Climate emergencies, physical activity recommendations, and people with disabilities: new reflections

Abstract

Introduction: The letter entitled “Physical activity recommendations for health in the context of climate change: are we paying enough attention?”, recently published, highlighted the need to revisit physical activity (PA) recommendations for health in light of the growing scenario of climate emergencies. Objective: To broaden this debate by explicitly incorporating the perspective of people with disabilities. Development: It is estimated that approximately 16% of the global population and about 14.4 million people in Brazil live with some type of disability, a group that, on average, presents higher levels of sedentary behavior and lower participation in PA compared with people without disabilities. Despite this, current international PA guidelines are largely based on evidence derived from populations without disabilities and from high income countries, which limits their direct applicability to groups with greater functional heterogeneity and who face additional structural barriers to engaging in PA. These limitations become even more relevant in low- and middle income countries and in the context of climate emergencies, in which extreme events such as heat waves and environmental degradation may further restrict opportunities for safe PA practice. Final considerations: In this scenario, generalized recommendations may present limitations in terms of both feasibility and safety for people with disabilities. Therefore, there is a need for more inclusive and context-sensitive approaches that simultaneously consider functional diversity, social inequalities, and the additional challenges imposed by climate emergencies.