Date: 6-10 October 2025
Climate change does not affect everyone in the same way. Climate impacts: droughts, floods, storms and heat, deepen the cracks of inequality. There is a compounding that happens when adding layers of vulnerability and marginalisation. Women, most often responsible for care work, feeding families and in remote areas, for water collection, already shoulder the effects of a changing climate. People with disabilities face barriers to mobility, information and safety. For women with disabilities, these layers of exclusion are compounded. The Adaptation Network workshop in October 2025 brought together government officials, gender and disability-rights advocacy groups and community-based organisations to explore this intersection of gender, disability and climate adaptation. Through story, movement and reflection, participants created space to learn from one another and to rethink what inclusion really means and understand the various differences in vulnerability.
“Those who have always adapted to survive can also teach the world how to adapt to endure”
Thembelihle Ngcai, Chairperson of Disabled Youth South Africa (DYSA) spoke to this in her presentation. She talked about people with disabilities who are still “fighting to be seen in the aftermath of disaster” as floods and storms wash away homes and shut them out of emergency shelters. Her message spoke not only of struggle, but also of leadership, belonging and the power of language.
“How do we speak about climate change in the languages we live in – isiXhosa, English, Sesotho, Afrikaans – and what happens when there is no direct translation for words like ‘resilience’, ‘adaptation’ or ‘vulnerability’?”
Her words were a reminder that language is key in inclusion, and that adaptation starts when people are included in the story.
Thembilhle’s presentation discussed some of the ways that climate change disproportionately impacts people with disabilities. She explained how this is experienced differently by people with different kinds of disabilities, noting that there are gaps in the data regarding people with disabilities. Graphic Harvest by Claire Rousell of Mycelium Media Colab.
Onele Jakavula, also from DYSA, spoke about how climate impacts often cut off people with disabilities from basic services. “Extreme weather events such as floods and hurricanes can disrupt access to essential services and resources for individuals with mobility impairment,” she said. “This includes exclusion during emergencies as shelters may not be equipped for special needs people.”
She added, “The preparation plan for disasters is not adequately addressing the needs of persons with disabilities. This means that persons with disabilities need to be part of an adaptation strategy plan, as the slogan says ‘Nothing about us without us’.”
A shift in understanding
Many said the week was a real eye-opener. Ndivile Mokoena from GenderCC South Africa reflected that she had never learnt so much about disability, or been in a space where she could ask questions without judgement. She said it made her realise how often disability is invisible, and how easily exclusion happens without people meaning it to.
Thembelihle later reflected, “We were struck by how few conversations exist at the intersection of disability and climate justice – yet how ready our peers were to explore it once the link was made.
Feeling it in your body
To explore how disability and other vulnerabilities affect people differently, a role-play theatre session was led by Sanelisiwe Yekani from Well Worn Theatre Company. Participants took on roles in scenes showing how gender and disability can deepen vulnerability. What began with laughter and energy in the role plays, soon grew quieter. People acted out the strain of heat, the panic of rising floodwaters, and the exhaustion of moving through rough terrain.
Then came the invitation to close their eyes and move through the space, experiencing what it might be like to have no sight. Arms were stretched out to feel their way around the space. The next instruction followed: “Now you are in a flood, the water is rising”. Anxiety showed on faces, some breaking into small, nervous smiles as the sense of vulnerability grew. Through this playful, gentle and light approach, participants connected with difficult feelings and embodied tough experiences, creating space for honest engagement with complex issues.
More challenges were added with blindfolds, heavy bags, baby dolls and other props. These enactments help people feel what it might be like to face climate impacts with added layers of vulnerability. The enactments brought home the gendered burden of care, carrying children, fetching water, keeping families safe, alongside the physical and social barriers faced by people with disabilities.
Shadrek Muchaku from the University of Fort Hare shared his experience of playing a mother with two children searching for water during a drought: “As I walked with my two children, the scorching sun beating down on us, I couldn’t help but wonder… how are we going to survive? My babies were thirsty and I looked at them helplessly. But I knew I had to keep moving, to find a way to provide for them. The thought that lingered in my mind was whether adaptation was a genuine concept or simply a euphemism for survival. My babies knew nothing about drought, I just had to provide.”
Another group performed a scene of an elderly woman who had to go to the clinic to collect her medication during a heatwave. On her way, she met a young woman driving by and asked for a lift, but the young woman was dismissive. When the old woman finally reached the clinic, the nurse also treated her with impatience. Funda Takane from Kidlinks Small Farm Incubator (KSFI), who played the old woman shared “I felt the pain of the granny who was going to fetch medication alone, without any family assistance but on her old age grant, as her family wants her money. How cruel people are and have no sympathy anymore.”
After the role-play, the group reflected on what could have been done differently. Participants suggested that having a community caregiver could help prevent such situations.
In this enactment, a family pushed out by rising floodwaters, trying to find safety in crowded shelters with only what they could carry. Reflecting on stepping into this role, Winnie Mbekeni from Isithembiso Multipurpose Organisation shared: “I was so hopeless, anxious, and stressed about the situation my family was facing. Not having a shelter and also being disabled. Carrying my clothes in a black bag, not even knowing which way we’re gonna go in order for us to sleep and eat…”
Asanda Apleni from KSFI shared her experience of the theatre role-play sessions:
Thembelihle reflected on listening and being aware of one’s bias’- recognising that even within struggle, there are many experiences & that inclusion means creating space for all.
Learning through care and connection
For many, the week-long workshop was more than a learning space – it became a space of care. Participants spoke about the warmth, humour and honesty that shaped the experience. Barriers softened as people listened and laughed together.
Onele Jakavula from Disabled Youth South Africa (DYSA) reflected on how connection built confidence and hope. “The team was very welcoming and they were not sympathetic of us, yet they were always willing to assist when needed, they saw us not our disabilities…. The kindness here was real, it wasn’t pretentious.” This showed that inclusion grows through connection and care, and building resilience is as much about relationships as it is about resources.
Moving from awareness to action
By the end of the week, participants were both more aware of the compounding layers of intersection in adaptation work, and were more determined to address them. Many said they were leaving with a clearer sense of how disability, age, gender and context shape people’s experience of adaptation, and how often those most affected are left out of planning and resources.
Maemu Makwarela from DFFE said that looking at the experiences of persons with disabilities, women, youth and elders helped her understand that climate impacts are not small inconveniences. They can be catastrophic when you are already facing barriers to safety, mobility or healthcare.
Tonderai Makoni from Vhembe Biosphere Reserve reflected on how easy it is for inclusion to become symbolic rather than sincere.
For some, these lessons were personal; for others, they strengthened their commitment to the work they already do in their communities. People spoke about rethinking their projects, questioning who is invited into decision-making, and finding ways to make climate information and opportunities more accessible – especially for women and people with disabilities in rural areas.
The conversations reminded everyone that intersectionality is not abstract. It lives in the everyday – in whether a woman can fetch water safely, whether a person using a wheelchair can enter a hall, or whether both are included when decisions are made.
As theatre practitioner Sanelisiwe Yekani said, “This workshop gave the ordinary South African a relatable entry point to the matters of climate change. Our homes are falling apart, women are being killed, diverse disabilities are not being considered. The climate crisis isn’t distant anymore – it’s layered, operating across varied contexts.”
The week closed with a sense of shared responsibility. Theatre helped participants feel the compounding layers of intersectionality; the discussions that followed helped them see that no one walks alone. The work ahead calls for collaboration, care and courage — to build a climate movement where inclusion is not an afterthought, but the starting point.
From the closing of Thembilhe’s presentation, offering a disability aware vision for a climate just future and highlighting the knowledge people with disabilities bring to resilience and inclusion. Graphic harvest by Claire Roussel.
