[Slurping]
Hello! You've been sent this video to explain the disabled point of view on why the straw ban is a bad thing.
The person who sent it to you has probably already had this conversation five times today.
And they just can't be arsed any more.
Which is where I step in.
Part of my condition means I have to drink between 8 to 10 litres a day.
I drink everything through a straw because my wrists are quite weak and my hands shake,
so...
Side note: Yes, that is why I have such lovely white teeth *ding*
If you're able-bodied or have a disability that doesn't require the use of straws,
you're probably a little confused about how talk around a tiny luxury has blown SO out of control.
Fun fact: The first targeted sales of bendable straws in 1947 were to hospitals,
as the bend means patients can drink in bed;
they're sterile; don't disintegrate; and can be used with hot liquids.
Now, plastic is seen as cheap, wasteful and harmful to the environment.
Yes, I say "plah-stic." I'm very British, OK?
These things are all true, but plastic is also an essential part of my health and wellness.
We should all be reducing our plastic consumption,
but disabled people who use straws aren't just saying, "Screw you!" to the environment,
We genuinely want to help the planet, but we can't sacrifice ourselves in the process.
The majority of us have taken up reusable straws
and it's only in a pinch that we need the disposable ones,
but it is a NEED.
Yes, it would be better if someone could invent something that functions as well as a bendable plastic straw
and has little environmental impact.
But, until that happens,
we can't just outright ban something people need.
For those of you who don't actually know what the straw ban is, though...
In 2015, a video of a sea turtle with a straw stuck up its nose went viral.
Campaigns to eliminate straws soon followed.
Across the world, various companies and cities have decided that the best way to reduce their plastic
is to ban plastic straws.
Starbucks plans to faze out plastic straws by 2020;
McDonald's will ban plastic straws in its UK and Ireland restaurants.
Alaska Airlines will be the first airline to faze out the use of plastic straws,
and the entire city of Seattle has banned them.
An entire city.
Since 8 million tons of plastic flow into the oceans every year,
it is very right that we do something about it.
But straws are only 0.025% of that.
Ian Calderon, the Democratic majority leader in California's lower house,
has introduced a bill to stop restaurants from offering straws to customers,
unless they specifically request one.
Under Calderon's law, a waiter who serves a straw that has not been asked for
could face up to six month's in prison and a 1,000 dollar fine.
Although our ban on plastic straws does come from a wonderful place - concern for our ecosystem -
it inadvertently harms those with disabilities.
Plastic straws are considered unnecessary items, used by environmentalists as a gateway plastic
to engage the public in more of a conversation about environmentalism.
But! One person's ecological conversation starter is another person's nutritional lifeline.
Going without straws can mean struggling through the physical motion of getting a drink up to one's lips
or aspirating on the liquid and choking.
For many people who need straws, materials other than plastic just doesn't do the job.
You've likely been sent this video because you asked, "Have you considered re-usable alternatives?"
Ugh!
Ugh, come on now.
We've all seen the memes about mansplaining,
and this is veering into...able-splaining.
That's a thing.
So here's why the alternatives don't work for everyone, in handy graph form.
Metal: it's an allergy risk, for one thing.
Oh, and a terrible injury risk, especially if you have seizures or a very soft palate.
I--oh, I just don't wanna think about that.
They also aren't positionable, which means they can't be moved and then stay that way.
They got hot if you put them in hot liquids.
They're hard to sanitize, and the cost can be prohibitive.
Also, I don't really want to think about the amount of this plastic coating I have now ingested.
Paper! The straw people most commonly recommend:
Did you know some people can be allergic to them?
They're also a choking hazard, as they fall apart and then can be sucked or breathed in.
Again, they're not positionable.
They're not safe in hot liquids.
Dissolve with prolonged use.
So drink up fast!
Glass:
If you thought metal was an injury risk,
do we even need to go into glass?
Again, not postionable,
although, often, very pretty.
Hard to sanitize and can be high cost.
Silicone:
Again, an allergy risk.
Although they are floppy enough to be bent back on themselves,
they don't then stay that way.
They are hard to sanitize
and high cost.
Acrylic:
Allergy risk, injury risk,
not positionable,
not hot liquid-safe, hard to sanitize
Seriously, I once poisoned myself
from the mould inside an acrylic straw.
God. That was a week I do not want to re-live.
Pasta or rice:
Allergy risk!
Also, choking hazard, because it does--you know, it's hard, but then it does break.
Injury risk, because they can break your teeth.
Not positionable, not hot liquid-safe,
and then does actually dissolve with prolonged use.
Bamboo: Allergy--can you see where I'm going with this?
Injury risk. Ouch. Sharp.
Not positionable, and high cost.
Biodegradable: Allergy risk, allergy risk, allergy risk,
ALLERGY RISK.
People could literally die.
Also a choking hazard since they do then dissolve in hot liquids
and after prolonged use.
And then single-use straws!
[Sound effects as if tumbleweed was blowing by]
No danger of aspirating or being injured by them during a seizure,
they're very cheap,
and you can do this.
Side note: all disabled people are different.
What works for one will not necessarily work for another.
People with autoimmune disorders use their own reusable straws,
rather than risk using a single-use one that someone else may have sneezed on.
Life -
it's complex.
There are pros and cons to every type of straw,
but the important thing is not to shut down a person
when they are trying to speak about their own lived experience.
I personally use plastic straws.
I put them in the dishwasher and then I reuse them over and over and over again
until they get a hole or they grow mould, because that's a thing.
I also have this glass straw that I take out and about with me
in its cute case
It has its own little straw cleaner inside.
But, because I need a straw that bends back on itself, since I spend an awful lot of time lying down,
my wife Claudia bought me these:
silicone straws
So they bend back on themselves, which is great
when you're on the floor,
but they don't then stay that way.
They also have a really weird in-mouth feel.
But, look, you can tie it in a knot and then put it in your handbag
and! they go in the dishwasher.
Because I am a very privileged disabled person who has a dishwasher,
and an able-bodied wife who can clean things if I ask her to,
and I can afford them.
A few days ago, I cried because I saw an online poll that phrased the debate as,
"Are environmental issues more important than disabled people's needs?"
As if that is an OK question to ask.
Really sorry to break this to you, and you probably weren't meaning to sound like that at all,
but...kind of sounds like eugenics talk.
I'm sure you didn't mean to make someone feel like you genuinely believed
the world would be a better place if they were dead.
So...
watch your language next time.
'But why can't straws be request only?'
Um...
The ban in Seattle comes with an exception for people with disabilities,
where restaurants can provide straws
if they're needed for medical reasons.
Buuut, that's actually just optional.
The restaurant can just shrug in your face and say no if they want
And even if the restaurant do provide straws for disabled people,
that means that the person has to prove their medical need
and out themselves as disabled;
possibly discuss their upsetting medical condition, while on a night out with friends
[Sarcastically] Yay!
Oh, and even then, they can still say no.
"You just--you just don't look disabled enough!"
'Can't disabled people just bring their own?'
This puts the burden of accessibility on an already over-burdened group of people.
I can barely remember to take my phone and money when I leave the house
and even though I rely on straws, I can't always remember to put them in my bag.
My God, I cannot describe the horrid feeling when I am out somewhere
and I'm desperate for a drink and then I get my drink and,
"Oh, we have no straws."
Plus, the reusable straws do have to be sterilized before and after use...
'But why can't your carer carry it?'
Whoa, you vastly overestimate the social care budget.
I understand, though.
Disability life stuff is completely confusing. My God, it confuses me.
And I live it.
'Would it be possible to have them available at the pharmacy as a medical device?'
a) Hard to implement
b) Disabled people would have to go out of their way to get them
Not every disabled person takes medication every day and therefore goes to the pharmacy a lot.
c) It is hard enough for people to get medical devices approved for their insurance
And d)
Stigma
Look, your environmental activism is worthy and valid and needed,
but in this case it's kind of been a little...misguided.
Spoiler alert:
You do not need to remind disabled people that their presence is a burden on society.
Please do continue to do the very valid and worthwhile job of raising awareness for environmental issues,
and campaigning for a more sustainable society.
But, do bear in mind that "a nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members"
and if your future ideal does not accommodate disabled people's needs,
it's not really that great a society.
We should be holding plastic companies and big businesses responsible for this waste,
not individual people.
And if we're gonna talk about the turtles,
a recent survey by scientists associated with Ocean Cleanup
determined that at least 46% of the plastic in the floating "garbage patch" that is the size of France
in the middle of our oceans
comes from fishing nets.
Forty-six percent...
So how about we use all that anti-straw energy on that?
If we can convince governments in the developed world
to hold to account the companies who are making this waste,
and to divert some of their resources into helping developing countries
to start recycling properly,
then we'll be doing really well!
Energized customers and activists in rich countries
can play a vital role in accomplishing real environmental change.
Honestly, a lot of this drama would just have been avoided if the people in charge
had thought to ask actual disabled people about the policies that they thought would actually work.
Here are three suggestions from this disabled person:
1) Companies should re-examine the types of plastic they use
Wrap to containers, and just find additional ways to cut down
because my God does my food come with a lot of plastic
Unnecessarily.
2) Have both plastic and biodegradable straws available in establishments
That way, the consumer can make the choice, but nobody's being excluded.
3) Make recycling easier and more accessible
Make sure that those recycling companies are actually doing their job
and sorting stuff out and not just putting it on a bus and then
shipping it to another country where some poor child has to search through your recycling
because for some reason our local council doesn't think that we can sort through recycling
because we're dumb?
Lord, the world has enough accessibility issues without adding new ones.
There are just plenty of more impactful ways to help the environment that does not hurt disabled people.
People want to blame our environmental problems on other every day people,
[whispering] but it's actually big business to blame.
Yes, disabled people want to be treated like everyone else,
but they cannot live like everyone else if their accessibility needs are not met.
There are thousands of other single-use plastics to target
that have acceptable replacements and don't function as accessibility items in the same way.
I mean, I LOVE party balloons...
but do I NEED party balloons?
Focusing on straws is not substantive, it is performative.
Don't make a song and dance about how you're saving the world by not using a straw.
In summary, this video isn't really about straws.
The debate is not really about straws.
It's about listening to the needs of disabled people and helping others to hear them.
Also, if anyone says, 'But what did disabled people do before straws?'
The answer is: aspirated liquid into their lungs and died.
And finally, if you do use single-use straws, please be mindful of the disposal .
The best way to protect wildlife is to cut them right down the middle before you throw them into the bin.
Thank you!