Canary In The Coalmine
Why Canary?
The origin of the phrase "Canary In The Coal Mine" came from the idea of placing a warm-blooded animal in a mine to detect carbon monoxide, as first proposed by John Scott Haldane in 1895, and canaries were used as early as 1896. The birds, being more sensitive, would become sick before the miners, who would then have a chance to escape or put on protective respirators. It is now used as an idiom for a person or thing that warns people of danger. Disabled people have always been the "canaries in the coal mine" when it comes to pandemics, social injustice, and medical inequality. In our ongoing pandemic, we are still those canaries, waiting for the rest of the world to catch up.