It’s difficult to say whether this is because I’m disabled or because I’m relatively poor. The two are very intertwined for me.
Tonight I had water come through a light at home. It’s been temporarily made safe as an emergency. And while it will be fixed at some point in the future, it will never be made to look as if it didn’t happen. That’s never a priority of the social housing.
Don’t get me wrong I understand why, of course. But just because you understand why something is the way it is, doesn’t mean that you have to like it that way. And because finding income is shall we say more complex for me, in no small part because of my disability, there’s nothing I can do about it off my own back.
I’m stuck with the minimum. Not to sound ungrateful, but the minimum gets tiring.
At least I have four walls, heating, electricity and food. And most importantly my babies are safe, and as well looked after as I can make them. I know I need to be grateful. But watching everyone else have the house they dream of, have a house they feel like is there’s when I can’t, is just hard.
I really like to do these writing prompts, but sometimes they’re very difficult, particularly the vague ones. This is pretty vague.
What would I do differently, if what?
I was rich?
I wasn’t disabled?
I was an alien from Mars?
If I wasn’t disabled, it is a question I try to stay away from. I guess I’d live a life with a bit more freedom. But thats all I’m prepared to say for now.
If I was rich, I’d live a life with more freedom, but wouldn’t we all?
If I was an alien from Mars, I would probably be dissected, let’s be honest.
I don’t really know how else to answer this question. But let me know if there’s a way to answer it that I’m missing.
I’m going to be brutally honest here and and say that travel is difficult when you’re disabled and poor.
Don’t get me wrong being disabled makes it difficult to travel. But the hardest part of travelling, or in my case not travelling to another country, is being poor.
There is some truth when they say that money can buy happiness. I don’t think it’s that simple, money doesn’t solve all the problems of the world, but I think it can buy you freedom.
You can definitely buy the freedom to travel, anyone with money can attest to that. So while I would love to travel, it’s just not possible.
But the question is what city would I travel to, if I could.
If I could travel, I would love to go to Vegas. I’d love to try my luck as it were.
I would love to go on a plane, or a boat. I’d just love to travel differently, to go somewhere different.
Name the most expensive personal item you’ve ever purchased (not your home or car).
I could easily list my phone and my laptop and probably my TV, I say probably with my TV just because of how long I’ve had it I don’t remember how much it actually cost.
Then this things like my wheelchair, which, though is mine, I did not purchase and so would not fit the criteria of the question. But I don’t know if this is something the question simply didn’t consider, or if I’m just completely overthinking. I’m probably just overthinking.
Next comes my pets and everything I’ve gotten for them, and the cost them and caring for them, they are worth every penny. But I really don’t like to think of them as items, they’re my babies.
So I guess that leaves me with my laptop is the most expensive item that I purchased myself. So really this question isn’t that complicated to answer, but I do think it is interesting.
I find the specifications of this question interesting. The way it clarifies that a house and car do not count, as well as the item must be something you’ve purchased, is it interesting to say the least.
The question comes a lot of preconceived ideas about how much money the person will have who is answering it. The idea of ever being able to buy my own house or car is completely beyond what I am financially, capable of. I may be able to buy a car in the future, but in all honesty to own my own home is simply unthinkable.
It is the assumption that you will have the money required to do this, that surprises me. This is reinforced by you being the one purchasing the item, which again also requires money.
Name the professional athletes you respect the most and why.
I’m aware that this is not how you would answer this question, but it’s what came to mind.
Honestly, I don’t really respect professional athletes at all, at least in any other way than how I respect anyone else.
To me, this respect for athletes speaks to wider ablesim in society. And this is not something that I blame the individual athletes for. I just don’t like that physical ability is so valued above other abilities.
The money that goes into the Olympics or Football, could change the world if used better. And maybe then the people that enjoy sports would be able to enjoy them and it wouldn’t all just be about money.
Sport should be about fun, or at most healthy competition. Not money.
What’s the most money you’ve ever spent on a meal? Was it worth it?
I’m honestly struggling to remember this one. I know I’ve eaten at some places where the total was around £100 I wouldn’t class that as worth it honestly. But whether something is worth it is very subjective, so I know others might say it is. I guess this question isn’t just about whether you think spending a lot of money on food is okay. But also what you think a lot of money is.
So today I spent a significant portion of time figuring out how I could do something in the most simplest way possible. The instructions for which would be pretty easy for most non disabled people to follow and complete.
I then decided I couldn’t do it, and so spent an even longer period of time seeing if I could justify paying someone to do it for me.
Exactly what I was trying to do is not important to this post. What I’m trying to explain is the general understanding that I as a disabled person often have to pay for things to be done that non-disabled people are able to do themselves, and can therefore do for free. The cleaners that I have come to the house, as I have written about in a previous post are one such example of this. But there are many of them.
This is known as the disability tax, or the extra cost involved when you live in an inaccessible world as a disabled person. In the UK the disability benefit known as Personal Independence Payments (PIP) is supposed to cover such costs. But unsurprisingly it doesn’t cover it, but it does help, and this is the reason you can still be on this benefit while in employment.
Sometimes it feels like everything falls into this category of “things I need other people to do for me”, whether or not I have to pay for it. And if I’m being honest today was definitely one of those days.
Sometimes the cost of the disability tax, of the Innaccessiblity in society, is emotional as well as monetary.
My Inaccessible Life 