Disabilities: Global Warming Harming Health

The report finds that Americans with disabilities are more likely to perceive global warming as harming their own health than those without disabilities, though a majority of both groups may still underestimate these risks. It also highlights a significant trust gap, with disabled Americans showing lower trust in federal agencies and climate scientists, while maintaining similar trust in primary care doctors and first responders.

• Americans with disabilities are more likely to report that global warming is harming their health than those without disabilities, with 23% stating it harms them "a great deal" or "a moderate amount," compared to 14% of non-disabled Americans.
• Despite the higher perception of personal harm among disabled individuals, both groups share similar views on the fact that certain groups of people are more susceptible to the health impacts of global warming.
• Americans with disabilities exhibit lower levels of trust in several key information sources regarding climate-related health harms, specifically the World Health Organization (37% vs 46%), the CDC (41% vs 49%), the EPA (36% vs 46%), and climate scientists (42% vs 52%).
• Both disabled and non-disabled Americans maintain similar levels of trust in primary care doctors, first responders, local public health departments, the American Medical Association, TV weather reporters, journalists, and environmental organizations.
• The report argues that federal defunding of initiatives within NOAA, FEMA, HHS, and the CDC increases the risk to people with disabilities by reducing efforts to educate the public on climate-related health harms.

APA

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (2026). Disabilities: Global Warming Harming Health. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/disabilities-global-warming-harming-health/

Chicago

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Disabilities: Global Warming Harming Health. 2026. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/disabilities-global-warming-harming-health/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Yale Program on Climate Change Communication |title=Disabilities: Global Warming Harming Health |date=24 July 2026 |url=https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/disabilities-global-warming-harming-health/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{yaleprogramonclimatechangecommunication2026disabilities, author = {{Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}}, title = {{Disabilities: Global Warming Harming Health}}, institution = {Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}, year = {2026}, month = jul, url = {https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/disabilities-global-warming-harming-health/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }