{"id":338572,"date":"2025-03-18T08:00:10","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T12:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/?p=338572"},"modified":"2025-03-17T21:57:17","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T01:57:17","slug":"nothing-about-us-without-us-disability-and-climate-justice-in-dominica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/homepage-carousel\/nothing-about-us-without-us-disability-and-climate-justice-in-dominica\/","title":{"rendered":"Nothing about us without us: disability and climate justice in Dominica"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Dominica Association of People with Disabilities (DAPD)members<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Disaster Strikes Twice<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Hurricane Maria devastated our island in 2017, it exposed a harsh reality \u2013 people with disabilities (PWD) faced not one, but two disasters. While the rest of us faced the hurricane’s fury, people with disabilities encountered an additional crisis:\u00a0emergency systems fundamentally unprepared to meet their needs.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The evidence was stark: inaccessible evacuation routes, emergency shelters lacking basic accessibility features, warning systems that didn’t reach everyone, and relief efforts that unintentionally excluded those with mobility, sensory, or cognitive disabilities.<\/p>\n


\n\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Champions of Change<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019re now in 2025, and the Dominica Association of People with Disabilities (DAPD) stands at the forefront of addressing these critical intersection points between disability and\u00a0climate<\/span>\u00a0disaster.<\/p>\n

This organisation has been pioneering\u00a0inclusive disaster preparedness workshops, advocating for accessible shelter design, and facilitating training in disability awareness.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Their motto \u2013 “Nothing about us, without us” \u2013 emphasises the critical importance of including people with disabilities in all\u00a0climate<\/span> adaptation planning.<\/p>\n

Earnica Espirit, Executive Director of the DAPD, notes promising developments. PWDs have increasingly been included in consultations and policymaking processes, and there is growing awareness among authorities about their specific needs during\u00a0climate<\/span>\u00a0disasters.<\/p>\n

The DAPD\u2019s work extends beyond emergency response to the foundations of community understanding. Their advocacy reaches into classrooms, starting as early as preschool, to build awareness about disability challenges and foster compassion from a young age.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Regarding Dominica’s ambitious goal to become the world’s first\u00a0climate<\/span>-resilient nation, Espirit’s perspective is profoundly simple yet powerful:\u00a0“Climate<\/span>\u00a0resilience is people.”<\/em><\/p>\n

This concise statement encapsulates a fundamental truth \u2013 true resilience must include everyone, especially the most vulnerable.<\/p>\n

The story revealed both significant challenges and reasons for hope. Through my fellowship, I\u2019ve gained a deeper understanding of how\u00a0climate<\/span>\u00a0justice must include disability justice.\u00a0As extreme weather events intensify across our region, ensuring no one is left behind isn\u2019t just sound policy \u2013 it\u2019s a moral imperative.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0Check out the story I worked on together with fellowship colleague, Giovanni Dennis, of Jamaica.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"Whitney [M\u00e9linard] is an Indigenous youth from the Kalinago Territory in Dominica. Motivated by a desire to address social and environmental challenges in her community, she founded the Kalinago Ripple Effect Initiative to advocate for Indigenous perspectives and policy change.<\/em><\/p>\n

As CEO and Communication Lead of Kopounoule Inc., a youth-led NGO, she champions environmental sustainability and supports vulnerable groups in Dominica. With a BSc in International Relations and Sociology from the University of the West Indies, M\u00e9linard aspires to a career in policy and research, focusing on the intersection of climate and social justice. |\u00a0Instagram<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0LinkedIn<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0TikTok<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"  When Disaster Strikes Twice When Hurricane Maria devastated our island in 2017, it exposed a harsh reality \u2013 people with disabilities (PWD) faced not one, but two disasters. While the rest of us faced the hurricane’s fury, people with…","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":338574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[237,235,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-338572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-change","category-homepage-carousel","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNothing about us without us: disability and climate justice in Dominica - Dominica News Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/homepage-carousel\/nothing-about-us-without-us-disability-and-climate-justice-in-dominica\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nothing about us without us: disability and climate justice in Dominica - Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  When Disaster Strikes Twice When Hurricane Maria devastated our island in 2017, it exposed a harsh reality \u2013 people with disabilities (PWD) faced not one, but two disasters. 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