Thread by @thinkingautism

Listening to @SFdirewolf talk (with a dash of salt) about why needing supports doesn’t negate innate independence & autonomy. And how public funding of supports keeps PWD like her in the community, & out of institutions. Even when it’s not easy—& she still feels vulnerable.

@SFdirewolf @sfdirewolf: The annual redetermination process is laced with anxiety for people who depend on it. And it is a poverty trap! She can’t earn more than $2K (<2.5x the poverty level) without losing benefits. So she has to pass on paying opportunities all the time.

@SFdirewolf ...This is not in keeping with the spirit of the Olmstead decision, e.g., a lot of disabled people do not have the freedom to move between states, because anchored to state-specific benefits.

@SFdirewolf And community based services (HCBS) look very different state-to-state (though there’s never a barrier to institutionalization!). And most states still enable submnimum wage for PWD, which keeps the poverty trap cycling hard.

@SFdirewolf Did you know: People who depend on SSI often can’t get married, because that means their benefits will be reduced?

There is no marriage equality for many disabled people.

@SFdirewolf Recently, a high-profile story of a Georgetown student who had their support hours reduced resulted in those hours being reinstated. But how many other PWD have support hours arbitrarily reduced without any recourse or resolution?

@SFdirewolf There are also social and physical barriers to PWD taking part in their legal right to voting, e.g., every SINGLE US presidential candidate’s website is inaccessible to Blind people. IN 2019. #CripTheVote #ADA20

@SFdirewolf Every disabled person can have the life they want!

@SFdirewolf @JHMarble is feeling a bit abashed in having to follow @SFdirewolf, which is totally understandable.

@SFdirewolf @JHMarble John is the founder of @PivotDiversity. Talking about how even though he’s never been institutionalized, he’s always had a fear of institutionalization. Which, turns out, is not actually that irrational, because most people his age & slightly older WERE.

@SFdirewolf @JHMarble @PivotDiversity e.g., Darryl Hannah was diagnosed #autistic as a child, but was able to evade institutionalization because her mom was able to homeschool her until she was ready to attend school with her peers. #Neurodiversity

@SFdirewolf @JHMarble @PivotDiversity John says that he always feels like he is one step away from losing everything because he’s #autistic—and in talking with other autistics, he’s not alone. It is a stark fear, shared with many autistics.

@SFdirewolf @JHMarble @PivotDiversity The number of disabled people killed by police, especially PoC, is a bracing reminder of how far we have to go even 20 years after Olmstead and the ADA.

@SFdirewolf @JHMarble @PivotDiversity So @JHMarble does not want Institutionalization to be the path for the future. At the very basic level, PWD have the right to live in the community. Not just reside. LIVE.,

@SFdirewolf @JHMarble @PivotDiversity John is now throwing shade on people who use “the voice” when talking to autistic people.

He wants other #autistic people to have the right to be DULL and BORING. Per James Baldwin on the bizarreness of perceiving difference as bizarre.

@SFdirewolf @JHMarble @PivotDiversity PWD, autistic, & neurodivergent people deserve to be integrated into society and as normal as anyone else!

@SFdirewolf @JHMarble @PivotDiversity Now @MicaelaConnery on #Olmstead20: Everyone always assumed her cousin Kelsey should be institutionalized, and it was a life-long fight for her entire family to keep her in the community.

@SFdirewolf @JHMarble @PivotDiversity @MicaelaConnery If you read the fine print behind the ableist parts of Olmstead: No matter how high a person’s support needs are, they have the RIGHT to live in their own damn community. (I may be paraphrasing.)

@SFdirewolf @JHMarble @PivotDiversity @MicaelaConnery Living in the community doesn’t look the same for everyone! Whether in the general community, living, employment, school— but the baseline is the same. Everyone belongs.

@SFdirewolf @JHMarble @PivotDiversity @MicaelaConnery Even when institutions are surrounded by rolling green hills and aesthetically pleasing environments, when people have no control over their schedule and autonomy, those differences really don’t matter. Institutions sap their residents’ souls.

@SFdirewolf @JHMarble @PivotDiversity @MicaelaConnery Now: Leroy Moore of @kriphopnation. He used to live in SF, he got gentrified out.

@poormagazine has been fighting against institutionalization/eviction of poor people and elders. Sometime successfully, but sometimes landlords blocked. And elders died from the stress.

@SFdirewolf @JHMarble @PivotDiversity @MicaelaConnery @kriphopnation @poormagazine Leroy: under Willie Brown, SF wanted to get rid of all the public benches. This is trend that’s spread all over the country.

@SFdirewolf @JHMarble @PivotDiversity @MicaelaConnery @kriphopnation @poormagazine Under Obama, public housing was eroded in every major city. And PWD depend on public housing. So how are PWD supposed to get out of institutions if there’s no place for them to go?

@SFdirewolf @JHMarble @PivotDiversity @MicaelaConnery @kriphopnation @poormagazine Under Housing Secretary Ben Carson, increasing amounts of public housing are coming under non-profit and private companies’ control. So PWD and others who used to live in those communities can’t move back.

@SFdirewolf @JHMarble @PivotDiversity @MicaelaConnery @kriphopnation @poormagazine One time, Leroy was stuck on the third floor of his building for an entire month because the elevator was out of order. The lawsuit is still pending.

@SFdirewolf @JHMarble @PivotDiversity @MicaelaConnery @kriphopnation @poormagazine Under Gov. Jerry Brown, the conservatorship laws undermined access to SSI and independence for many PWD.

@SFdirewolf @JHMarble @PivotDiversity @MicaelaConnery @kriphopnation @poormagazine Anti-poverty and anti-disability laws are making things harder all over the country. We have elders taking hosing away from elders because their places are “messy.” What can we do? @poormagazine has been on the forefront of this issue.

@SFdirewolf @JHMarble @PivotDiversity @MicaelaConnery @kriphopnation @poormagazine We need funding for public housing and related disability programs so PWD can stay where they live and live where they want to.

@SFdirewolf @JHMarble @PivotDiversity @MicaelaConnery @kriphopnation @poormagazine @threadreaderapp one final unroll please.