Disability Pride Month in Chicago

Disability Pride month in Chicago

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law on July 26, 1990. The ADA is civil rights legislation that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life: jobs, schools, transportation, public and private places open to the public. Just like African Americans, people with disabilities have the civil right to lives that are as full as their dreams allow.

Chicago’s Disability Pride Parade celebrates 20 years on July 22. The parade steps off at 11 a.m. from 401 S. Plymouth Court. It will continue one-half block west on Van Buren to Dearborn Street, then proceed north to Daley Plaza for postparade activities.

The mission of the Disability Pride Parade is to change the way people think about disabilities. It seeks to break down the internalized shame among people with disabilities. It also promotes the belief in society that disabilities are a natural and beautiful part of human diversity, in which people living with disabilities can take pride.

On these pages, StreetWise Intern Kyra Walker tells about living with an invisible disability, and Vendor A. Allen writes about temporary disabilities among homeless people, which can become permanent if left untreated. -intro by Suzanne Hanney

Living With An Invisible Disability

by Kyra Walker

Whether it’s visible or invisible, it’s still a disability. Those who have to bear the weight of it are not superheroes. We are regular people, and we should be treated as such. Not someone you should treat differently because we might require a little more attention, or need different things than those who aren’t disabled. I am a person with a disability.

Crohn’s disease causes inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract, the bowels. What this means is that certain parts of my colon and small intestine are inflamed with the ill ness. As a result, I need to be a bit more cautious about what I eat, monitor my body a little more closely, and make sure I take my medications no matter how much I may dread it. Crohn’s is a chronic condition, which means it can last for several years or a lifetime. Unfortunately for me, mine appears to be lifelong. Crohn’s has no cure, but it can be treated with medication.

I’ve known I’ve had this illness for as long as I can remember. I had to have been either 9 or 10 years old when I got my diagnosis, and it’s been an ongoing battle every day since. Not only because I’m chronically ill, but because this world isn’t 100% ready to make the changes it needs so it can fully serve everyone. Having publicly accessible bathrooms has been my biggest issue thus far.

Crohn’s is associated with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), which can come with constipation. This is called IBS-C, which is something else that I have. To treat it, every other day I have to take a pill in the morning to help me use the bathroom as often as I should. Linzess isn’t a laxative. What it does is push you to go to the bathroom. It releases more fluid in your gastrointestinal tract to accelerate bowel movements. It also treats bloating, pain, and discomfort.

I’ve officially lost count on the number of times I’ve been out and about, and I needed to use a restroom, but didn’t have access to one. I will never forget the day when I took my medication prior to leaving my apartment, and I really needed to go. When I started this medication, I was living close to downtown Milwaukee. Here, businesses pick and choose whether or not to have public restrooms. Chances are, most of them don’t. During this incident I was close to the Riverwalk, so there were only a few options: Subway, TJ Maxx, Planet Fitness, or walking down to the 3rd Street Market Hall. This was a day where the bathrooms in TJ Maxx were closed, and apparently Planet Fitness doesn’t have public restrooms. I had no idea that the bathrooms were for members only since I had never been inside a Planet Fitness. Subway doesn’t have public bathrooms either. Even if you try to use the restroom there, it would be locked anyway. I wasn’t too far from the 3rd Street Market Hall, but I had a dire need of a restroom right then and there.

For a person my size and with the amount I eat in a day, the dose is a lot on my body sometimes. There’ve been days where I’d either push my plans for the day or wait until I got home to take the medicine. This is because not every business has a public, functioning restroom. Having public restrooms is such an easy fix, and it’s not going to cost business owners a penny. So that raises the question, why can’t the world be a more accommodating place for those with disabilities?

The Danger of Temporary disabilities for people facing homelessness

by A. Allen

When I think of a temporary disabililty as it relates to homelessness, someone could have a deep cut on their arm or leg that can lead to a permanent disability. If you are homeless and released from a hospital and your arm or leg becomes infected, you could wind up losing it without proper treatment.

Mental health is another example of a temporary disability becoming permanent. I remember being homeless for three years and I was on the verge of losing my mind. I was unable to think straight and it was getting worse.

To make a long story short, I was finally admitted to a mental health institution: John J. Madden Mental Health Center near Maywood and Hines Veteran Affairs Hospital. Slowly, my mind came back to me. I started feeling better.

After about two months, the officials said, “You seem to be much better. We’re releasing you to go home now.”

I thought, that’s a great idea. “Do you have a place for me to stay?”

“No, we’re releasing you.”

I said, “To go where? I have nowhere to go. I need someplace to go. I don’t want to leave here and continue to be homeless.”

They actually said, “OK, we will find you someplace to go.” I was overjoyed.

The point is, I was on the edge of losing my mind permanently, but because of the intervention of a social worker, I was able to recover without any setbacks.

I know from experience, the condition could have very easily gotten worse. I stayed at a recovery house, the Jack Clark House on the West Side. I stayed there a month. Then they wanted rent. I didn’t have a job.

The social worker again intervened. “Let me pull some strings.”

She did. She got me into the YMCA.

I have recently seen homeless people leave the hospital still homeless, not knowing the resources and programs available to them through social workers at the hospital. Even if a homeless person is in the hospital for only a day, someone should keep track of where they go. Social workers should make connections with them so that they are released into a more stable situation. Otherwise, homelessness could make their condition worsen.

Expansion of “medical respite care” is, in fact, one of four concepts in the new “Home Illinois: Illinois’ Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness.”

The idea is to expand temporary housing paired with clinical care across the state for people who are homeless after being released from in-patient hospital care. Social workers won’t need to go looking for these homeless people, and the homeless people won’t have to worry about having their phones. When social workers find a housing unit, the people will be right there, waiting.