101. The Disability Episode: COVID Has Proven That People Don't Really Care About Disabled People

I'M THE VILLAIN

Now that we are headed back to "normal" life, and a lot of people are going back to their workplaces, movie theaters, therapists offices, a lot of disabled people are wondering if we are also going to be making a return to a world of inaccessibility. In this episode, we sit down with Marquis Kearse, a disabled person with brittle bone disease who uses a wheelchair, to hear his story and talk about the ways in which the pandemic has made us rethink the way the world needs to look. So many of the changes we have made to adapt to the pandemic has been inadvertently great for accessibility, such as being able to work from home or do doctor's appointments from home, etc. and now they are fighting to keep those wins. On the flip side, whenever we hear statistics about Covid affecting people with pre-existing conditions, like how the vaccine is 95% effective, often the people in that 5% are DISABLED people and so wearing masks and getting vaccinated is truly a service we do for the most vulnerable people in our society.

Lastly, let's just talk about how freaking EXPENSIVE it is to be disabled (wheelchairs cost thousands of dollars and you need a new one every 5 years) and that is doubly nonsensical when you think about how you essentially need to be permanently poor in order to receive disability benefits because there are income caps to most disability programs. This is a wild world we live in y'all.

Music is The Beauty of Maths by Meydän.

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