Do the Disabled Turtley Hate the Environment? No.

In a world where plastic pollution is a huge focus, how is plastic discrimination affecting the disabled communities and who is asking if our needs are being met?

Image of 3 disabled people, one with a stick, one stood in a dress and one in a wheelchair, holding up a sign that says "SOS". Under their feet is a line saying "Save our Straws" and next to them is a block of text which reads "Please pause the campaign until a suitable solution for disabled customers can be found".

Disclaimer: Now I know there will be backlash from this blog post (as this is such a big topic, with many angry voices!) but as a disabled woman who struggles with dexterity and grip, I am prepared for that risk if this helps one disabled person feel more comfortable with their needs. And for many this will seem like an 'unpopular opinion', when in reality this isn't a choice for many people. Please just bear with me, and I will do my best to show you things from another light.

We all know that plastic is a huge issue. We as a race can be wasteful, and this waste isn't always treated or disposed of with care. It is no secret and it is not deniable that our plastic consumption has various negative impacts on our planet and the other species that live on it and it is heartbreaking the effect we have.

I want to make it clear that I don't for a second believe our race should continue living the way we are and destroying our planet, but at the same time I see and belong to a group of forgotten people, whose needs are constantly being overlooked in this debate.

So why is this a 'disabled issue'?

About 1 in 5 of us have some form of disability, all of whom have different needs and abilities which usually society strives to try and meet. And of these, millions upon millions have a physical disability which could prevent them with issues that currently need plastic solutions.

However with the recent focus on stopping plastic pollution, many of these plastic solutions are being challenged and even banned. From banning straws, to discontinuing pre-packaged foods, the disabled community are facing accessibility issues on a massive scale.

We will begin with straws! Probably the most famous of these debates...

Image of the benefits of single use plastic straws. In one corner are 4 types of straw, and there are 3 circles of text above a person holding a cup with a straw in a wheelchair, reading "Low allergy and injury risks", "Low choking hazard" and "Low Cost". In the top right hand corner is a birds eye image of plastic straws in a dispenser and in the bottom corner a quote that reads "Metal, paper, silicone, glass and biodegradable straws do not offer the same accessibility as plastic straws."

Why do some disabled people need straws? Some disabled people (not all), require straws for many many reasons, from mobility issues to sensory issues. (And just in case anyone gets confused, no sensory issues are not a choice and yes they are serious and need to be treated that way.) Me for example, I need straws because my HNPP affects the way my hands can grip and I can cause myself bad nerve damage within just a few seconds of holding a glass. I also constantly jolt and shake, and drinking from a glass is a big challenge for me. Others, are sometimes bed-bound, meaning they cannot sit up and need a straw positioned into their mouths in order to drink. People with Cerebral Palsy can asphyxiate on liquid, and others can choke. This is to name just a few of the many many reasons that straws can be a necessity.

Image of a table with the heading "Many disabled people need plastic straws to drink, eat, take medications etc. Heres how current alternative reusable options are a harm to us." There are 8 columns with different straw types and 5 hazards along the top. Metal is considered an injury risk, not positionable and costly. Bamboo is injury risk, not positonable and costly. Glass is injury risk, not positonable, costly, not high temp safe. Silicone is not position-able and costly. Acrylic is choking hazard, not positonable and not high temp sage. Pasta is choking hazard, injury risk, not positionable and not high temp safe. Single-use straws are none of the above. Underneath the table reads "pressure to create bio-degrable straw options that are safe for the environment and for all disabled people should fall upon manufacturer, not marginalized disabled consumers. Once we accept the necessity of plastic straws, we can work together on other environmental initiatives that are effective, inclusive and accessible.

But why does it have to be plastic? This is the common response every time I state that disabled people can need straws. And yes there are lots of reusable straws out there, but these alternatives don't currently provide the same accessibility as single use plastic straws do. I have some really bad patches, where I cannot do anything besides lay in bed and need a straw positioned right into my mouth as I cannot sit up to drink. This is not a 'luxury'. This would be my only means of drinking, throughout that bad patch, whether it be a day or a month. We need to come away from the thought that straws are a 'luxury' for everyone. Because the bottom line is, they are a lifeline for millions of people!

I am not going to go into every negative of every reusable straw (this blog post would be endless!) but for me the biggest downside to every single reusable 'alternative', is that they cannot be positioned. This immediately rules them all out as accessible to my needs, and means for me they are no alternative at all.

If you do want to learn more, there is an amazing video explaining this all in depth by Jessica Kellgren-Fozard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IBH0pcKzlY but the table provides the info in a nutshell :)

Image of a quote saying "Yes! I have considered alternatives! (no they did not work). p.s: you are the 10th person to ask me that today. #banningstrawshurtspeople #thelaststraw #saveourstraws." In the top right hand corner are 6 plastic straws fanned out.

But have we "considered re-usable alternatives"? Yes yes yes, a million times yes. And many of us are asked this every single day. Why is it that when we know our needs and know our limitations, we still met with questioning, as if we have not yet exhausted every option in search for a solution? One day I do hope that I can say "I need these straws" and be met with the response, "what can we do to help" or "lets help find a better alternative", and not "but are you sure you haven't tried X,Y or Z"... I know you probably mean well, but we are given this same response on a daily basis and after a white it becomes so tedious to explain why the alternatives are not suitable for the 10,000th time that month.

We need to take action on this issue! And create suitable alternatives! That can bend, and are safe and do all the things we need straws to be able to :)

Pre-packaged foods are not a lazy move...

Another huge portion of this debate surrounds foods that have been pre-prepared and packaged. This can be anything from vegetables and fruit, to whole meals that currently come in plastic packaging. Here are some examples...

Image of pre-peeled oranges in plastic containers stacked on top of eachother in a shop, with the caption "If only nature would find a way to cover these oranges so we didn't need to waste so much plastic on them."

Here what you may see as a 'lazy' move to reduce the effort taken to peel an orange, is the only option for many disabled people who do not have the dexterity to peel oranges for themselves.

If a disabled person wants to eat an orange, yet cannot peel them for whatever reason and is completely alone or just want to be independent, they need this kind of orange. Imagine how that caption would make you feel, if this was your need?

Image of a twitter post by Red mom of R'hilor, that contains a photo of many plastic tubs of pineapple pieces from wholefoods stacked next to eachother, with the caption "Gosh whole foods, if only pineapples had a natural container... oh that's not silly either? oranges are okay."

The same happens here with the pineapple. If it was not for pre-packaged pineapple pieces, I would never be able to eat pineapple at home. I simply cannot cut a pineapple myself, and for me it is a physical impossibility. That is not me being lazy or inconsiderate. I just enjoy pineapple and don't want my disability to stop me being able to eat it. The skin of a pineapple or an orange for example, are barrier, not containers...

Image of a £2 pre-packaged cauliflower steak on the shelf at Marks and Spencers, captioned "Marks and spencer stores are selling sliced cauliflower as 'cauliflower steak' with lots of lovely plastic and charging £2 (normally £2.50). A cauliflower costs about 69p from a local veg shop *straight face emoji*."

The price of these items is another issue that we often have to just live with. The Marks and Spencer's cauliflower steak is a good example of the price hike you get, simply from someone pre-cutting your food. But unfortunately quite often, disabled consumers have to just deal with these kinds of prices so that they can eat the foods they'd like to. Big buisnesses know that we haven't got another choice, and take advantage of our needs to create more profit. In this case people also gave so much backlash over this cauliflower steak being 'lazy', without realizing it could be a lifeline for someone who cannot prepare things themselves. It has since even been discontinued, meaning that those disabled people who cannot prepare this for themselves are unable to eat it at all now. So no cauliflower steak for me. And yes, I can live without cauliflower steaks but where is the line going to be drawn..?

And where does this stop?

Image taken from inside a microwave of a woman putting a ready meal into the microwave.

Will one day prepacked food be completely outlawed? Will ready meals cease to exist, leaving millions of vulnerable disabled people literally starving off the small things they can just about struggle to prepare?

Or will we see that perhaps these people do need something balanced and healthy, and find new ways to package these things without seeking to ban them completely because they are 'lazy' and people assume we can all just make it from scratch.

And it is that term 'lazy' that crops up again and again, before people stop and think about the implication on those who have limited ability and cannot just simply achieve the same as other people. And this has an impact on the mental health of those people...

Image of a cartoon square vampire head, alongside the caption "sometimes I feel like a drain on society"

Feeling like a 'drain'...

I have had this same conversation many times with many people, and the response never seems to change. People assume there are already suitable alternatives, or suggest just getting a carer to chop your vegetables etc. But what if I want to live an independent life, or cannot afford that extra care? And what about when those alternatives are not accessible, and our needs have been overlooked yet again by a system run by the able-bodied who perhaps don't understand our issues? As a disabled woman who benefits from plastic, I still see a world shunning those who are plastic users, and saying we should be sent to a desert island or even killed! And it hurts.

Because for every #firstworldproblems, I begin to feel like a liability, or a nuisance. I begin to feel petty for having needs or like the basic wish to have an independent life of my own is too much to want.

Will this conversation one day end with, "kill all the disabled because they can't help their plastic use", or will euthanasia suddenly become a desirable option to stop us from living already difficult lives that are such an inconvenience to society and the world?

It isn't ideal for anyone. We don't like being disabled any more than you dislike us having additional needs. But we can't just simply overlook those genuine needs.

Image of a tweet from Costa Coffee that says "BUY A REUSABLE THEN *recycle triangle emoji* #plasticfree"

And then even big brands like Costa, share messages like this... when there is no alternative in place for some people... it is just a breeding ground for the disabled to feel even more like drains. And if big buisnesses like costa can say things like this, everyone will think they can! We need the conversation to be open not closed! We would totally use alternatives... IF there was a suitable one available! :( The issue is, I like many others, have felt suicidal on mutliple occasions because I have more needs than 'normal' people, and all of this hatred and often ignorance towards straw/plastic users certainly doesn't help me feel any more worthy of being alive or any less of a burden! :(

Image of two plastic yellow clinical waste bags.

Other plastics in the lives of the disabled! And this plastic doesn't even stop there! Many disabled people require equiptment that is not able to be recycled, and is often made of plastic too.

For example, those who use catheters, stoma bags, feeding tubes, or anything else that attaches to their body often need plastic. And these are disposed of in plastic bags, because they are medical waste.

Wheelchairs are another example of things we need, that have plastic parts. Or even something as small as a plastic bottle full of tablets.

Plastic, for the moment at least, is a necessity in the lives of many members of the disabled community. And it is about time we stopped shaming them for that.

Image of a digitally drawn cartoon turtle that has a speech bubble with 3 love hears in coming off its shell. Captioned "I love turtles.

But what about the turtles?

Man I love turtles... I really really do! They have been my favorite animals since I went to a SeaLife Centre with my grandparents in like 2006, and I'd love to help them just as much as you. And that being said, I'd love to help the whole earth! I am the first to do whatever I can for the environment, but sometimes I have to prioritise my own needs. Why should I be made to feel pants about that, when it literally is a need? With that being said, hope is not lost! We can of course begin to strive for changes in other areas, such as removing plastics which do not provide any kind of health/medical necessity... Or we can begin listening to the disabled people who need these items, and working with them to create alternatives that are genuinely suitable to everyone's needs. Wouldn't that be a dream!

Other plastics which aren't a necessity...

An image of a stacked shelf in a toy store. The toys include Finding Dory playsets, Tree Fu Tom playsets and other plastic toys. To the side there is sweet themed wrapping paper hanging on display.

Just because there are some plastic items we haven't yet gotten alternatives for, doesn't mean there aren't other plastics being used that aren't necessary. Just take a quick stroll around a toyshop, and you will find aisles and aisles of plastic packaging and plastic bags covering plastic toys. This is just one of many examples of places we do not need plastic, and plastics which would not directly impact the health of the consumer to ban! So why, if these plastics are deemed acceptable to society, is a disabled person using a straw treated like treason? Why are we constantly asked if we have considered re-usable alternatives, to have the same conversation over and over on an almost daily basis? When we are wasting so much plastic elsewhere that it is unreal.

An image of a toy shop shelf with boxes of playsets. These include 'Farm Yard and Police Rescue'. The boxes are red with plastic inserts to keep the toys in.

That one aisle, of one store, probably had more plastic in it than the amount of straws I'd use in a month or even a year!

And it is like this in every toy shop, in every town, across the entire country.

It just seems so ridiculous to try and prevent or shame someone, for something they genuinely need, yet continue to allow what isn't necessary without even a second thought....

But honestly this all boils down to one incredibly important thing...

If we start listening to the disabled peoples needs, we can work together to create alternatives that works for everyone!!

Image of 3 disabled people, one with a stick, one stood in a dress and one in a wheelchair, holding up a sign that says "SOS". Under their feet is a line saying "Save our Straws" and next to them is a block of text which reads "Please pause the campaign until a suitable solution for disabled customers can be found".

Ignoring these needs is not going to help anyone. It is going to mean the disabled who need plastic straws continue to use them until suitable alternatives are available, even if that means importing them from other countries because of bans (creating even more pollution! :() And yes it hurts. To see all these posts calling anyone that uses straws selfish. To see so many people so oblivious to our needs. And to be challenged constantly on whether or not we tried this or tried that, because believe us... most of us have tried it all! So please, next time before you post that tweet about all the 'lazy a**holes' who have pre-packaged food, or the 'inconsiderate tw*ts' who drink through straws, consider the impact that your words are having on the disabled community. Life is hard enough already, without having your needs shamed and pulled apart, or being treated like you are a liability that needs punishment.

Please please please, if you take anything from this, let it be that most of us do care and do want to help but that right now we cannot. We need to look into alternatives, but don't take away the lifelines of the disabled before those alternatives can meet every single need! And certainly don't treat us as monsters... Thank you!