Partnerships | Disability, Climate Change and Sustainable Development

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Critical Priorities in Disability and Development (CPDD)

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Overview

Integrating climate change into disability and development course was one of the components within the CPDD 2015 course in the Postgraduate Diploma in Disability studies (MG016 2015 DSP PG Dip) in the Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town. The inclusion of climate change in a disability studies programme was an innovation that occurred timeously with the release of the SDGs in the same month as the seminars were delivered. The development of the curriculum across faculties was a useful exercise in interdisciplinarity which served the purpose of developing a mutual understanding of disability within climate change and sustainable development. The notions of vulnerability and resilience within climate change resonate particularly well with disability studies as a discipline that is concerned with the impact of the environment as exacerbating or mitigating disability.

Therefore, this OER initiative introduces the three concepts Disability, Sustainable Development (linking Goals and Concepts) and the relevancy and impact of Climate Change. Furthermore, it is anticipated that the seminars will take place again in 2016 with a new cohort of students. Based on this second round of experience we would like to work together on an academic paper on considerations for disability with regard to climate change and sustainable development.