Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change on People with Disabilities - SUNY Buffalo, with the support of relevant stakeholders, will advance the state of the art in examining and addressing the impacts of climate change on people with disabilities. The goal of the proposed FIP is to engage end users and policy makers in studying two critical impacts of climate change—extreme weather events and emergency planning—by using and evaluating housing environments and emergency planning processes and documents. The objectives of this FIP are to address key knowledge gaps, utilize innovative research methodologies, and demonstrate the need for and value of end user-driven evidence-based solutions that can be rapidly implemented and adapted to a wide range of resilience planning applications. The projects build from successful prior work and identified needs, with attention to both high priority, near-term needs and long-term solutions. Desired outcomes are (1) innovative designs and policies that support individual and community resilience; and, (2) greater professional capacity in the domain of climate resilience across the built environment. Expected products of the FIP include new research findings and policy recommendations from (1) a field-based study on individual with disabilities’ adaptive behaviors when responding to extreme temperatures in their dwelling units to understand how these impact thermal comfort, physical symptoms, and satisfaction, (2) interviews with individuals with disabilities, transit agencies, and policy makers on their lived experiences during extreme weather events, and (3) interviews with policy makers and practitioners on how they engage individuals with disabilities in emergency planning. These products will be developed with ongoing and extensive input from disability stakeholders, climate resilience experts, and policy makers.
