Enlarge image
Banned now: plastic straws
Photo: Marie Hickman / Stone RF / Getty Images
Somehow everyone is in favor of the environment and the climate, so I risk making myself unpopular from the start.
Because I'm one of those people who can't do without plastic straws.
These are the things that sea turtles, for example, painfully pull out of their noses.
Which belong to a type of garbage that decomposes slowly in water and whose microparticles poison the environment.
But they also belong to the so-called aids - just like glasses, crutches or my wheelchair.
To avoid misunderstandings: I am also worried about our overexploitation of the planet.
Of course, I am in favor of eco.
Only climate and environmental protection are best when they are "inclusive".
What is the point of this unapproachable word, you may ask - sounds like fuss, awkward, incomprehensible.
In fact, it means here to fight together against the climate catastrophe and also to include the perspectives and concerns of disabled people.
To take effective measures instead of lapsing into unhelpful and often even harmful actionism.
And that brings us back to the straws.
Since July these, as well as single-use cutlery and cutlery, have been banned in the EU. Unfortunately, this well-intentioned actionism overlooks the fact that many disabled people are dependent on this assistance. For me, a straw is not a luxury, I am not interested in the perfect enjoyment while sipping cocktails. It's about getting liquids out of a container into my mouth. The following can be said in summary about the previous alternatives made of metal, paper or wood: They are not yet practical; they cannot be bent, they cause allergies, they do not dry out and often cause hygiene problems. So far, there is little in sight of any alleviation of these problems, and disabled people have an experience that is nothing new to them - they are either ignored or exploited. It shows once more:Environmental protection and the fight against climate change are also much less inclusive than some would like to believe.
Of course we have to take action against plastic waste. And I am sure that there will soon be a technical and environmentally friendly solution for drinking and eating aids. But it should not be forgotten that eating is a human right whose disabled people are increasingly being deprived of; if you can't order the coffee without a straw or if you can't wash your plate at home and have to use disposable crockery. Real environmental protection takes many perspectives, not just those of people who live without disabilities. After all, environmental protection shouldn't be a feel-good event for the privileged, is it?
So I try to imagine what priorities a new federal government could set. The Greens still have a good chance of participating in it, and with them parties that tend to hold back on nature conservation. So how will the "eco party" with the coal SPD, the auto CDU, the market FDP or the Left Party advance climate protection? My fear: Because people don't dare to tackle the big and important issues, the coalition parties could switch to less relevant issues that work in a similar way to the ban on plastic straws: The populism potential contained therein isn't modestly small, but the frightened group of voters small enough?
When it comes to protecting the environment, there is a risk that different communities will be played off against each other. Conservatives like to object to car-free city centers that they would be a blow to accessibility; It is they who exclude many disabled passengers in local public transport to this day and who insist on the fact that barrier-free space and individual mobility through, for example, barrier-free taxis are not a legally guaranteed right in Germany, but remain a voluntary and generously granted privilege. On the other hand, I don't know any wheelchair users who are against bike paths and protected bike lanes. Why should they
Nevertheless, the traffic turnaround is taking place with neglected areas for the needs of disabled citizens: Most e-charging stations are not usable for wheelchair users, and e-scooters and e-scooters lying around like beets are often criticized;
but remain an obstacle for wheelchair users, walkers or pushchairs.
The range of general ignorance could be expanded:
Many disabled people are dependent on the availability of pre-cut and packaged fruit and vegetables - but public, non-disabled pressure means that such purchase offers are becoming scarcer.
For the sake of the environment.
And whoever enjoys it anyway, gets some disapproving looks.
How often have I been accused of producing too much rubbish by ordering food from delivery services?
That's true, but my physical ability to prepare food is limited.
You can tell that as a wheelchair user I never intended to become a roofer.
Nevertheless, I continually and increasingly get skeptical looks when I ask for a straw in a pub: But the environment !?
Does he really need that?
Is he actually disabled enough for that?
Environmental protection concerns us all - but then we all have to be taken into account, and it should address the big problems: The high amount of CO₂ in the air from coal-fired electricity, gasoline cars and cruise ships;
all of this is bigger than straws and packaged food.
Incidentally, disabled people are affected by climate change in their own way. Disasters such as heat, fire and floods hit them harder because they are less able to react to what they can do. In Sinzig, twelve residents of a life support facility drowned in the flood because they were not evacuated in time. And in the USA people died because the power went out due to fire and floods - and with it the vital ventilators or air conditioning systems.
A Swedish study concluded that people with heart problems, lung diseases, diabetes or mental illnesses are at increased risk of death when the temperature rises. Not-So-Fun-Fact: The Zukunftskolleg of the University of Konstanz found out that the climate impacts for people with disabilities had not been researched enough and wanted to write an article about it, but the science magazine »Nature« declined - on the grounds that there was none Audience. The answer was harsh, but at least honest.
Unfortunately, the history of the environmental movement, mostly due to the lack of accessibility of the forms of action and the spaces, does not know too many disabled people who are involved or involved in it. This needs more activists with such experiences. People like Cécile Lecomte. They can enrich the perspectives and announce a basic problem in Germany: Non-disabled people are often deprived of their chance to live with disabled people, to work together and to fight together politically. It is also up to us disabled people to get involved more in the environmental movement and to demand space and accessibility. Completely independent of our topics, we don't have to talk about (our) disability all the time. Really not. We are also very well able toto have other interests and to represent them politically!
The animal welfare organization PETA reveals a particularly abstruse example of this distanced view. Entertainment, experimentation, or other purposes, and that animals deserve a consideration of their best interests, whether cute, useful to humans, represent an endangered species, or care for any human at all (such as a mentally handicapped person Has rights, even if he or she is not cute or useful and nobody likes him or her.) «.
Well, on the one hand it calms me down that neither food nor clothing should be made out of fellow human beings. The fact that more attention is paid here to the extent to which a person with so-called learning difficulties is "not cute" is alien to me. It's not cute. But after all, a few years ago PETA protested against milk consumption in the USA by posting a photo of a dairy dish, garnishing it with cereal placed in a sad smiley face and launching the slogan: »Got Autism? Studies have shown a link between cow's milk and autism ". So you acted as if autism were a preventable, eradicable and contagious disease for which you are also responsible. Greta Thunberg, who regards her autism as something positive, would not agree with this portrayal. And yes,these studies were of course completely baseless - in short: nonsense.
So environmental protection is not that easy.
Disabled people notice that the world around them is designed by people who hardly know a disability.
That they are structurally perceived as "less".
Just as the environmental movement in Germany has achieved important and necessary changes in politics, fought for it through pressure on the street, a disability rights movement with its allies must also become louder for their concerns - which are sometimes inclusive ecological.
It must work together with others for climate protection.
And keep an eye on a green + whatever government.
