Accessibility Anxiety and Eco/Climate Anxiety

The interaction of Accessibility Anxiety with Eco/Climate Anxiety triggers a Domino Effect of multiple-order negative consequences that disproportionately impact vulnerable communities, especially children, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities, given the sense of uncertainty and condition of helplessness.

Visual/Image Description [Alt Text]: On a white background, there’s a ‘Types of Headache’ meme template with the graphics of the following six brain imagery — 1. Hypertension (with red area in the lower back side of the brain), 2. Stress (with the red area in the back side of the brain), 3. Migraine (with the red area on the top front side of the brain in the forehead region), 4. Sinus (with the red area on the front side of the brain in the face region) and Accessibility Anxiety (with the red area covering the majority of the brain), and 6. Eco/Climate Anxiety (with the red area covering the whole of the brain). At the top corners are the logos of The Sangyan and Poornamidam along with the hashtags — #BuildForwardBetter, #UnitedInAction, and #WeAllBelong.

Accessibility Anxiety is a ‘heightened emotional, mental or somatic distress in response to partial or complete inaccessibility in the built environment, transportation system, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) system (products and services). Accessibility anxiety can lead to symptoms such as panic attacks, loss of appetite, irritability, weakness, depression, and sleeplessness, among other physical and mental health issues and consequences.

An illustration to explain the situation of accessibility anxiety is when an old adult woman with disability living in a multi-storey apartment, without a universally accessible built environment and non-inclusive emergency evacuation system in place, gets a panic attack before/during a high-intensity cyclone or fire scenario concerning her safety and security because of being physical dependent upon caregivers and/or others because of the lack of universal accessibility.

Similarly, in case of a fire situation, it’s a protocol to not use lifts but stairs which leaves vulnerable communities like persons with disabilities and old adults at heightened risk given their inability to use lifts and stairs, the lack of universal accessibility, their dependence upon caregivers and rescuers, and the lack of inclusive emergency evacuation mechanism.

As in the case of emergency, the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) state “Help Yourself Before You Help Others”. Similarly, when we fly on an aeroplane, the flight attendant instructs us to “put your oxygen mask on first,” before helping others”, which is an important rule for ensuring survival. Because if you run out of oxygen yourself, you can’t help anyone else with their oxygen mask. Such disasters and emergency situations put vulnerable communities at higher risk which when coupled with the lack of universal accessibility and inclusive evacuation strategy creates additional barriers.

Climate Anxiety is a ‘heightened emotional, mental or somatic distress in response to dangerous changes in the climate system’, but suggests that ‘paying heed to what is happening… is a healthier response than turning away in denial or disavowal’. Climate anxiety can lead to symptoms such as panic attacks, loss of appetite, irritability, weakness and sleeplessness.

Emergency Evacuation Plans must be Inclusive for vulnerable communities including children, pregnant women, old adults, and persons with disabilities because of their greater exposure, higher sensitivity, and lower ability to adapt.

Image Description: A poster containing one signage and two meme templates. On the left, the signage reads “In case of fire do not use lift” (in red) and “Use the stairs” (in green) on a white background along with graphics of the written message. On the top-right, there is a meme template of Shehnaaz Gill’s famous lines with text “Kya karu main mar jau” with “persons with disabilities” mentioned at the top to convey the feeling of persons with disabilities to the signage on the right-half of the collage. On the bottom-right, there is another meme template of Shehnaaz Gill’s famous lines with text “Meri Koi Evacuation Nahi Hai?” to convey persons with disabilities concerns about non-disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction mechanism in place that give them the feeling of being trapped.

In that respect, Universal Accessibility becomes a non-negotiable standard to ensure we realise the principle of ‘Leave No One Behind’ in letter and spirit before, during, and post-disaster. A non-inclusive disaster risk reduction is a major cause of disaster-related anxiety of being trapped and helplessness (like climate/eco-anxiety) affecting the mental health of vulnerable communities disproportionately. It’s time, we ‘Build Forward Better’!Note: The conditions illustrated in the meme template are just for representational purposes and may or may not be true in real scenarios.

Post in Collaboration: Poornamidam X The Sangyan

Authors —

Adv. Abhishek Kumar, Founder and Curator — The Sangyan and ‘Ink For Inclusion’ Initiative

Ar. Kavya Poornima Balajepalli, Founder and Curator — Poornamidam and IIH Warriors India

#BuildForwardBetter #WeAllBelong #UnitedInAction #EcoAnxiety #ClimateAnxiety #AccessibilityAnxiety #DominoEffect #LeaveNoOneBehind #NothingWithoutUs #GreenMeme #PurpleMeme #DisabilityMeme #ClimateMeme #EnvironmentMeme #ClimateChange #Disability #Accessibility #UniversalAccessibility #UniversalDesign #Anxiety #BhuleTohNahi #WhatsYourPlan #ThreatMultiplier #Disability