"Homelessness doesn't discriminate" and "Disability doesn't discriminate"
Bullshit. They both absolutely do, and absolutely affect specific populations more than others. I'll add sources later, but these statements piss me off so much I just need to say something about it.
Just a reminder that when someone tells you that they were homeless as a child/teen, that you probably should not just start asking us questions like “so how many fights/scraps did you get into” “did you ever get jumped” “did you get beat by the cops” “did you ever see anyone die” etc. Prying for information about specific traumas within a long term traumatic experience is reductive and can reopen shit we aren’t ready for.
Also, if you were also homeless as a child and/or teen, I’m sending sending you love and with you in solidarity. Cope how you need to. Give yourself the kindness so many deny us. And tell people to fuck off if you feel like it when they ask things like that. You don’t owe anyone your story.
There was several years of my life where I was on strict doctors orders to be on bedrest and I didn’t have a bed to be in because I was homeless.
Every night I’ve had a bed, ever since I was a young child, I have always said a silent “thank you” to it before I sleep.
I’ve also said that same thank you to overpasses and bridges, park benches, couches, floors, car seats, the half crumbled foundation of that building I could fit under, trees, snow, ice, green grass, tents, my jacket, my backpack, my friend’s lap, hospital beds, waiting rooms, empty church pews, abandoned buildings, behind stores, alleyways, half flooded basements, bus seats, bus shelters, steps of a homeless shelter, steps of a church.
I’ve slept in so many uncomfortable places and still was grateful. And at the same time, I knew I needed a better situation to get true rest.
When I became seriously ill in 2017, I couldn’t rest. Even when I got an apartment in 2019, I was still in an unsafe environment, still having ER visits every other week. It wasn’t until I got a bed and in home care that I stopped having nearly daily life threatening symptoms and could give my body a break.
I still have life threatening symptoms, I still have bad days, but now at least I can rest in between everything. And for that I am so grateful.
Wet shelters save lives. If someone is forced to freeze to death in their car because they’re not allowed in the local dry shelter because they’re under the influence, you are enabling their death.
⌂ adult / over 25 ⌂ on/off homeless ⌂ disabled ⌂ mad ⌂ neurodivergent ⌂ queer ⌂ trans ⌂ DID system ⌂ currently precariously housed ⌂ multi-marginalized ⌂ writer ⌂ artist ⌂ zero income ⌂ mixed ⌂ community organizer (10+ years) ⌂ abolitionist ⌂ pagan ⌂ extremely exhausted
Essays:
May Your Hands Always Be Loud
Sword Canes Aren’t Badass. I am.
What’s So Wrong With Having Heroes?
Unlucky: Protective Factors and Homelessness
Homeless Delicacies and Finding Unhoused Joy
Internalized Ableism As Means For Unhoused Survival
Let People On Food Stamps Eat Hot Meals
Intelligence Doesn't Equal Morality
Homelessness as Trauma: Transitioning Into Housing
Winter Solstice / Homeless Persons Memorial Day
Guides:
Unhoused Solidarity in Action (how to help out unhoused people outside of just care packs)
Coming into Disability (best for newly disabled people)
Interacting with People with Psychosis
How to Support People
Underrepresentation in Homeless Statistics
Houseism
Tags:
Original Posts - #chronically couchbound
Unhoused Joy (Story Series) - #unhoused joy
Informational - #info
Guides - #guides
Reblogs - #rb
Mutual Aid Requests - #Mutual Aid Asks
Asks - #asks
Accessibility
I’m Hard of Hearing and require captions in order to interact with any video/audio. Any videos or audio I post will always have captions.
Sometimes, I don’t have the ability to add alt text, image descriptions, and/or plain text versions of posts, feel free to go back and add them if you’re able to and see them needed. I have Low Vision, transient blindness and visual disturbances due to some of my conditions and often require IDs myself. I try to avoid reblogging images without IDs. I try to go back and add IDs when I’m able.
My blogs are photosensitive safe. I will never post flashing lights, jump scares, or April Fool's jokes/pranks on any of my blogs.
Occasionally I post sensory-enriched/dopamine-friendly versions of posts that I have previously posted.
Boundaries
I live in the United States so my posts at times are more specific to USA policies. However, in other countries many of the same restrictions, barriers, and systemic issues exist and I hope some of my posts can be a starting point to your own research about your local government policies and issues.
Inbox is open for mutuals, asks are open for anyone else.
I don’t have a specific DNI list for this blog. I just ask that people be respectful and engage in appropriate conversation about the topics I bring up. Threats and just generally being hateful (+ unwilling to hear other perspectives) will earn you a block. It’s okay if you’re not the most “politically correct” or are uneducated— caring intentions matters more to me.
Read more:
Main/pagan worship: @fireandfennel
Additionally, here’s my website
And here’s my cripplepunk playlist to listen to while you scroll!
Hello! I hope I'm not bothering you, but I was wondering if you could explain this more (if you have the spoons): "Also ugly laws still exist with broken windows policing strategies!!"
Thanks for asking this! So for some background, broken windows policing strategies refers to the "broken windows theory" which suggests that if you leave a broken window on a building, more windows will be broken, and thus, if you fix a broken window early, fewer windows will be broken.
What this means for policing is that the goal of policing is to focus on petty and more visible crimes in an attempt to prevent larger crimes.
Broken windows policing has been denounced and critiqued by many, and disproportionately targets marginalized communities. In particular: Black people, unhoused people, and disabled people (especially people with psychotic spectrum disorders) are most affected by this, and even more so, people who are a part of one or more of these groups are most affected.
By comparison, ugly laws, also called "unsightly beggar ordinances" were laws that targeted unhoused and visibly disabled people, and around the time the last of these laws were abolished in the US, broken windows policing practices were starting to become more pervasive.
