Oh wow. Y’all. Have you looked outside recently? Glanced at your social media? Read the news? Talked to literally anyone? Then you know about the Novel Covid-19 pandemic that is sweeping… well, the world, I guess. There’s a respiratory virus that is worming its way through communities from China to Italy to England to the United States, all the way down to tiny little coastal Connecticut towns like mine.
It’s weird to be living in a time of global pandemic. Whether you’re a Covid panicker or a denier, it’s undeniable that the world is going through something big. And we are all going through it together. Which is really interesting. Like, it’s scary and people are buying toilet paper like it’s gold for some reason, and it if you make the questionable choice to read the news it seems a little like the whole world is ending. But in the midst of it all, here we still are. And people are going out of their way to help take care of others: doing grocery runs for those who can’t, making masks and hand sanitizers, doing skype dates and game nights, checking in on one another, sharing resources, and ensuring that everyone has what they need, no matter what. It’s honestly beautiful.
But it’s also kind of funny. So. I am considered High Risk for Covid-19. And most things, honestly. I’m on the lower end of the high risk spectrum, but I’m squarely on it. My immune system doesn’t work right and because of my plethora of chronic illnesses, I’m just a big risk. A high risk of catching it, and a high risk of getting extremely sick/it doing a lot of damage/me dying if I do catch it. So I’ve been going the extra mile to stay safe. I closed my office and went to working remote a good week before everyone else, I have been quarantined, I’ve been having others do my grocery runs (THANK YOU), I haven’t been going to any crowded places, and so on. Because I’ve been scared of this from the very beginning. Because from the very beginning I knew very clearly that this could literally be the death of me.
But, a lot of things could be the death of me. That’s just kind of how I live my life. So when shit really hit the fan and everyone was panicking and trying to buy masks and stuff, I wasn’t. Because I already had my mask. And my meds. And so on. And yeah, I wasn’t able to get hand hand sanitizer because everyone bought every bottle in southeastern Connecticut, but my girlfriend made some for me since I managed to snag a bottle of rubbing alcohol for her. And I have really everything I need because I’ve been living the “the world is trying to kill me and nothing is accessible” life for years now. So it’s really quite fascinating watching everyone else run around frantic trying to join my way of life. It’s kind of surreal.
But that leads me to the thing I wanted to talk about today. I’ve actually been wanting to talk about this for weeks now, but my brain has been very slow since my concussion several months ago and I’ve just been struggling to do any writing whatsoever. But the sun is out and I’m on my third cup of coffee and my second bowl of weed and the stars seem to be in alignment or something because here we are so let’s gooooooo!
During this global pandemic, people have had to make MAJOR changes to their lives. Stuck at home for days, weeks, now it looks like months on end, having to figure out how to work, live, thrive, and be happy in these settings. Workplaces, educational institutions, places of worship, and more have gone remote, providing work options, classes, services, etc over skype and zoom. Many things can now be done over the phone or internet that before had to be done in person in places that were often quite inaccessible. Doctors and therapists are seeing patients and clients over telehealth services. For many of us, our insurance would not cover telehealth services before the virus, but they do now. Many pharmacies are mailing medications directly to you instead of making you come in to pick them up. Single use plastic bags and straws are available everywhere again. Everyone is giving a little more space, not touching people without consent, and not making NEARLY as many snide comments about people’s mobility aids or personal health measures, like masks.
These things are so amazing! But also kinda frustrating because they are things that us disabled folks have been asking for for YEARS. Decades, even! Disabled people are denied jobs and academic opportunities all the time, directly and indirectly. Yes, even though it’s not legal to discriminate against us, it still happens more often than not. In addition to just blatantly not hiring folks with apparent disabilities or having straight up inaccessible classrooms, there’s also the refusal to allow work from home, some flexibility in scheduling for chronic illnesses, the ability to take mental health days, the ability to attend classes over skype, or other remote options for disability/accessibility reasons. It’s not fair, it is discrimination, but it’s been how it’s gone for all of history. The excuses have always been that the experience wouldn’t be the same, or it would be too expensive, or not secure enough, or unfair to other students/colleagues, or that “one person” isn’t worth implementing new practices/technology for, or whatever else. And the job is denied, the student is forced out of academia, and ta da! It’s somehow not discrimination, they “just can’t do the job/degree,” I guess (/cough/ without reasonable accommodation /cough/), and everyone just moves on with their day. Well, almost everyone.
We fought hard for single use plastic straws, trying to help people understand how important they are to many people, you know, to help them stay alive. How they make being out and about, engaging in everyday life possible for many people. That the alternatives presented aren’t equivalents, nor are they good environmental fixes, and they put the financial burden on often impoverished people. We tried to explain that this performative environmentalism was not only not very useful and honestly kind of hypocritical, but that it was literally causing harm to already marginalized people. But that was dismissed, we were dismissed, pretty quickly. But suddenly amidst this crisis, this thing we have been saying is necessary for cleanliness and access and the avoidance of disease transmission is available everywhere again. I no longer hear a single person ranting about how folks should just bring their own reusable straws with them or use silicone or metal or bamboo (don’t get me started). No no, single use is back, baby! Same with plastic bags, but that’s a whole different conversation for a different day.
In case you are new here, I’m super environmentally conscious and not pro-excess plastic at all. But I am extremely opposed to getting rid of necessary tools because those in places of privilege can do without them and view them as a luxury item, but also can’t regulate themselves. I wrote a whole piece on straws that you can read here if you want. I don’t wanna get too into the weeds in this piece.
Those few examples are just scratching the surface of things that disabled people have been asking for and have been denied for ages that are suddenly and magically available on demand now. And while on one hand it is so frustrating that it feels like abled lives are valued so much more than disabled ones, on the other hand I’m actually really happy, really excited. Here’s why: there’s no backsies.
There’s no fucking going back! Once Covid is gone, or at least managed, and life can begin to go “back to normal,” whatever that means, so much has happened that can never un-happen. We’ve experienced a lot and learned things that we can never un-experience or un-learn. We now know that jobs can be done remotely, academic opportunities aren’t just for physically abled and neurotypical people who can physically access the classroom or labs and learn the exact way the professor wants. Straws are hella important for some people. Places of worship can be accessible over video. Doctors offices can do a lot without having to physically bring you in. And when everything settles down, no one will be able to justifiably deny disabled people jobs that can be done from home. Or academic accommodation. Or so on.
I mean, they can. And they will. But it will be so much more blatantly transparent now that it’s ableism, discrimination, rather than it actually being outside the scope of what can be done. We will never again live in a world where that excuse can reasonably be made (in many cases, at least). We know what sort of accessibility is available, because we had to make it available to everyone! To try and pull that back in, say “not for you disableds though” I truly hope won’t fly. I know we’ve never really gotten a fair shake, but I honestly see this horrible epidemic as having the silver lining of helping to restructure our entire society to make it better and more equal for everyone. At least a little. And that’s something to be happy, hopeful about. But also to keep fighting for. Really fucking hard!
Also, won’t lie, it’s lovely to no longer hear people saying how nice it must be to “get to sit home all day” on my bad days/weeks/months. Yeah, being trapped inside your house with the inability to go anywhere gets old, don’t it? Ableism looks like a lot of things. That comment is one of them. I’m really happy to see it kind of dying off, hopefully for good. More good coming out of devastation, Kali-style. Hell yeah.
Note: I could have touched on about 10,000 other issues that pertain to disability in the time of coronavirus, such as the way our mental health is specifically effected, what it’s like being poor/on government assistance during all this, difficulty with transportation during social distancing, fear about going to seek medical health when you’re high risk, having your doctor’s appointments that have to be done in person pushed off and not knowing when you’ll get to take the next step in treating your medical conditions… I could go on! But as I already suck at brevity, I opted to leave them out. I just wanted to note that the way disabled people are impacted is not limited to the few examples above, nor are everyone’s experiences the same.