Air Pollution Associated With Perception of Increased Health Risks for People Living With Disabilities in Utah

Air quality is one of the top environmental concerns for Utahns today1. Health risks associated with air pollution can range from mild physiological impacts to death from cardiovascular and respiratory disease2-4. Little is known about the ways that environmental risks impact people with disabilities because they are often excluded from clinical and social science research6. Gaining a more robust understanding of air pollution’s impacts on people living with disabilities (PLwD) is particularly important considering that PLwD comprise about 32.2%5 of the U.S. population and 22% of Utah’s population, the latter of which is a younger population compared to the average1. Because of their underlying health conditions and difficulties in performing routine tasks7, PLwD may have fundamentally different perceptions about and experiences with air pollution when compared to their non-disabled counterparts. Policies and programs aimed at reducing environmental-related risks also often neglect PLwD. People with mobility impairments, for instance, may not always be able to find shelter or navigate their way inside their own shelters during air pollution-related emergencies, and those who are blind may not have equitable access to warning notifications. More so, planners ought to put forth extra effort to make sure PLwD are included in community environmental risk research and planning, yet, this is frequently overlooked8, 9. In this brief, we used data from the 2023 Utah People and Environment Poll (UPEP) to examine how Utahns living with and without disabilities perceive risks related to air pollution and how both population groups are able to navigate these risks. Considering the voices of PLwD in all aspects of risk reduction and collecting and publishing data on disability in research projects will aid in identifying, addressing, and preventing disparities across various population groups8