Dr Kush Kanodia – Eco Ableism – Disability Discrimination from London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ)

The Campaign

Kush’s campaign focused on creating reasonable adjustments for disabled people in London’s ULEZ scheme. He says ULEZ was having a ‘brutal’ impact on disabled Londoners, with daily charges of £12.50 on older and more polluting vehicles.

ULEZ was introduced to inner London in October 2021, during the height of the pandemic, and, according to the campaign, without adequate reasonable adjustments for disabled people. It was then expanded to Greater London from August 2023. Disabled people had already been the some of the most disproportionately impacted groups from austerity, a pandemic, and the current cost-of-living crisis.

With only a third of London’s tube stations accessible, many disabled people have no choice but to drive to access critical goods, services, and health and social care. There are significant additional costs for compliant and adapted vehicles.

Both clean air and accessible environments are fundamental human rights, and access to transportation is a key enabler for disabled people to fully participate as citizens in our society.

The Change

Dr Kush Kanodia started and led the campaign that transformed London’s ULEZ, partnering with Inclusion London and many Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations. They included Action for Disability Kensington & Chelsea, the City of London’s Access Group, and Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea’s Mobility Forum.

London’s ULEZ policy changes translate to:

• Over 0.25 million disabled people can now be exempt (DWP Benefits included)
• Expanding grants from £2K to £10K (wheelchair accessible vehicles)
• Exemptions for carers and an expansion of the grace period to 2027.

Dr Kush Kanodia is described by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, as a “passionate disability rights champion” who has “made a massive difference to the lives of disabled people in London”.

He previously campaigned to abolish all disabled car parking charges at over 200 NHS trust hospitals in England and supported over 2.5 million disabled blue badge holders in England to access critical healthcare. Kent University stated: “This is by some margin the single largest and most impactful change in the treatment of disabled people in the history of the NHS.”

The Future

Unfortunately, disabled Blue Badge holders (a quarter of a million in London) who have significant mobility impairments are still not exempt from ULEZ and both Bristol and Birmingham have now created their own Clean Air Zones (CAZ), replicating the original disability discrimination from London.

Dr Kanodia advised the UK Government on their Disability Action Plan policy paper’s recommendations and actions. In the section on including disabled people’s needs in climate-related policies, the Government has committed to ‘explore how to ensure that ULEZ and CAZ better consider the needs of disabled people’. He said:

“UK Government must now implement their Disability Action Plan, creating a standardised policy in England and support the Levelling Up of disabled people in 2024!”