If you'd like to read more about this, @juliametraux.bsky.social wrote about it for @motherjones.com yesterday.
Here's the article: The Department of Energy is quietly slashing disability rights
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Red flyer, black and white text. Header reads emergency action needed, large block text with exclamation points on both sides. Below, a call to action that reads Accessibility for disabled people is about to be removed from federal buildings unless we act by Monday June sixteenth! The US Department of Energy has issued a quote direct final rule end quote that would eliminate the long standing requirement that new buildings constructed with federal money must be accessible to people with disabilities! They claim it’s unnecessary and burdensome.”But here’s what eliminating this rule really means New federally funded buildings could be built without ramps, elevators, accessible bathrooms, or doors. There would be no enforceable standards for accessibility in construction or major renovations. It weakens the civil rights protections guaranteed by Section five oh four of the Rehabilitation Act.
Red flyer, black and white text. Header reads emergency action needed, large block text with exclamation points on both sides. Below, a call to action that reads Accessibility for disabled people is about to be removed from federal buildings unless we act by Monday June sixteenth! This rule will take effect July fifteenth unless the public pushes back. We have until Monday June sixteenth to submit comments. Submit comments using the templates at the links on the flyer. Use the same message three times. Blue right facing arrow pointing toward a header that reads Public comment number one Link below h t t p s colon forward slash forward slash n a c d d dot quorum dot us forward slash campaign forward slash one two eight three three three forward slash Blue right facing arrow pointing toward a header that reads Public comment number two Link below h t t p s colon forward slash forward slash n a c d d dot quorum dot us forward slash campaign forward slash one two eight three three six forward slash Envelope emoji next to a header that reads also email your comments to Email address below D O E General Counsel at h q dot d o e dot g o v
Red flyer, black and white text. Header reads emergency action needed, large block text with exclamation points on both sides. Below, a call to action that reads Accessibility for disabled people is about to be removed from federal buildings unless we act by Monday June sixteenth! This rule will take effect July fifteenth unless the public pushes back. We have until Monday June sixteenth to submit comments. Your email comment doesn’t need to be long. Just say why you oppose removing accessibility protections and why they matter to you and or your community. Please speak up and share this widely. We cannot let accessibility be rolled back without a fight. We need to move quickly. As a community we can’t afford to lose access to new federally funded buildings! Thank you!
🚨Tell the Department of Energy not to change the Section 504 rules!🚨
Accessibility for disabled people is about to be REMOVED from new federal buildings unless we act by MON, JUNE 16!!
Tell the gov't: If we build a new building, it MUST be fully accessible!
👇TAKE ACTION NOW!👇
Square flier with brightly colored circles, white and purple text, and picture of Osom brand rapid tests in the lower right corner. Need Rapid Tests? Get them for free! Tests are available to both individuals and orgs slash community groups. For more info send a direct message or email RobynthRedd at gmail dot com Pick up in Harlem
For those in #NYC or nearby - free rapid tests available.
If you are part of an org/group or can help w/community distro…come grab a box and do your part! Individuals who need tests are welcome also!
DM for pick up.
Please share.
Again, if any local community groups/individuals want to help distro tests/need tests, they can lmk and arrange for pick up in NYC. I’ll also be contacting groups and doing handouts.
And a HUGE shoutout to an amazing community member for the last min support today! 👏
Stacks of cardboard boxes filled with rapid antigen tests for covid 19 acquired from the government sit in a living room on hardwood floors in front of open windows with white curtains. A white air purifier is on the ground to the right of the boxes and a grey metal rolling cart with a green handle is to the left.
42 cases of *unexpired* rapid antigen tests ⬇️
#CovidIsNotOver
UPDATE: Someone nearby is coming tmro to help out!
Thank you for helping get word out about this.Very grateful for you all! 🫶
If any local community groups/individuals want to help distro tests/need tests, they can lmk and arrange for pick up. I’ll also be contacting groups and doing handouts.
Thank you so much! I believe I have one person who is available to help now.
If there are any local community groups or individuals who would like to help distribute tests/are in need of tests, they can let me know and arrange for pick up. I’ll be contacting groups and doing handouts as well.
Please help me find someone to lend a hand with this? Feel free to share on other platforms, dm to people, post in groups, etc.
These tests will be made available (free) to the community!! If I refuse the delivery it goes back to HHS.
Thank you!!📦😷
#NYC #MutualAid #CovidIsNotOver
🚨HELP NEEDED MONDAY 4/21 IN NYC (HARLEM)🚨
Rapid test delivery being done curbside, they refuse to do it to my door and I can’t physically lift the boxes. I have an elevator and can make a dolly available.
Please lmk if you can help! Anyone interested in distro also lmk!
Soft blue background with a little boy and a dog drawing. Text says yes I did it. No I'm not sorry. Yes, I'd do it again.
Join us on April 19 at 2:00 pm EDT for Guerilla Advocacy Round 2, a #50501 event. This is a virtual rally with captions. If there are other accessibility requests, we will do our best to provide! Speakers TBA.
Limited space; overflow streamed to YouTube.
Sign up👇
events.pol-rev.com/events/afc50...
Here's an article about this and other online events. Thank you, Mother Jones, for covering it. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
I’m Robyn Saldino, I live in New York City, and I developed Long COVID after a COVID infection in December 2021. I’ve participated in advocacy across several orgs, I’m a RECOVER patient representative, I do resource distribution from my apartment, and I’m active in mutual aid efforts. I’ve also been fighting my own eviction for more than 18 months. After multiple months of trying to convince legal aid orgs to proactively take my case, give me advice, or point me to resources before I lost my housing or was served with an eviction notice, I found out that a warning and eviction had both been filed only after I emailed my landlord about a separate issue and was told my concern was likely made up, due only to the fact that we were about to go to court. I had not received either one. I again began trying to find a legal aid group to help me, and could not get anyone to give me advice without a case number or without physically going to court first. I repeatedly explained that my disability would prevent me from physically traveling to the courthouse, but still received no help. As a disabled person, it is extremely difficult for me to make last minute plans, and unlikely that I will be traveling to the courthouse in-person due to my disability. I need time to arrange for virtual accommodations, submit requests, and handle other paperwork that comes along with living in a world that is not designed for accessibility. The hardship that this causes is extraordinary, and knowing that no one has bothered to inform me is infuriating and disheartening. Throughout the course of my case, I was never given a lawyer, though here in NYC we have Right to Counsel, and I am legally entitled to have one present. I came into contact with more 50 people, lawyers, social workers, advocates, housing specialists, court workers, etc, and these contacts became my lifeline, but no one ever took on my case. I eventually was told to refer myself to Adult Protective Services.
APS asked the court assign me a Guardian ad Litem. The case dragged on. My Landlord refused to accept a housing voucher. My APS worker helped to finally sort out my SNAP, utility benefit, and health insurance, and allowed me to finally, after more than 2 1/2 years in this city, see a doctor. My case took 18 months, and I won. Immediately after winning my case, my landlord filed for eviction again under a different pretense, and I successfully got that case dismissed, too. Mutual aid kept me afloat, allowing me to make a single payment to my landlord and extend the case long enough to continue searching for housing that would accept a voucher. It kept me fed when I didn’t have SNAP. It got me to a doctor and got me meds when I needed them. It got me to clinical trial appointments for a Long COVID trial I was enrolled in. It has allowed me to distribute thousands of covid tests and masks, to lend out my air purifiers, and even to give direct aid to long haulers in need of support. I live in a medically underserved community— a FEMA-designated, medically underserved community. My neighborhood has one of the highest eviction rates in the city. There is no Long COVID clinic in my community. We’re losing funding, care, homes, rights, and lives. Prior to the global outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, approximately 1 in 10 households were being threatened with evictions in formal court filings each year. By September 2020, that number was 1 in 6. 1 in 6 households were behind on rent and at risk of eviction. Renters were 2 to 6 times more likely to report housing insecurity than homeowners. Many of the filings were unresolved pre-pandemic cases, filed before the eviction moratorium was put into place in 2020, which means we were playing catch-up. When the moratorium ended in 2021, eviction filings increased 78.6% over the next year. Even if a tenant is able to win their case or gain access to a housing voucher, the housing crisis persists.
Finding accessible housing is it’s own unique challenge. There is an extreme lack of accessible housing. Less than 5% of housing is accessible for people with moderate mobility needs. Less than 1% of housing is fully accessible for wheelchair users. The cost of living in the United States, and the average rent already exceeds the maximum monthly supplemental security income a person is able to receive. When people with disabilities apply for affordable housing, widespread discrimination coupled with a lack of available accessible housing, creates additional barriers that are more likely to lead to homelessness and institutionalization. I’m not having it. I’m saying hands off. Hands off our community, hands off our long haulers. We can do better. Thank you for being here.
I spoke yesterday at an online #HandsOff event organized by @rubyslippahs.bsky.social. Here's my speech. Please keep talking about these important things, get involved in mutual aid efforts and community organizing, ask your neighbors how you can help, and know your rights.
Thank you so much! I can’t even tell you how much that means coming from you! 🫂
Disabled and chronically ill DV survivor struggling trying to balance things, get bills paid, make it to appts, take care of myself, etc. Recent tests worse than previous ones. New rx and new docs. Finally won eviction case. Trying to stay afloat.
Any help makes a difference. TYSM 🫶
Help w/emergency needs:
💸PP: PayPal.me/RobynthRedd
Help me stay independent and safe:
👑WL: throne.com/robynthredd
Disabled DV survivor at risk of losing utilities/apt due to $20k+ arrears. Fees are stacking, landlord is harassing me. Court again 7/29.
🏘️: $442/$2900 (June/July only, DUE 7/5 W/LATE FEE)
🔌: $285/$887 (FINAL NOTICE)
gofund.me/8991e474
PyPl/Vnmo: RobynthRedd
#MutualAid #Crowdfund #HousingCrisis
Have until tmro (5th) to make a payment before court!! I still owe more than $7000 to stop the eviction. Legal aid won’t talk to me about housing or DV stuff. Please 🎁💬🔄❤️
GoFundMe.com/f/RobynThRedd-emergency
PayPal/Venmo: @RobynThRedd
#MutualAidRequest #LongCovid #Crowdfund
HRA denied my SNAP/Medicare/CA almost 2 wks ago and didn't notify me. Was denied an emerg. grant bc of a computer error. Requested a Fair Hearing. Was told I'd get a FH date by 12/8. Only have until 12/1 to pay arrears.
If you can help - 🎁💬❤️🔁
GFM: gofund.me/0d098f40
Venmo/PayPal: @RobynThRedd
🫂 Thank you. Genuinely, so much.
I waited longer than I should've to do this, and I'm sorry for asking. My abuser left ~$10k in arrears/utilities are gonna be cut off/I'm facing eviction. Grateful for support of any kind! #MutualAid #LongCovid
GFM: gofund.me/f97dabce
Venmo/Paypal: @RobynthRedd
Agreed. Have tried to set aside small bits of change all year for things I know will be much less expensive. They’ve already started going on sale. Personal air purifiers, elastomerics, filters, C02 monitors, etc are all great options imho if one is looking :)
I'm curious too, and now I'm going to have to create a test survey to try to figure it out. 😅 And thank you! Hopefully we get some useful info to help support our community!
A screenshot from a survey that reads "Preferred Name? (First name REQUESTED, or you may use an initial or nickname)"
Survey is updated. First name is requested, or initial/nickname if preferred. If someone wants to use an alias, that's fine. The field is not required.
But I try not to live in the land of “should” too much. It’s possible also that I just missed a setting or don’t have a setting on my desktop that other users have bc they have a different operating system (Mac vs PC vs android etc).
device or acct for submission/repeat submission makes sense to me. But I’m going to update the form and clarify the field as well as make it optional so that the form is more accessible to everyone, and if it means I end up double checking the spreadsheet for a while then that’s fine.
I created the form and spreadsheet, or bc I wasn’t (secretly) collecting email addresses from respondents, or bc I allowed multiple submissions. I will likely still allow multiple submissions bc using a gmail acct allows someone to auto save their progress and not everyone has gmail, so sharing a 2/
It’s possible that bc I only tested it using my own account, it messed with the spreadsheet (meaning there were several submissions from the same email account) and I had allowed that previously in case anyone had multiple family members on the same account. I don’t know if it was because 1/
Sorry, I wasn’t clear. Just not very awake yet. I’ll make it optional AND add a clarification if it’s a problem. It will just be in a little bit :)