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Hi Lovelies! So thank you so much to everyone who left comments on my last video
My birthday vlog about my thumb
*sad silence*
*sad noise*
I was actually going to do a hair tutorial today but...
My thumb....
So, we're working with straight-ish hair instead
I'm just gonna talk about something completely different
It's sort of I suppose, a rant, maybe... Is it? Not sure
I'm just kind of... I have feelings
about something and we're going to talk about those feelings
Cause I want to know your feelings on the subject
Of feelings....
Is Ableism!
Oooh, scary buzzword of the internet
Now personally, for me, ableism
is not the same as something like racism
or sexism
And this is just personally
Because I see those things as they can be very intentional
And ableism, most of the time
Is just someone being a bit dim
Or a lot dim
Every single person who asks for my phone number,
So they can have a chat
Racism an sexism, even when they're unintentional
Can show the darker thoughts and feelings
That you had that aren't great
Whereas ableism just shows
How stupid you can be
Much like when get invited to big events
That don't have a sign language interpreter
Or even their videos subtitled
I mean, you know...
No shade YouTube, but, shade
You may remember, way back in 2016
There was a bit of a quarrel because Whole Foods were selling
Prepackaged oranges, just oranges without the peel
in little plastic boxes and people on the internet got angry
This is way too much plastic...
This is terrible, how could you be doing such a thing
as if people were too stupid to peel their own oranges
They already come sealed, why do we need to unseal them and reseal them
Gah! So stupid right?
Oh my God yeah, wasteful and awful...
Rrrr!
For the majority of people they don't need prepackaged oranges
They don't, you know
Genuinely, peel your own oranges guys
That's silly
There is a small minority
I say small, is not really that small
We'll work with a minority, it's still a minority
of people who can't open oranges
For one reason or another, maybe they are old and have arthritis
Maybe they have a disability that limits their dexterity
Maybe they have a condition like autism and for them just the feel of the peel of oranges feels terrible
But the inside of an orange is yummy and lovely and healthy and they would like to eat that
and have some more of that in their diet. Basically there are a variety of reasons why prepackaged fruit
can be an incredibly great and helpful thing
I have a friend who has cerebral palsy, we were
out and about once, she wanted to get a healthy snack
and the easiest thing for her to get where those presliced apples
In a bag
I always looked at those and thought so stupid
Why can't someone just bite an apple?
And yeah I kinda thought that older people might have difficulty chewing into an apple
they might not have their own teeth, her condition, the way she had it just meant that she had difficultly doing that
but if it's in one slice is much easier to do
and she want's something healthy and good and that's great!
That's awesome!When you only other choice is something incredibly unhealthy
that she didn't want...
And of course I am not going to say
that having prepackaged things
Anyway, moral of that story was that
Whole Foods eventually said 'Oh, sorry about that'
Maybe we shouldn't... maybe some disabled people do actually need stuff and we shouldn't
just jump on the Rrrr! Environmental Wagon
Not that all environmental wagons need to be Rrrr!
but some of them are...
And this recently got brought up all over again
because Mark & Spencers got in trouble for selling pre-sliced
cauliflower steaks
Which if you don't know is just a think sliced
sliced bit of cauliflower...
Again the same arguments came up, lots of websites posting 'oh God isn't this disgusting?
'Oh my goodness so bad for the environment, how terrible
Why would anyone need this? Or want this?'
Ridiculous, people are so lazy...
Are they? Are they lazy?
Some people are lazy again, there is definitely some lady people in the world
But not everyone needs pre-packaged things because they are lazy
and I wanted to talk to you about it because I had this chat with some of my friends
Who do not have disabilities and were like
'Oh my God that is so awful, eugh people' and I was like...
Hi!
Actually no, actually as a disabled person I use many products that are already pre-sliced, pre...
I'm trying to think of the word... spiralised!
Spiralised!
Oh the world we live in!
Because you know, sometimes my hands don't work and I cant twist that way
Or even chop, I'm having a bit of trouble chopping right now in fact
Which Claud is finding hilarious
Because do I let that stop me? No!
I just attempt and fail
I sort of explained to my friends this situation
and how things can be incredibly helpful
and also how bad I feel
when somebody starts talking about how wasteful and terrible and ridiculous these things are
to even exist in shops... because it does, it makes me feel
Awful and petty
and like I am a drain on the environment for needing these things
for using these things
One thing that I should establish right upfront is, like I just said, last night Ic couldn't chop stuff
So my wife chopped it for me and that's amazing that I have her
I can rely on her and she will just step in whenever I need and do whatever it is I need
But not everyone has that, not everyone has someone who can step in
and help them out in a situation like that.
And also not everyone should be made to
One in five of the populations lives with a disability or impairment of some kind
Now amongst that group the rate of domestic violence are disproportionately high
for disabled men that rate is the same as non disabled women
For disabled women is much, much higher, they also experience domestic abuse or a longer period of time
more frequently and in a more harsher and severe way.
People with disabilities are most likely to be abused by their carer
By the very person who is meant to be stepping in and doing the help for them
So many of the comments under these articles about the throwaway culture and the so much packaging
and so much plastic, and isn't that awful...
So many comments on these said things like 'Oh well shouldn't their spouse be helping them?'
'Or their parents or their child'... yeah...
Yes but what if that is the person who is abusing them?
And even if not why should they be relying on someone else
Having independence, and I know I have said this before
Having independence even in a small way is so intrinsical to a person
If you keep chipping away all these things, like being able to half way make your meal
and then suddenly there's nothing you can do because now
Oh no longer pre-packaged food is a thing, we don't make ready meals anymore
Oh...
Then where are we going to end up?
So we shouldn't have to rely on other people to come in and help us out
Again no and have friends who have been in situations were their disabilities have led to them
being abused by their carer.
And a carer generally is someone they are in a relationship with
or someone they are related to.
Secondly, disability and accessibility are always going to leave a big carbon footprint
They are not biodegradable, your wheelchair is not going to over a number of years become one with nature again
Neither are your canes, or your crutches, or I mean...
I don't think my wrist splints... well they got metal in them
and fabric on them so I guess overtime, over thousands of years the fabric will probably fade away
But there will still be metal
There is also a production cost whether that is
The water that goes into running things
Electricity that makes the machines that make these things work
Oh and while we are on the topic of disability things costing money...
We have some companies that have worked out that they have a very captive closed market there
Yeah... I need to get the tires replaced on my wheelchair
Can I find tires that fit? Grr... No!
Cause you'd think normal bike tires would do the job, that you can get for...
£5 but no they don't because wheelchairs some of them are made to have special tires
That have to cost a lot of money and have to come from the company that makes those special
wheelchair wheels that go on your special wheelchair and cost
Thousands of pounds! Not the wheels, the wheelchair itself costs thousands of pounds
But the wheels have to be so special because they have to come from that company because only that company makes that particular type
and so you are trapped, you need those wheels, you have to buy them
You have to keep going back to that company over and over again
And they just keep making the money!
If some bigger other companies who make big tires decided to step in and
Hey maybe we'll make some tires that fit your wheelchair as well
Then perhaps the cost would be reduced... just saying
You might want to think about that
Various other bike companies, I might even mention that to them on twitter
Okay yeah it works out to about £80
it's about £80 per tier to get the tires changed on my wheelchair
When it comes to the world of pre-packaged food and chopped food like the M&S Cauliflower stake
The company it's not going to make it's money back only selling to disabled people
We are a pretty big minority, we are the largest minority
Instead the company needs to expand their sales base to other people, abled bodied people
So that they can recuperate the costs and that way they are helping out disabled people
and helping out really busy people who don't have time
to chop stuff.
The thing is when I read all these things about how terrible and awful for the environment it is that I exist
I feel genuinely really terrible
about myself.
Every time someone writes something about how 'isn't it disgusting that people get in the car and drive two streets why don't they just walk?'
I'm like, hah...
Yeah why I don't do that? Oh my God I mean I know I can't really do that but I should do that
I should totally do that
And I get spasms from it, and I'll be super tired and I won't be able to do anything for the rest of the day
Then maybe tomorrow I will be pretty bad as well, and also I am kind of a liability right now
I'm a bit tired so I'm more likely to fall over and I might just fell of the curb, and then I could
dislocate something or break something or paralise something cause boy does that happen all the time
I am a drain on the planet, Jesus...
mmm also I kind of need that because I am going there to go to my GP
Remember that time I waled to my GP in the rain and then I couldn't do anything for three days
Yeah so it hurts
And again I know, I know
It's generally not intentional at all
And I don't in any way think that my friends are intending to make me feel bad
They don't because I know that their intentions are good
the rest I don't know if they are trying to make me feel bad because I don't know their intentions
But the point is, even if something is not intentional it can still be really hurtful
It is difficult as a disabled person to not feel like you are a drain
on the society that you live in
A drain on your family, on your employers, on just the town that you live in
because you exist and you take up more space. That's a thing!
Disabled people do take up more space because we need stuff
There is so much stuff that you need when you are disabled, it's ridiculous
We are planning to go to Malaysia for 2 months and I need an extra bag just for my 'disability' stuff
'Jessica stays alive stuff'
I get really upset when I see the comments under articles like these ones
Where people talk about 'oh disabled people get extra money, well they should just use that
to hire someone to come and peel their oranges for them'
Eh.. first of all that's hilarious
I don't know how much money you think disabled people get but trust me is not that much
and it's not enough to have someone come in and peel your oranges
Because two, the costs of labour and care is ridiculously high
I once got charged £28 an hour by an agency because I needed immediate help and this is before I was married/met my wife
I was so ill I was like someone actually has to come in right now because if they don't I might likely die!
Number four, the council does provide some free assistance for people to come in and look after you
but it can be just half an hour for some disabled people and if you are bed bound
and you can't go to the toilet by yourself, get yourself washed or feed yourself
Half an hour isn't really that long!
Half an hour a day is not gonna get everything done, it's not gonna
keep the area around you clean, keep you clean, food in your belly,
Keep you stocked with medication and you know sometimes you need to go and get the medication
Ah... so should someone really be standing there chopping stuff during that half an hour?
Being able to peel an orange or chop a cauliflower
Cauliflower steak why?
It might not seem that big a deal to you if you happen to be abled bodied but
it can be! It can be such a massive difference, it can be so incredibly important
I talked about independence before and I feel amazing every time I cook a meal
I feel so good being able to do something, make something
for my wife, whom I love, who does so much for me.
And I like being able to make my own food as well, cause is you know
It's fancy! It's quite fancy!
I'm a big supporter of all environmental and climate change issues
But the thing is you just kinda have to be a bit inclusive with that as well
We exist, we are here, we are on the planet and there are a number of ways which people can
Offset their carbon footprint in other ways
So I'm not saying in any way that we should give up on environmental justice, no, not at all!
And it's also fine if you didn't realise when you saw this articles that
maybe it would also affect disabled people, it's fine if you saw this pre-packaged pre-cut things
and like my friends got a bit angry about it because God...
Why, who would need that
It's fine to have that as your first thought, it's fine to not have thought about it
The thing is once you've then been told it's also important that you take a step back
Next time when one of your friends says 'Eugh God that's awful, oh that's terrible, oh why would anyone do this?'
Just say 'Well actually, some people do need that"
But I don't want this to just be me talking at you about stuff
I also want to know your thoughts and your feelings
Do you use pre-packaged food items?
Do you not?
It's perfectly fine if you disagree with me, I don't mind that at all
I just like to have a conversation, I like hearing different people's point of view
I also like reading the same news article from very opposing newspaper
Because then you just learn about how people think
So please, I mean, don't yell at me... obviously please don't yell at me
That's not what your caps lock is for, it's purely for excitement
Yeah so don't yell
But feel free whatever you want in the comments, whether you agree or wether you disagree
So thank you for listening and for watching and also thank you to Squarespace for sponsoring this video
I will see you at the end of the week
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Most importantly for me Squarespace provides costumer support via chat
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