoms

(24:21):
at bay came nightmarishly closeto running out of ingredients
when their grocery store , uh,store shelves were left empty
for weeks. One mom couldn'torder her daughter's specialty
food products for more than twomonths. So those are just a
sample of, of mm-Hmm .
, sort of thehealth and safety impacts that
can impact people withdisabilities. Mm-Hmm .

(24:43):
. Um, beyond that, uh, the , the , the next
category is social impacts. Andto be honest, this is probably
the one that keeps me up at night the most.
Mm-Hmm . . Um, wethink about climate change, and
we think, okay, yeah. It's,it's gonna be hotter, there's
gonna be more extreme weather,but we tend not to think , uh,

(25:05):
as much about how that's gonnaaffect the world economically
and socially. Mm-Hmm.
, um, thescientists are telling us that
this is going to lead to a widerange of social problems,
including economic upheaval,food and water supply problems,
the spread of disease, and ,uh, fraying social nets and

(25:27):
strain on healthcare . Andagain, all of these problems
are things that have adisproportionately large impact
on people with disability. Um,I think especially about like
social safety nets, I know how,how much my own family relies
on Mm-Hmm . social systems that are around
to support us. Um, and, andit's not easy even today to get

(25:52):
the supports that we need,whether it's therapy for our
children or income support foradults. Um, and then I read
about what the economic impactof climate change is likely to
be. Um, there , there's a , astudy that came out recently
that , uh, talks about 2050,which sounds like a long way

(26:13):
off, but, you know, my daughterBecca's gonna be 45 years old
in 2050. That's Mm-Hmm .
, that's not thatold . Mm-Hmm.
. Mm-Hmm .
. And the studysays that the impacts of
climate change are likely toreduce global GDP by 20 to 25%
by that time when she is 45. SoI'm thinking, well, if it's

(26:35):
hard to get adequate governmentsupport now Yeah. How much
harder is it gonna be if globalincome is slashed by a quarter?
Mm-Hmm . , and Ithink of the healthcare system
as well. Um, last month , um,hurricane Barrel came through ,
uh, and hit , uh, Houston inparticular. And , um, they had

(26:57):
the , um, the hurricane , uh,which caused major flooding and
damage, and then that wasfollowed right away by an
extreme heat wave. And then thepower demands of everyone
trying to cool themselvescaused power to large parts of
the city to go down for, like,for some people for weeks. And

(27:18):
, um, the doctors thereactually said that that period
of time their, their healthcaresystem was stretched beyond
even the worst days of covid .
And we all remember what thatwas like. Yeah . And home . And
with people with disabilitiesand down syndrome, having a , a
higher reliance on, onhealthcare system, that's,

(27:40):
that's a major concern as , aswe look ahead. Um, and then the
other category I wanted totouch on is what I call
transition impacts, which deals, um, basically with the
effects of the changes societyis making to cope with climate
change. Mm-Hmm . , which are good and necessary

(28:01):
changes, but they also bringimpacts on people with
disabilities. Um, the changescan be made in , in such a way
that they either benefit peoplewith disabilities or in , in a
way that they don't. And , um,uh, I've got a quote here from
Valerie Novak and Daphne Frys .

(28:21):
They, they write that ableismis built into our systems and
practices without buildingtogether with people with
disabilities. Many solutionswill uphold exclusion and
ableism. Um, and I, I now knowa lot of people in, in the ,
uh, the, the climate space.
Mm-Hmm. . Andthey're very compassionate,

(28:44):
supportive, progressive people.
Mm-Hmm. , theyall have the very best of
intentions to includemarginalized people and make
sure that no one's left behind.
But the reality is that if youdon't have the lived
experience, you don't even knowwhat the problems are. Yeah,
exactly. Yeah. Like, I've beenreading about things like , um,

(29:08):
bike lanes, which I've alwaysthought of as a , a positive
solution, but how they candecrease access. Mm-Hmm .
to transitservices. Mm-Hmm .
for people withdisabilities. I've read about ,
um, the plastic straw ban.
Mm-Hmm. and allof the impacts that can , um,
have on people who reallydepend on straws for being able

(29:32):
to take in Yeah . The nutrientsthat they need . Mm-Hmm .
. Mm-Hmm.
. And I'm someonewho's coming from a disability
perspective, trying to think ofthings like that. And still
those things never occurred tome. 'cause those are outside of
my specific disability. Yeah .

Speaker 2 (29:50):
Mm-Hmm .
experience.
Right. Right. Yeah .

Speaker 3 (29:51):
So that just kind of shows how we need the people
with disabilities to havetheir, their

Speaker 2 (29:58):
Voice . Yeah . They need to be at the table for
sure. Yeah. Mm-Hmm.
what are, so kindof, now that we kind of have a,
a good overview of the problem,what are some examples of
solutions that are beneficialto both the disability
community and the climate?

Speaker 3 (30:18):
Yeah. Um, and that's, that's really where I'm
, um, focusing my efforts.
Mm-Hmm. , we'regonna talk a a little bit about
my position at DS R and , andhow it plays into it. But for a
long time, I was just tryingto, I , I felt a strong need to
do something , but Ihad no idea what to do. Mm-Hmm

(30:41):
. , uh, until Irealized that , um, I , I
already have vulnerable peoplein my family. I have vulnerable
people at work. And so probablythe best use of my efforts is
to focus on solutions thatspecifically benefits the

(31:01):
people that are already in mylife. Mm-Hmm. .
Um, and so I , I talked aboutthe health and safety, social
and transition impacts. Uh ,but each of those areas , um,
are not just challenges. Theyalso present opportunities.
Mm-Hmm . .

Speaker 2 (31:18):
Mm-Hmm .
for people . Ithink there's a , with
disabilities, I think there's a, there's a going wisdom that
says the problem outlines thesolution. Mm-Hmm . Right. And
that if you can really clearlydefine what the problem is,
you're, you're very close tosolutions. Yeah . Defining and
understanding it. Yeah. Mm-Hmm.
,

Speaker 3 (31:33):
It's really good.
Mm-Hmm . . Yeah.
So I'm very focused on, ontrying to find intersectional
solutions, actions that we cantake that are a win-win for
both the climate andspecifically for people with
down syndrome. Mm-Hmm.
. So , uh, someof the things that I'm looking
at in that are inclusiveemergency planning. Mm-Hmm.

(31:54):
trying to makesure that people with
disabilities are notafterthoughts. Mm-Hmm .
. Mm-Hmm .
when , uh, thepowers that beer are planning
for Yeah .

Speaker 2 (32:04):
Making those

Speaker 3 (32:04):
Decisions. Yeah .
Events that Mm-Hmm . That weknow are coming. Um, there's a
lot of talk , uh, today aboutthe right to cooling. Right .
Uh , there's, even, there'sstuff going on in terms of
like, should landlords berequired to, you know, have air
condition , have

Speaker 2 (32:20):
An allow Yep .
Tenant

Speaker 3 (32:21):
And stuff like that.
Mm-Hmm . .
Mm-Hmm. . Um, andto me, people with disabilities
are an obvious place to startwith that, because we already
know they're at higher. Mm-Hmm. risk for , um,
um, overheating. Mm-Hmm.
.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
And they're very likely to be renting. Yeah .
Right. Exactly . There's manypieces. Yeah . There. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (32:38):
Mm-Hmm.
. And so there's,there's a piece of technology
called a heat pump. Mm-Hmm.
, which is kindof a bit of a miracle
technology. Mm-Hmm .
. Um, despite thename heat pump, it actually ,
uh, it works , um, for bothheating and cooling Mm-Hmm .
And it's all electric and muchfriendlier for the environment
than either gas heating or airconditioning. So , um, there's,

(33:01):
there's various movementsaround , um, improving access
to heat pumps for everyone.
Mm-Hmm . . But tome, an easy , a great place to
start would be to provide heatpumps for people with
disabilities. Mm-Hmm.
. Um, another bigone is transit. Mm-Hmm .
, um, transit isdefinitely going to play a key

(33:23):
role in, in the transition ,um, to , uh, decrease the
number of polluting vehicles onthe road. Mm-Hmm.
. Um, and ofcourse, we know , um, transit
plays a big role in the livesof many of our people, of down
. Oh , absolutely. Many of ourstudents take transit to get
here to DSRF and in their dailylife . So anything that can be

(33:45):
done in terms of expanding,improving and , and greening
transit is something thatbenefits both the climate and
the Down syndrome community.
And then , um, economically,there's, there's a lot of talk
about transitioning to a greeneconomy and what does that
mean, and sort of the jobopportunities that it's gonna

(34:06):
create. And , um, I think it'simportant that , uh, people
with Down syndrome anddisabilities be included in
that as well. Um, there's,there's a movement , um, for
what's called the Youth ClimateCore , um, which has actually
already been established in theUS . And , um, now there's

(34:28):
efforts to have, have somethingsimilar started in, actually,
there's a BC movement and aCanadian movement. Um, but the
basic idea of the Youth ClimateCorps is , um, a huge
government investment thatwould , um, allow any , uh,
young person under the age of35 to be employed for up to two

(34:50):
years , um, in the area ofclimate adaptation and
medication projects. Nice . And, um, I was actually on a call
with , um, mps , um, that areleading the charge on this in
the House of Commons, and I hadthe chance to ask them a
question. Mm-Hmm .
. And I asked,will the Youth Climate Core

(35:11):
include jobs that areappropriate for people with
Down syndrome? And they said,yes. The intention is that
every Canadian person under theage of 35, who wants to, to use
their skills and spend a coupleof years of their life
contributing to this effort ,uh, should be able to be a part
of it. So, Mm-Hmm.
, um, just tryingto , uh, keep the heat on in

(35:34):
that regards and Yeah. And makesure that it actually happens.
'cause it would be incredibleif it would, some of our high
school graduates with DownSyndrome could, you know, get
paid a proper wage for twoyears to, whether it's, you
know, cleaning up places thatneed to be cleaned up or,
Mm-Hmm . , Imean, there's just so many ways
they contribute to Mm-Hmm .
raising awarenessof the problem even Mm-Hmm .

(35:57):
. Um, and thatwould give them, you know,
skills and experience thatcould then lead to, to other
employment and experiences inthe future. So, Mm-Hmm . Yeah.
Those are a few of the sort ofsolutions that I've sort of
identified as beingparticularly relevant to Mm-Hmm
. , the DownSyndrome community. Mm-Hmm.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
. And it seems like there is a need,
which I think is, it's auniversal need, but it's even
more evident for this group ,um, for things like better
prediction of weather events,because one of the biggest
factors that I see always istime. Mm-Hmm. .
And people with Down syndrome,any family will tell you that
person needs more time to getthrough their routines. It can

(36:39):
sometimes be aggravating forfamily members, but time is, is
needed. And so there's, thereis need for more , uh, lag time
or more preparation time. Yeah. Problem warning of systems ,
early warning systems, thingslike that. Um, yeah. I ,
there's, there's so much to do.

Speaker 3 (37:00):
Yeah. We've, we've often joked in the past that
like, if her house burned downand not even in a climate
context, we started a firesomehow, like Becca, there is
no way to put urgency into her.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (37:17):
The house could be burning down around her.
Mm-Hmm. . And ifshe's not ready to move, she's
not moving. Mm-Hmm.
. Yeah . Soanything we can do to sort of ,
yeah. Give families more timeand Mm-Hmm. , and
they also need, need to putmore thought into the
preparation Mm-Hmm.
. Like , theycan't just grab their keys and
wallet and run.

Speaker 2 (37:38):
And , and a lot of the current way that things are
uses that they're like, beready to go within 10 minutes
of us telling you. Well, thatis not practical. Yeah. For
many people. Yeah. Yeah. And Ithink this is a great
opportunity for those OTs andSLPs and therapists and
teachers also listening outthere of incorporating some of
this kind of education for our,for our population as well.

(38:00):
Because a lot of the times, youknow, these are some of the
things that they may not haveeven thought about. Right. They
might have opinions on it. Andyou alluded to earlier about,
you know , um, consideringtheir lived experiences and
what they are concerned about.
So I would kind of like to justpivot a little bit to that.
Like, can you talk a little bitabout the importance of

(38:23):
disabled wisdom in addressingthe climate crisis? And maybe
even just a little bit about ,um, advocacy opportunities
similar to kind of what we'vedone at DSRF with some of our
adults about climate change and

Speaker 3 (38:37):
Yeah. Yeah. This is one of my favorite things to
talk about. Um, 'cause we don'toften think about the unique
wisdom of people withdisabilities. And I mean,
people with disabilities have,have wisdom to bring to every
aspect of life. Mm-Hmm.
. But I think theclimate change issue is one

(38:58):
where they have a particularrole to play. Um, Greta
Thunberg, who of course is oneof the most famous climate
activists , um, has autismMm-Hmm. . And
she's referred to her autism asa superpower that has enabled
her to grasp the seriousness ofthe situation and the level of

(39:18):
change that needs to happen toaddress it. Uh , and I think
there's, there's absolutelysomething to that. Um, I'm
gonna hit you with a longquote, because I , I , I can't
say it better than this. Um, Imentioned Georgetown
University. They ha they have apublic archive project on

(39:38):
disability and climate change.
It's basically a place wherethey collect , um, stories of,
of how climate is impactingpeople with disabilities. And
then as part of that, they havethis plain language guide to ,
uh, climate change. And Iwanted to read an excerpt from
that about , um, the , thetalks about , um, the, the

(40:03):
wisdom that people with , uh,disabilities have Mm-Hmm .
with respect tothis issue. So it says , uh,
disabled people live in a worldthat wasn't built for us. We
face discrimination every dayin lots of different ways. We
deal with buildings that arenot accessible or that hurt our
bodies to use. We deal with notgetting the services and
support we need to live ourdaily lives. We deal with

(40:26):
people who won't help uscommunicate in the ways that
work for us. We deal withpublic tra transportation that
is not accessible or thatdoesn't get to us, or doesn't
get us where we need to go. Butthese problems get even worse
during natural disasters.
That's why disabled peopleunderstand better than anyone
how dangerous climate changecan be. We have to think about

(40:48):
and prepare for an emergency inways that non-disabled people
don't. Non-disabled peoplethink the world will always be
accessible for them. They takeaccess for granted, but climate
change makes things lessaccessible for everyone. Mm-Hmm
. Disabled people know how tomake the world more accessible.
We already know how to live ina world that wasn't built for

(41:09):
us. That's why people shouldtake our advice when they think
about climate change. Asdisabled people. We take care
of each other. We show eachother that our lives have
value, even when others hurt usor discriminate. We are finding
new ways to live together thatcan work for all of us. We know
we need to make choices toprotect and care for the earth.

(41:29):
We know we can work together tohelp each other in the world.
We believe we can make a worldwhere we were all meant to
survive. So, yeah. I just, I'veread that quote so many times.
Yeah. Um, because I, I think itspeaks to why I decided to sort

(41:50):
of take on this work. I'mmm-Hmm . . And ,
uh, yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:57):
Yeah. That's, that's good. It's good to sit with
that quote for a bit and reallyreflect on, on that and how I,
I , the , the part that Iespecially kind of connected to
was that during climateemergencies , like everything
is going , it's going to affecteverybody. It's everything is
going to be inaccessible foreveryone, not just for one
particular group. So we ,there's this like, this like

(42:19):
community feeling that we are,I mean, it sounds cliche, but
we are all in it together. ButI think we think of it in , in
such like, isolated silosituations, or we're just like,
well, we're gonna make surethat we're taken care of, and
then everyone else could , like, we can't think , think of
everybody. We can't take careof everybody. And I think in
this situation, our, our , um,our reflections have to think

(42:42):
about that really and lookinwardly and be like, it is
going to affect everybody. So ,Mm-Hmm. . Yeah.
Um, you and , uh, at , at theDSF recently, you took a , the
step of actually addingsustainability to your job
title. Um, I suspect this is aquite unique position amongst
disability organizations. Um,why did you feel this was

(43:06):
necessary and what do you hopeto accomplish with the role?

Speaker 3 (43:11):
Yeah. So, well, in the wider corporate world , uh,
organizations of all kinds arestarting to recognize the
importance of this issue and,and the role they have to play
in it. Mm-Hmm. and sustainability or
sustainability officer is kindof becoming a more common job
title in sort of the for-profitworld. Mm-Hmm. .

(43:32):
Uh , but like you said, I ,it's, it's pretty unique in the
non-profit world. And , uh,pretty unique, I would think in
the disability sectorspecifically. Kind of seems
like a luxury that we can't,can't really afford to Yeah. To
have someone in that position.
Um, but I think it's just asimportant in our sector as it
is in any other, especiallyconsidering the extra

(43:54):
vulnerability of our people.
Um, so as I began to, to thinkabout these issues, and really,
I would say I had at least likethree years of thinking about
how disability affects peoplewith down, or sorry, how
climate change affects peoplewith down syndrome disability,

(44:16):
and like, what could I do aboutit? Mm-Hmm. . Um,
and I , I spent , um, much ofthat time trying to locate
others in the disabilitycommunity that were working on
this issue. And I reallycouldn't find much. Um , but
the more I thought about it,the , the more I realized that

(44:38):
I really was perfectlypositioned to make a difference
where I was , um, working withthe people that I work with.
Um, and fortunately for me ,uh, DSRF leadership was , um,
very supportive of me sort ofbringing this element into my
work. Um, and, you know, it, itreally hasn't cost the

(44:59):
organization anything. I sortof fit it into the , uh, the
margins of my job and even inmy spare time . So , um, yeah.
So it was , um, once I kind offigured out what needed to be
done , uh, the transition waspretty easy. Um,

Speaker 2 (45:15):
Can you give some examples of Yeah. What has,
what has, I mean, we know, butpeople listening don't know. So
what has happened since you'vehad this role here? Like Sure .
For people in otherorganizations who are like,
maybe we should do that, theywould love to know probably
what small intention it haslooked like here . Yeah , sure.
And how easy it is to , to getgoing. 'cause we've implemented
small things here that arestarting us on that journey.

(45:37):
But yeah. We should say itappears to be easy because you
just tell us and we do things, but it might have been
very hard. We'll have to hearabout it easy. Also easy in the
sense that it's not reallymaking a radical shift being
like, oh, man, my job is hardernow. It's like, oh, I should
have been doing this all along.
I just never thought about it.
Right. So, yeah .

Speaker 3 (45:54):
So when, when they agreed to, to let me sort of
add this to my position , um,we sat down and sort of came up
with the mandate of Mm-Hmm .
, what that wouldentail. Mm-Hmm .
. And , uh, I have a basicallya three part mandate. So the
first is sort of what you'vebeen talking about in terms of
leading and developing dsfs ,uh, sustainability strategy.

(46:17):
Mm-Hmm. ,including identifying
opportunities , um, to improvethe sustainability of dsfs
operations. And I mean, to behonest, like we're a service
organization. We're not likemanufacturing products and
creating waste. And

Speaker 2 (46:34):
That's what you think. I'm making visuals up
here. Like, no , nobody so much. We use so much laminating
pouches . You I'm kidding .

Speaker 3 (46:39):
It's true. I

Speaker 2 (46:40):
Mean , and one of the things you implemented has
actually helped that out a lottoo, though . Yeah . I'll let
you answer that,

Speaker 3 (46:45):
But yeah . Yeah . So , um, so that to say like, we
don't have to make, likeradical changes. Mm-Hmm.
, uh, but so farwe've done things like
instituting soft plasticrecycling, which plays in tear
lamination. Mm-Hmm .

Speaker 2 (47:01):
.

Speaker 3 (47:02):
Um, I'm working through , uh, an office
checklist that's , um, providedby Green bc Mm-Hmm .
, you canactually get like certified as
like a green business and stuffif you hit a certain number of
things on their list. So I'm,I'm sort of working our way
through that and , and checkingoff things and they're little

(47:23):
things. Mm-Hmm . . Yeah . Like each one just
seems so little, but they doadd up. Um, probably in Ds F's
case , um, the biggest impactwe could make would be to
eliminate gas from our heatingsystem. Mm-Hmm. .
And fortunately , maybeour , um, our HVAC system is

(47:44):
actually due for a massiveoverhaul. Mm-Hmm .
. Um, so I don'twanna put the part before the
horse, but , um, the governmenthas major, major rebates, like
to the tune of a hundredthousand dollars for getting
your building off gas. So ,Mm-Hmm . Uh , since we were
already gonna be redoing theHVAC system, we're , we're

(48:05):
looking into whether that wouldbe a possibility for us. Mm-Hmm
. . Mm-Hmm .
. Um, and eventhings like, we have our annual
runup for Down syndrome, and upuntil now we've always , um,
every participant gets aT-shirt. And so glad we don't
do that anymore . Yeah . Andevery year it's like a
different color . And now theyhave 15 Yeah . Different runup
down T-shirts. Mm-Hmm .

(48:26):
. So this year wedecided to , uh, encourage
people to reuse their shirtfrom last year. Mm-Hmm .
if they want anew shirt or they haven't been
before, they can get a shirt.
But , um, this year we cut downour shirt order by 500 shirts,
so Wow . That, that was anothernice little win. Um, so that's
the first part is looking atDSRF sustainability. Uh,

(48:50):
secondly, and , um, I guess whyI'm doing this podcast is , uh,
to educate , um, our staff, ourclients, and our families, and
the broader down syndromecommunity about the risks , uh,
of climate change , uh, thatare specific to people with
intellectual and developmentaldisabilities. Mm-Hmm .
. Um, so thispodcast is part of that. And I

(49:14):
am , um, in the midst ofwriting a webinar that I want
to present next year on EarthDay, and also the Canadian Down
Syndrome Society emailed methis morning and asked if I
would speak on this issue tothe Canadian Down Syndrome
Collaborative, which is , um,people , uh, representatives of

(49:36):
, uh, down syndromeorganizations from across
Canada. So , mm-Hmm.
quite excitedabout that. Mm-Hmm.
. Um, and thenthe third element is to lead
and develop dsfs advocacyefforts to ensure those with
Down syndrome are representedin climate planning and policy
development. Mm-Hmm.
.
So that's where the , the workI'm doing in terms of working

(49:58):
on heat pumps for people withdisabilities and , um, the
Youth Climate Core jobs forpeople with Down Syndrome. So
everything I'm doing is veryspecifically targeted to people
with Down syndrome. Mm-Hmm .
, the SRF isn'tjust paying me to do general
climate activism, it'sspecifically to ensure that

(50:20):
Down Syndrome voices are heard.
Yeah. I , I'm starting, I ,I've only been doing this for
six months, so lots ofideas that haven't happened
yet, but Yeah .

Speaker 2 (50:30):
But you've gotten a lot of accomplished already in
six months.

Speaker 3 (50:32):
Pretty good . But I , I'm starting to think of how
to pull actual people with Downsyndrome. Mm-Hmm .
into it. Mm-Hmm.
. So it's notjust me doing things on their
behalf Mm-Hmm . what I think they need. Even
though, you know, as a parent,I, I have pretty good
understanding. Yeah. Mm-Hmm .
, but it's stillnot the same as someone
speaking for themselves, so.

Speaker 2 (50:50):
Right. And we have had some, we've had, like the
DSF does have a , uh, a groupprogram, advocacy program
called Speaking Out, and you'vedone like a video on the
Impacts of Heat . And we dohave quite a few students that
are interested in this topic.
So, you know, it , it's notthat it's something that we're
like, you know, forcing them todo or trying to get them to
come in and try it, but thereare quite a few that have shown

(51:13):
interest in this area. So it'sjust like, how do we use that
and help them be a part of the,of the solution? Yeah.

Speaker 3 (51:20):
Um, because we have, we have DSRF ambassadors.
Mm-Hmm . that Iwork with , uh, in my
communications role. Mm-Hmm.
, which is thelion's share of what I do. Um,
and I work with them to sort ofrepresent DSRF. But for this
issue, I feel like it needs tobe people that are passionate

(51:42):
about this issue. Mm-Hmm . Notjust 'cause I'm saying, oh, can
you say this for us? Mm-Hmm .
Or whatever. Exactly. Yeah . Iwas actually introduced the
other day to a young lady namedNika . Mm-Hmm . .
Mm-Hmm . Assuming you both knowNika , we do Mm-Hmm.
. And sheactually did some environmental
studies , um, yeah ,

Speaker 2 (51:59):
She did ,

Speaker 3 (52:00):
Um , after high school, I think. Mm-Hmm .
and , um, . She even , uh, um, after the
pandemic when all our studentswere on , uh, zoom therapy ,
um, most of them came backwhen, when they could, but ,
uh, she told her therapist, no,I wanna stay on virtual because
it's more environmentallyfriendly

Speaker 2 (52:21):
for me to not have to drive to do , drive
up to my , yeah . Mm-Hmm.

Speaker 3 (52:24):
. Yeah . So I was introduced to her ,
uh, last week and she's veryinterested in Mm-Hmm .
getting involvedin some of this stuff. So
that's what's exciting me rightnow, is just , uh, the
opportunity to, if, if I cancreate a way for people like
Nika to have her voice heard.

(52:44):
Yeah . That's what I want todo. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (52:46):
And as people are listening to this episode,
what's the one thing you mostwant people in the Down
syndrome community tounderstand about the climate
crisis?

Speaker 3 (52:57):
Um, I guess the one thing to understand would just
be that this is actuallyhappening. . Mm-Hmm .
,

Speaker 2 (53:04):
It's real.

Speaker 3 (53:05):
It's going to significantly impact the daily
life of our loved ones withDown Syndrome. Um, by the time
today's children are adults andnot even old adults, early
adulthood, mid adulthood.
Mm-Hmm. , this isgonna be impacting their lives
to a very significant degree.

(53:26):
And I feel kind of bad putting another issue in
people's laps. In fact, my ownwife Mm-Hmm .
often says, don't we haveenough problems already? Yeah.
But the fact is that this iscoming and if we don't make our
voices heard, they're not gonnabe heard. And in 20 years we're

(53:50):
gonna be wishing we had Mm-Hmm. . Mm-Hmm .
. And I knowparents of of kids with Down
syndrome are stretched to themax mm-Hmm . ,
they're already advocating forservices. They're advocating
even just for respect anddignity. Mm-Hmm.

(54:10):
. Um, and they don't have timeto Yeah . Add more

Speaker 2 (54:17):
To it the bandwidth.

Speaker 3 (54:18):
Yeah. I think it's more important just to be even
just thinking of it Mm-Hmm.
and realizingwhen we're planning for our
children's future, that it'sprobably not gonna look the
same as things look right now.
Mm-Hmm. andthinking through the
consequences of that and Yeah .
Mm-Hmm.

Speaker 2 (54:35):
. And if we think of all of the
things that are going to behappening and need to happen as
a sort of terrain, we want tobe on that train before it's
moving so fast we can't catchit. Yeah. Right. We wanna make
sure that people withdisabilities are on from the
beginning Yeah . And consideredin every aspect moving forward
before the urgency is so highthat Yeah . Nobody's stopping

(54:57):
for them. Right. Yeah. And Ithink listening to this episode
is a good first step, right?
Oh, absolutely. Like when ingjump in with two feet , get all
go all the way in. I mean, ifyou want to, that's great.
Glen will be very happyabout that, as we would all,
but you know, it, it always ,it is , it sounds, you know,
hokey, but it always starts offwith a small step. There are
little things that you canalready do after listening to

(55:19):
this episode and be like, okay,let me see, you know, what,
what is my contribution?
Because I know anytime anymassive change needs to happen
in any sector of our lives,we're always like, you have to
start off small. So asoverwhelming as the idea and as
as anxiety provoking as it maysound, because it is a very
scary situation that we're in ,um, there are things that we

(55:40):
can do. So my question to you,Glenn , is what gives you hope
in, in a situation like this?

Speaker 3 (55:46):
Hmm . Um, I mean, it probably comes back to the
disabled wisdom that we talkedabout. Mm-Hmm . ,
uh, because the disabilitycommunity really does have a
lot of very harder knowledgeabout how to be adaptable.
Mm-Hmm . . Um,and that's gonna be
increasingly needed, I think,by all of us. Mm-Hmm.

(56:08):
. Um, I mentionedwhen I first started exploring
the connections between climateand disability, there was
hardly any information. Like Ifound a handful of articles,
didn't really find any groupsthat were doing anything,
didn't find any individuals whoare sort of devoted to this. I
was looking everywhere and kindof coming up empty. But now

(56:30):
even just, I would say in thepast year , uh, I'm starting to
see a lot more , um, there'swebsites and there's entire
podcasts devoted to disabilityand climate change. Mm-Hmm .
Stability and climate change .
There's books, there's videosof people sharing their stories
and sort of claiming their seatat the table. And so I would

(56:51):
say my hope is that more peoplein the Down syndrome community
will add their voices to thisbecause we're more than just of
vulnerable community. Mm-Hmm .
. We actuallyhave a lot to offer. Mm-Hmm .
when it comes tosolutions. Yeah .

Speaker 2 (57:04):
Mm-Hmm . Yeah .
Absolutely. Um, and for ourlisteners out there, you
mentioned quite a few gritresources already, and we will
have them linked in our shownotes. Um, but anything else
you'd like to add? Ifsomebody's thinking like, you
know what, I'm gonna look intothis a little bit more, but in
small chunks Sure . What wouldyou suggest? Where do you
suggest they would go for that?

Speaker 3 (57:26):
Yeah, so , um, the DSRF website , um, I'm starting
to develop a little corner ofthe website that , um,
has , um, resources , uh,several of them produced by us,
but also links to externalresources. Mm-Hmm .
. Uh , but likeyou said, we'll also put these
on the, on the show notes page.

(57:46):
Mm-Hmm . , um,I'm just finishing a really
good book right now calledDisabled Ecologies by Sonara
Taylor. Mm-Hmm. .
It's very academic. It's not aneasy read, but it's basically ,
um, it's about , uh, how theroot causes of , um, in many

(58:09):
cases of actual disability, butespecially , um, the way our,
our system has failed. Peoplewith disabilities are the same
root causes as the climatecrisis and draws parallels
between people withdisabilities and what she calls
our disabled ecology, the, theharms that are being done to

(58:32):
the earth. So if you're in themood for sort of a more
philosophical academic take onit. Mm-Hmm. ,
that's a great book. Mm-Hmm.
. Um, yeah, Iwould definitely check out the,
the Public Archive project thatI mentioned from Georgetown
University. Uh, there's apodcast called the Enabling PO
Commons podcast, which is allabout climate change from a

(58:55):
disabled perspective. And also, um, just last month, the BC
Disability Alliance put out thelatest issue of their magazine
and , uh, magazine is calledTransition. And they devoted
their entire last issue to ,um, disability in climate
change. Climate change. Okay ,great. So we'll have links for

(59:16):
all those. Amazing.

Speaker 2 (59:17):
Mm-Hmm, . Awesome. Well
thank you so much Clin forhaving this discussion with us.
I think it's a very importanttopic and like I said at the
top of the episode, it's notsomething that we often equate
to like, you know, our jobs andto the down center population.
'cause like you said, there'sso many other things in the DS
community and for families thathave loved ones with Down

(59:38):
syndrome that they have tocontend with. But this is an
equally important issue thatthat should be, that should be
considered. So we reallyappreciate you coming in and
giving us a good education onthe topic. I know I've learned
quite a lot , um, but alsohelping our listeners
understand a little bit more.
So thank you. Appreciate

Speaker 4 (59:56):
It.

Speaker 2 (59:57):
Thank you both.
Thanks for doing .