DJA Rural Disability and Climate Justice Package (Supported by Grist)

This package comes at a critical time as Disabled people try to wrangle the connections between Disability justice and climate justice. These articles are focused on the challenges being faced, the actions being taken to address them, and the longstanding issues facing Disabled people who want to live a more climate-focused life. We’ve honed in on the rural US because, as Disabled people have been forced into urban areas to access care, education, and other vital services, rural parts of the country have (often) fallen even further behind. Thank you for reading our work. If you have any feedback on this work, or you would like to donate so that we can create more of it, please send an email to cara.reedy@discojourno.com.

John Loeppky, package editor

This reporting was supported by a grant from the nonprofit media organization Grist.

In this piece, written by Ari Saperstein, Caroline Keane, and Kelli Finger, organizations working to include Disabled people in rural climate justice are put in the spotlight.

For this piece, journalist Shruti Rajkumar charts the history of accessible transit, known as paratransit in much of the world, zeroes in on the intricacies of how that system plays out in the rural US, and takes a thorough look at how a poor accessible transit system means a deeper and more dangerous impact on our climate.

In this piece, Sonali Gupta challenges the idea that disaster preparedness is readily accessible and highlights why that is a problem in our current moment. In talking with experts, those on the ground doing the work and researching the topic, Gupta paints a picture of an issue that is front and center for many Disabled people.

Sonali Gupta is an essayist, journalist, and audio producer. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from New York University and previously worked as an audio producer in Mumbai, where she lived for over a decade. Her writing focuses on health, disability, and culture, with work appearing in The New York Times — including a widely read essay on the pandemic — as well as Vogue and other publications. She’s based in New Jersey.

Ari Saperstein is the executive director of the Los Angeles Reporting Collective (LARC), a nonprofit supporting journalists. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Teen Vogue, Vox and The Wall Street Journal. As a public radio and audio producer, Ari’s worked at KPCC, This American Life, Serial and Pineapple Street Studios. He is the creator of Blind Landing, a critically acclaimed documentary podcast.

Caroline Keane studied Political Science and Political Economics in their undergraduate studies and went on to obtain a Master’s Degree in Journalism. Their areas of interest include the environment, mass incarceration, community, politics, and culture. They enjoy playing guitar, herbalism, poetry, and learning languages.

Kelli Finger is a versatile writer with a Master’s in Social Work whose writing spans local news, community issues, nonprofit causes, grant writing, royalty and British culture, lifestyle and service journalism, home and real estate, history, and disability-focused content. She brings a thoughtful, engaging voice to reported features, practical advice, and human-centered stories. Outside of writing, she is active in her church and enjoys singing, reading, traveling, cooking, baking, true crime, period dramas, and developing fiction projects. She reads widely across genres, but she has a particular fondness for cozy mysteries. Her portfolio is available at https://authory.com/KelliFinger.