Contact involved in ground-breaking climate project

2 mins read

Wednesday 26 February 2025

We know that climate change is likely to disproportionately impact already-vulnerable groups. For families with disabled children, this might be through rising energy costs for life-changing equipment or extra heating needs. Or it might be negative impacts on health conditions of wetter and less predictable periods of weather.

Contact is working in partnership with Hope for the Future, Rowanbank, and the London School of Economics, on a National Lottery-funded project. This groundbreaking project will for the first time be looking at ways to empower families with disabled children to have a voice in climate and nature issues.

In order for this project to have the most impact, it’s crucial that we co-create this project with parents themselves.

What’s involved?

We’ve invited families to take part in a one-hour online interview or a ninety-minute focus group session with student researchers from the London School of Economics.

The researchers will discuss experiences of parents of a disabled child and their interests in a changing climate, including:

  • Worries about the future of the planet and anything they’re already doing/would like to do to combat these worries.
  • What kinds of change they’d most like to see in relation to the climate and nature crises.
  • How capable they feel of contributing to this change.

Thank you for your interest

Thank you to everyone who expressed an interest in taking part. We filled our interview and focus group slots soon after we emailed earlier this week.

Your thoughts and experiences will help us shape a project that will support thousands of families to make a real difference on rising energy costs and for climate change.

It’s vital that the voices of parent carers are heard loud and clear by politicians, and a key part of this is understanding the barriers you face to taking action.

There will be other opportunities to take part so if you haven’t already done, so please join our mailing list.