Disability and the Natural Environment – exploring new horizons.
The idea is to hold a meeting to explore whether there is a need for a separate group or body to represent disabled people who have an interest in wildlife and the environment.

What could a disability led environmental group do that existing environmental groups don’t do?
The proposed body would focus on the diverse needs and priorities of disabled people in a similar way that the Black Environment Network does for ethnic minorities. Thus the overall vision of that body could be to:
To encourage fuller representation and participation of disabled people in the natural environment and access to it.
And its aims:-

• To represent issues and concerns relating to disabled people’s participation in, access to,  and appreciation and awareness of, the natural environment
• To seek the means to address those issues and concerns in partnership with service providers
• To provide support and training to service providers and carers, facilitating access to the natural world
• To encourage research into the access needs, priorities and perceptions of disabled people, either as a general group or for specific impairments, in relation to wildlife and the countryside / green spaces, and environmental issues
• To participate in researching and promoting the health benefits of outdoor activity and contact with nature
• To provide a forum for disabled people to share experiences and ideas, and examples of good practice of gaining access to the natural environment
• To express the views of disabled people on contemporary environmental issues, such as climate change and environmental degradation, and to encourage engagement in debate, decision making and environmental action
• T o innovate and develop new ways of interpreting the natural environment thereby widening inclusion and offering a greater range of options to disabled people, including research projects

According to the Office of Disability Issues, 10 million people in the UK have a long term illness, impairment or disability, that is one in twenty children, one in seven working age adults and almost one in two people over state pension age.
Much as progress has been made in addressing access issues through such organisations as the Fieldfare Trust and the Sensory Trust, evidence suggests that little has been done to engage disabled groups in environmental issues and to identify their more specific needs. Thus the Ethnos Research Report What About Us? Challenging Perceptions: Under Represented Groups’ Visitors Needs (2005) states ‘if experiences of the countryside are to be satisfying and rewarding, attention must also be paid to the perceptions and preferences of people with disabilities. To our knowledge, there are no published British studies addressing such issues.’ They go on to say that disabled people lack information of places and activities suitable for specific impairments. ‘Since little promotional effort is made to reach out to them, there is a dearth of knowledge about what disabled people can do and where they can go in rural England.’ In the DEFRA sponsored Every Action Counts Diversity Report (Capacity Global 2009) the authors conclude that disabled people, 'are still being ignored in much environmental activity.’ They also underline that ‘the environmental sector is not seeing diversity and participation as important to environmental action while many social justice organisations still do not consider environmental issues as important to their work on social justice or equality.'

Any internet based research on the theme of disability and the natural environment and or wildlife will provide  minimal results, which could arguably, be because there is adequate provision from existing green organisations; unlikely given the conclusions in the above reports.  It is interesting to note that while there are 175 disability arts organisations listed on the Disability Arts Online Directory there are no dedicated disability nature conservation / wildlife organisations presently operating in the UK.

An exploratory meeting

The proposed meeting would bring together disabled people interested in the natural environment, service providers and representatives of nature conservation, environmental and interested third sector bodies. The meeting would be hosted and facilitated by Holton Lee and would use the World Cafe participative process to explore the issues in an informal manner. At the end of the process the main ideas will be summarised in a plenary session and follow-up possibilities discussed. This could either lead to a more formal developmental stage e.g. a working group or if deemed appropriate, no further action.