Homeless Rights Are Disability Rights.
Over 200,000 disabled people in America are unhoused.
*Statistics from 2018 United States Government report "Focus on Chronic Homelessness Among People With Disabilities"
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More than 40% of homeless people are disabled.
Disabled people are more than 2x as likely to be homeless
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Chronic, mental, and invisible illnesses are often not counted in these studies. Where they have been:
In SF 1 in 3 chronically homeless people were living with a chronic physical illness. Roughly 1 in 4 have a physical disability.
70% of chronically homeless suffer from mental illness, another invisible disability.
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Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Fibromyalgia are severely underreported and underdiagnosed conditions with as many as 90% of people with ME going undiagnosed. How many more homeless people with MECFS are we missing?
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An Invisible Problem
People with ME who are homeless tend to simply drop off the radar. They often do not have the resources to access diagnosis, support groups, online charities, etc. Even if they can get some access it will be used trying to meet basic needs, not raising awareness. This means the chronic illness community is often leaving our most vulnerable members out in the cold. (Quite literally)
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Effect on Non-homeless Disabled
While the problem may be invisible it has real effects on both housed and unhoused disabled people.
-Housing for the disabled is treated as a luxury ("you're lucky you're not homeless")
-Used to force disabled people into abusive living situations
-Increases PTSD and Medical trauma from having illness denied
-Is a gun to the head of every disabled person trying to stand up for legally mandatory workplace accommodations
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Ableism in Reporting
Who becomes homeless on purpose? I argue no one. Like the laziness myth statistics around homelessness aim to minimize people's disabilities and focus on their actions to create the illusion of personal choice. If someone is failing to be able to go to work and earn an income there is almost certainly an explanation and it is almost never "they would rather be homeless". Undiagnosed autism, ADHD, mental health, chronic fatigue and pain, all of these contribute to the population of "lazy" "able" homeless people.
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What can I do?
-Share the stats! Break the myth that homeless people are lazy, let it be known that they are victims of ableism.
-Donate to AMMES Financial Crisis Fund to prevent homelessness in MECFS (link in bio)
-Keep your disability rights movement intersectional. Remember that people of color, poor, LGBT, and other marginalized groups are more likely to face homelessness and larger threats to their safety due to disability.
-Support housing first homeless policy. Studies show that this is the most effective way to end homelessness and is also most effective at stopping the chronic homelessness that affects disabled people most.
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Laziness is a myth. The homeless are not lazy. They are disabled.
Just think for a second, why would anyone ever choose to be homeless? Only if working a job and paying rent caused them more pain and difficulty than sleeping on the street. Think of how cold, uncomfortable, abused, and looked down upon the homeless are in our society. Think how much pain and difficulty that person much have been having working. That much pain and difficulty doesn't come from nowhere, it comes from chronic physical and mental illness and health conditions.
The statistics on the amount of physical disability, mental illness, and chronic illness in the homeless community are staggering. But to me what is more staggering is that this is after all of the barriers to being recognized as part of this group. Every piece of our capitalist society pushes people away from getting the diagnosis and help they need. Didn't have health insurance? You're more likely to be homeless and less likely to have been diagnosed. Had any sort of mental illness that affects executive functioning? More likely to fail to navigate bureaucracy, more likely homeless, less likely diagnosed. Have any sort of invisible illness? More likely to be dismissed by doctors, less likely to be diagnosed and given support, more likely to be homeless.
I hope that this post makes our spoonie community think for a second. What if your illness was that flare day you just physically couldn't get out of bed every day? What if your pain was that day you took every med out of desperation day after day? What if your spouse or family or support network didn't believe your diagnosis? What if that one doctor who finally diagnosed you was too expensive to see? How easily could you slip into homelessness?
So much of the disabled community are homeless or steps away. The threat of homelessness is used to keep us in our place. To tell us our needs do not matter and we are lucky to have any basic needs met at all. Until we have a social safety net and stop treating ableism as a socially acceptable way to deny people basic needs we can not make true progress against it. This means housing the homeless. Now.
