So, a phrase I use a lot is “every day ableism”. If you’re
wondering what I mean by that you’re in luck, I’m about to tell you. Every day
ableism is the little stuff, those small, seemingly trivial things that your
every day abled person doesn’t think twice about. Think parked cars on the pavement,
high bar tops in the pub, that sort of stuff.
Today the every day ableism we’ll be talking about is the
conversation around reducing your carbon footprint and single plastic usage. I
want to start this off by saying I am in no
way anti environmentalism. I’ve been recycling my whole life, I shout at
people for littering and I regularly rant about how disgusting it is that
humans are destroying the Earth. I am, however, quite saddened by how much of
the conversation around reducing our carbon footprint and use of single use
plastic is inherently ableist. I’ve found several of the most common
suggestions made to make yourself greener and I’ll be pointing out the everyday
ableism present. Ready? Ok.
1.
Walk and cycle to where you want to go (school,
work etc). Avoid driving as much as possible.
I’ve started out nice and simple with this one. I’m sure even
the most ignorant person in the world could see the everyday ableism in this
one. As much as I would love to be able to walk down to my local town centre or
jump on a bike to go see my friends, I cannot. Because I am disabled. Also
because I never learned to ride a bike but primarily, it’s because I’m
disabled. Even on the days where I have enough energy to get up and leave the
house, there is no way I would be able to walk for that long. I rely on being
driven places, whether that be in a car or on public transport. There are so many
people for whom not using a CO2 producing petrol wagon is not an option.
2.
Buy your produce from a local farm/market.
This one really irritates me every time I hear it. So many
people of us disabled folk cannot get to a local farm or market. Particularly
if we’re expected to walk or cycle to it. Even once they were there, the economic
inactivity rate (not in work and not looking for it) for working aged people
with disabilities is 44.2%. Our benefits are in the process of being messed
about so many of us are skint. The employment rate for disabled people is 50.7%
versus 81.1% for able bodied people [source]. You think we can afford to pay the price
of produce at a local farm?
3. If buying local isn’t an
option, do not buy pre-prepared, plastic laden fruit and veg.
That pre-prepared fruit and veg that people love to demonise
is an absolute lifesaver for many disabled people. If you’re fatigued, it takes
a tiring step out of making dinner. If your grip or dexterity is not great, preparing
fruit and vegetables is really tough. If you aren’t able to reach the fruit/veg
of your choice because supermarkets stack the containers so they’re sometimes
completely inaccessible to disabled people, you can still have the thing you
want. What are we supposed to do, if we’re not buying the pre-prepped stuff in
plastic? Never eat certain fruit or veg again?
4. Get the loose stuff, put it in
a paper bag and prepare yourself at home.
So, I should say that I use a walking stick to get around.
As such, I only ever have one free hand when I’m out and about. If you are able
bodied, I want you to try and imagine being in a supermarket and attempting to
get one of those little produce bags, open it, pick out your produce, bag it up
then put it in a basket/trolley all with one hand. Sound like a nightmare? Now
try and imagine doing that with a paper bag, a bag you cannot turn inside out
to aid in the picking up process, a bag with no handles to hook your hand
through, a bag that could quite easily tear at any point during this process requiring
you to start over again. Do you get what I mean? Also, see my point above about
people who cannot prepare fruit and vegetables themselves.
5.
Take showers rather than baths.
Showers are great aren’t they? You get to stand there as
the water cascades around you, it loosens up your muscles and you can do that
thing where it looks like jets of water are coming out of your fingers. Unless,
like me, you can’t stand up in the shower. As a result, I take baths. I have
adapted stuff in my bathroom that makes the whole process easier but I do have
to bath rather than shower and this is the case for a lot of people. Yes, you
can get shower seats but many people can’t use those due to not being able to
get themselves on/off the seat/their shower not being the right size/needing
assistance washing and bathing.
6.
Avoid/ban all single use plastic.
I saw a wonderful Twitter thread today by @thelionmachine wherein
they discussed how people are advocating for the ban of single use plastics
without considering how we would then keep medical equipment/procedures sterile
and safe. It got me thinking about just how much single use plastic I deal with
every day via my medication. I will not bore you with the details of every single
bit of medication I am on, suffice to say that is is A Lot. And almost every
single one of those medications comes in non-recyclable plastic packaging. Is
that a problem, all that single use plastic? Absolutely. But what’s the
alternative? Medication needs to be kept in a sterile environment, a lot could
go wrong if it was not. Could I have a single container and then go to the
pharmacy when it was running low to get it refilled? Theoretically yes, except
this would require an overhaul of how pharmacies work as well as relying on me
being well enough to go to the pharmacy before my meds run out. Even if I managed
to avoid single use plastic in every other aspect of my life, I would still
generate more than all of that combined through simply needing to take my
medication on the daily.
And that’s just a few of the points brought up in this
plastic reduction and carbon footprint conversation. Do I think anyone arguing
those points is being intentionally discriminatory against people with disabilities?
I do not. But the whole idea of everyday ableism is that people simply do not
consider how things affect us. The discrimination comes from us not being
considered at all.
I’m going to keep doing these everyday ableism posts. If there’s
even the slightest chance that an abled bodied person will stumble across them
and go “huh, I never thought of it like that” or a disabled person finds them
and can relate, it’s worth it.
I hope I've given you something to think about. I also hope you've got a nice dinner tonight.
Talk to you later!
Emma
xoxo
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