WEBVTT 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:07.679 I have physical health problems; I have mental health problems. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:12.640 I have complex PTSD from medical trauma. 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:16.239 It is super traumatic to go through the medical system undiagnosed. 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:22.679 It is also traumatic to go through it as a queer person. 00:00:22.679 --> 00:00:27.760 I am a trans, non-binary person. 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:32.840 And I am also queer in my sexuality as well. 00:00:32.840 --> 00:00:37.920 And going through the medical system that way was difficult. 00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:47.240 And because of those experiences, or however it happens on the brain, 00:00:47.240 --> 00:00:49.960 I also have anxiety and depression. 00:00:49.960 --> 00:00:55.840 So this quarantine is really really affecting my mental health. 00:00:55.840 --> 00:01:01.719 I feel like I reverted in my mental health, like, I took three years back in steps 00:01:01.719 --> 00:01:06.519 in my mental health progress within the month. 00:01:07.959 --> 00:01:15.239 When the quarantine happened, our services for disabled people in their homes were cut. 00:01:15.239 --> 00:01:22.519 So, I don't have any way to do laundry. I am walking pretty well right now, 00:01:22.519 --> 00:01:28.079 which is nice, but in a few hours, I will need my walker. 00:01:28.079 --> 00:01:32.040 And in a few more hours, I will only be able to use my wheelchair. 00:01:32.040 --> 00:01:40.280 And because of that, that increases the stress, the anxiety and decreases the self-worth. 00:01:40.280 --> 00:01:44.760 When you look over and you see a giant pile of laundry that you can't do yourself. 00:01:45.719 --> 00:01:50.200 Canada has decided to give people who are laid off 2000 Dollars a month 00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:53.760 And is not changing anything about the disability system 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:57.760 except giving us a one time emergency fund of 100 Dollars 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:00.000 because that's going to go real real far. 00:02:00.040 --> 00:02:04.400 It makes me feel so devalued in my society. 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:15.840 Our triage protocols are that if you have a chronic illness or an intellectual disability, 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:21.919 you are considered lower on the list for a ventilator. 00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:25.439 Literally causing eugenics. 00:02:25.879 --> 00:02:29.879 And that has really impacted my mental health. 00:02:29.879 --> 00:02:35.199 Knowing that if I do get this, I won't get the ventilator. 00:02:35.400 --> 00:02:44.639 The medical health complex is ableist, racist, and anti-indigenous itself. 00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:50.560 But it is literally telling me that it is more advantageous for them that I should die, 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:52.719 just because I have a disability. 00:02:53.840 --> 00:02:55.960 ...that we are systematically devalued. 00:02:55.960 --> 00:03:01.199 That our life is considered less than yours 00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:05.159 in the way the system is built, in the way the system is practiced, 00:03:05.159 --> 00:03:09.120 and in the way, many people treat us. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:17.039 And even in the way that you may subconsciously be treating the people in your life around you. 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:21.360 And right now, we are particularly sensitive to those things. 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:28.080 So if you are talking to a disabled person right now and you say something that 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:32.560 usually doesn't get you a little quip back but you are getting a quip back from us on that 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:37.039 because you said something that wasn't okay, we are going to be quicker to correct you right now. 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:38.919 Because we are under attack. 00:03:38.919 --> 00:03:42.639 And this is not an attack on you. 00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:53.759 It's an attack on the way that we as a society talk, interact and include disabled people. 00:03:53.919 --> 00:04:00.159 And if by doing that we have to attack language, it may seem like we are attacking a person, 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:03.879 but impact and intent are different. 00:04:03.879 --> 00:04:07.599 And if you have caused an impact that was not your intent, 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:10.960 hear what the person is actually saying. 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:18.000 Hear that your intent was genuine and wonderful but that your impact was different. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:23.160 Change the behavior and go on. And if we can all continue to choose to do that, 00:04:23.160 --> 00:04:28.519 and choose to do that in a loving way, and in a way where we forgive each other for 00:04:28.519 --> 00:04:33.879 when we get too fiery, or when we do something that is truly wrong, 00:04:33.879 --> 00:04:38.279 like put in a freaking triage plan that says that we don't get a ventilator, 00:04:38.279 --> 00:04:41.839 we can just say that we are sorry and fix it. 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:44.560 That's what I'd like abled-bodied people to know. 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:46.839 You can just say sorry and fix it.