I have been managing a lot of feelings lately. I feel so angry that social service systems ignore our basic needs like the access to basic income and safe housing. And that our accommodation requirements are somehow seen as optional and even whiny. That our need for safe materials in housing is portrayed and characterized as some sort of bourgeois attitude when in reality we are just trying to survive. We must have non-toxic environments just to stay alive. Safe housing is right up there with life's basics like air, water, and food for people with ES/MCS.
We actually aren't just trying to impress you with our knowledge of chemicals and which building materials and consumer products are non-toxic. We are not trying to sound entitled or classist. We aren't trying to sell you anything. We know this stuff as a matter of SURVIVAL. We are people who are sick and have been forced to very quickly learn to stay alive in an environment that is literally draining the life from our bodies. I realize that the 'green movement' is very classist and inaccessible to the vast majority of people and that non-toxic consumer products are viewed as 'specialty items' or somehow 'luxurious'. Only the rich and entitled should have access to such items. And here we are sick, disabled, and dispossessed, making demands for access to such items! Who do we think we are!? Why are we so special that we believe we have the right to demand expensive non-toxic materials?
The bigger issue is - WHY ARE THERE SO MANY TOXIC PRODUCTS and ingredients in consumer products and building materials?! This shit is making us sick and some of us are getting sick at a faster rate. We are living in deeply contaminated built environments and ecosystems, including our food systems.
I am so enraged that the very social service agencies that should be protecting marginalized folks are actually actively oppressing people with ES/MCS by denying necessary services and access to basic income and safe housing. And these are the sorts of social service agencies where Social Workers are employed. It is very challenging for me, both as a Social Worker and a person who is disabled by ES/MCS to not BE VERY ANGRY.
