Straw Bans Are DANGEROUS For Disabled People [CC]

Plastic straws are necessary medical tools and creating legal bans endangers the lives of disabled people. In this video I talk about the history of its use, why alternatives do not work, the variety of ways banning them is dangerous and stigmatizing, and my hope that environmentalism becomes more intersectional and acknowledges the needs of disabled people without dismissing them as lazy or wasteful.

Illustrations by Ashe Walker

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CHANNEL DESCRIPTION
Annie Segarra (Annie Elainey) creates mainly first-person videos on introspective topics, social topics, sharing her experiences and thoughts on disability, body image, LGBT topics, gender equality, etc, as well as creative content; a variety of music/artistic media and short films. Annie identifies as a queer disabled (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome) Latinx woman and uses she and they pronouns.

[astaiannymph]

"A lot of disabled people do their best". Fun fact, my friend who lives in a building with a lot of disabled folks in it said that when they changed their waste disposal system from being outside to being on every level, their recycling skyrocketed from the nearly zero percent it was before.

[silverbroom]

I can’t even think of a single disabled person I know (and I know a LOT) who has only one disability.

[vincent]

Fun Fact: metal straws can also be an allergy risk! It's extremely rare but some people are allergic to metal.

[sabserab]

I remember getting shamed even by caretakers for buying pre cut fruit. Now thanks to gastroparesis from EDS I can't eat solids anymore and rely on liquid food. These bottles I get from my oharmacy and the have straws. Amd guess, I still get shamed.. for fighting malnourishment.

One day I snapped and said "I know if I'd die it would be best, right?"

Like I what's next? Guilty for IV drips?

I'm mostly homebound, so heck my emissions are pretty low, the irony. I got me a reusable straw but couldn't get it clean, neither my caretakers and trashed it.

They want to ban them in my country, too. If they'll do I will stuck up my straw supply for my drinks from amazon. Ah yes another thing we disabled get shamed for. Ordering stuff online.

Thank you for the vid! Had no idea straws were once seen as medical equiptment, makes sense.
The ableds should stop useing them. They ruin everything

[ambercloud]

The woman killed by a metal straw was in my town, so tragic.
Still I have to battle to have my straw needs taken seriously even with the well publicized case so locally. (I have eds and pots among over conditions)

[inventivelychaos]

Until you fix it don't take it away from people.

[evelynsnyder]

people need to worry less about plastic straws and worry about all the other plastic out there. bottle caps, water bottles, fishing nets( maybe not plastic but still) plastic bags etc etc etc. Speaking of turtles they're far more in danger from plastic bags than straws. Plastic bags look alot like jellyfish.

[nintendofangamer]

I can hardly believe that we are at this point in society. Where people think they can tell others how to drink or eat and what utensils they are allowed to use. Trust me, normal people do not waste their time worrying about "plastic straws". For God's sake, people need to get a life and worry about real problems. But like you said, it's ableism.

[fatimagic]

i was in a red lobster just yesterday, and they had a sign up front stating how they ~proudly~ don't carry plastic straws. my disability doesn't require that i use plastic straws, but i was still really taken aback at how blatant this kind of shit has become. not to mention that it doesn't matter how much the average person recycles or buys biodegradable products as long as the companies in charge of the most co2 output and other environmental can still go about their business unscathed. not only are these plastic straw bans ableist and stupid, but they're also just another tactic meant to put the onus of climate change on the everyday person instead of where it really belongs.

[spoonietimelordy]

They will 100% illegal in Europe in 2021, and I'm really scared because I didn't saw any exceptions for disabled people.

[life-gszr]

Did she swear at all bc low-key I wanna use this in class

[IsThatEtchas]

Tesco in my country have stopped using plastic bags when delivering groceries to your home. Meaning, they give you all your groceries loose at the front door. Another example of a company attempting to be environmentally friendly and forgetting that disabled people exist :(

[gamergirlmars]

SEA NETS are the actual problem with our environment. Not straws! I love this so so so much. Keep on preaching girl and being a voice for those who cannot stand up for themselves. Love your channel. ❤️ 🦓

[maxaroni]

I'm glad to see someone talking about this. I'm autistic and have sensory issues, so reusable straws are very difficult to use because of their textures. I also get intrusive thoughts about these straws, especially metal ones, and get worried they might hurt my mouth. Plastic straws are necessary, and disabled people are not the ones harming the planet, but rather big corporations.

[LauraBidingCitizen]

They now charge for plastic carrier bags in supermarkets / grocery stores / shops etc here in the U.K. & have for quite some years. As someone who, when I was able bodied, worked in retail, I *literally* can’t tell you how wasteful people were with plastic bags. It’s definitely cut down on the usage of them.
Where I live, we’re very good in recycling (I became aware that this wasn’t the case all over the country a few years ago). We have a household waste bin, a recycling bin & a normal rubbish bin. I recycle so much I had to ask for a second bin. Tin cans, my medicine glass & plastic bottles, medicine packets, dog & cat food boxes..everything you can think of that IS recyclable, gets recycled; but you hit a nerve when you said those of us disabled feel guilty. I do.. because I use plastic straws..& I use plastic water bottles (recyclable - but I still have guilt).

I’ve found a shop that sells packs of 200 plastic bendy straws. I had to go without for nearly 2 months while I searched high & low locally, & I spent money I didn’t have on reusable ones that both my disabled mother & I found incredibly difficult to use (metal, bamboo & silicone; if anyone was interested). The metal ones were not temperature safe, I drink cold drinks, my mother drinks typical British hot cups of tea - she found herself burning her poor mouth (she doesn’t have teeth & doesn’t like wearing them, she’s 73 & lost them due to an accident a few years ago). I kept bashing my incredibly oversensitive teeth with them & eventually we moved on to bamboo. Although a little safer temperature wise, we started to notice a reoccurring pattern that you really had to ‘suck’ hard to get anything out of them - & in a normal sized tumbler / glass or cup, they were simply too tall even at their shortest length (& a b**ch to clean.. slumped over a sink in pain trying to scrub them out wasn’t my idea of fun).

Silicone straws..they were like drinking out of those tubes attached to Bunsen burners at school. They’d often flop around, slopping my mothers hot tea out of her cup, & these were the worst culprits for trying to drink anything out of. My jaw (which often subluxes & locks due to EDS) was incredibly painful after trying to use one & I just felt exasperated.

When I found the packs of plastic straws I could’ve cried..& yes, I stocked up - for my mother, for myself, & I have a disabled friend who’s just a few years older than me (mid 30’s) who also lost her teeth due to seizure medication. She was also having a hard time with reusable straws & I sent her some.

To me, the entire point of being environmentally friendly is to do your best. If we all just changed 1 thing in our lives to the best of our ability; stopped using plastic bags & used reusable (as an example), tried to recycle more.. as a world we would see the difference. It makes my heart so sad that those of us who genuinely need certain things (such as plastic straws) get isolated from society because we ‘aren’t conforming’. It goes so much further than that but people don’t want to listen & learn.

Beautifully articulate video as always. Your videos are the only thing in my life that make me feel accepting of my conditions, those around me often see & treat me as a functioning, able bodied individual & the past 12 months have become increasingly difficult in almost keeping up that ‘pretence’ in fear of letting others down. I’m utterly exhausted now.
Thank you for validating things. I’m just waffling now.

Take care of you. x

[adamguymon]

It is so nice to hear from you. I do like this video and I myself am disabled. I am part of a disability organization called DRAC Disabled Rights Action Committee in Salt Lake City Utah and I am part of the Green Party of Utah GPUT. I believe there are many different forms of "Responsibility" on many different levels. There is the:
Personal Responsibility.
What do I mean by this? What I mean is if a person doesn't need a straw they should leave one for someone who needs it. When ordering a drink if you don't need a straw then tell the waitstaff you Don't Need a Straw. If you need one you should ask and Not be Denied. This is the first step in educating places of business to understanding how important it is not to gate keep and ask 20 questions to make a determination whether you will deny someone or let them have one.
Two: Restaurants need to offer the option to allow people who do have their own reusable tumbler and straw to get Re-Fills and not tell you that it is a risk to re fill your own cup. The other thing is that when a restaurants are done with a straw they Do NOT Throw them in the Trash. They take the effort to place them in a bin where they can be recycled properly this takes care of that hole that all of the straws fall through. This will keep the straws out of the land fields and protect the environment as well but at the same time give ACCESS to PWD.
Three: On a Municipal level there is a grate deal that needs to be done. On a State, City and Nationwide level where there can be safe laws that will allow Disabled People to have the full access needed not what others "Think" we need but what we as disabled people need and what we see we need. If a business is not willing to properly despise of their straws they should get fines because they should take that responsibility but they should NOT Gate Keep. Making it so people who do chose to bring their own cup and straw should be able to refill it for a cheaper price and not be limited on what can be a refill or not. These places need to have Proper Cleaning Stations for anyone who has their own cup and straw where there will be able to clean it with safe and well maintained tools to do the job and if someone needs help cleaning and refilling their own cup and straw there will be an employee that can do this for a PWD. Keeping their drink equipment clean at all times will help from spread of Disease. Changing how the Garbage Dumps operate and how they need to operate would help with more environmental issues than the straws. Putting things in place like the reusable To-Go-Box called Green Box where restaurants could offer a reusable option and put fines on the places that use "Styrofoam" for to-go-boxes. If these places could offer a option that would allow you to take something to go where you would eat it like you would of anyway but all you do is rinse it out and return it to a box through the city where someone would come by on a bike and pick them back up and take them to a professional kitchen where they are washed, maintained and delivered back to the restaurants that need them. There needs to be a good balance between Accessibility, Education and Research on better and safer ways to improve straws and other ADA Aids etc. Accessibility comes in many different forms. Thank You for your videos and please keep making more of them and I do love them. There is a Green Party candidate that is trying to run for office for President and I am personally talking with him and his staff to Inform them of how important straws and different ADA Issues are to inform Howie Hawkins of how this effects People With Disabilities and not only in this issue but many others.

[far-lefteevee]

I can’t believe I never thought of this, I don’t support banning straws anymore

[minibus]

Wonderful video, I do not need plastic straws, however, because of my disabilities there is no guarantee that I will never need them, I have epilepsy which means if I fall badly and/or have a particularly nasty seizure my life could change a lot, I also have Dyspraxcia quite badly which means I am more prone to falling than a lot of people.

[LoudlyListening]

Missed you <3 always appreciate your content! Hope you're doing as okay as possible and are being as kind to yourself as possible

[thatghouliegirl]

Thank you! Someone tried doxxing me because my past of being a disabled sex worker and did so because I stood against them on this issue! They couldn't handle that they were being ableist. Thank you so much!!!