I’ve been finding a connection between my needs and what is considered acceptable behaviour under capitalism. I suspect this topic could be an entire blog of its own but I’m not going to do that! This is my initial attempt at collecting:
- an experience
- some blog posts
- other peoples experiences
together to show how capitalism itself makes things harder.
I’ve always been a bit hesitant to write about this topic – there are harmful narratives in some communities that disabilities (I use this as a broad term to include chronic illnesses and neurodivergence and I also acknowledge that not everyone identifies with the term disabled – but again that could be an entire post or blog of its own) wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for capitalism, and I didn’t want to add to those stories as I don’t agree with them. The parts of my body that disable me would still disable me if capitalism didn’t exist.
The reality is that capitalism does impact how accomodations are seen. And capitalism is worshipped (seen as “reasonable”) and prioritised very far above accomodations.
Part 1: the chemist and my spoons
This is a lightly edited transcript of what I shared on Instagram stories this week:
I’m really tired of everything always being extra spoons. It’s so hard to budget. I went to fill a script of mine at the only place I can get it, the local compounding chemist. They had no internet, so I couldn’t pay on card. Of course, there’s barely anywhere to get cash out. So I drove to the Coles that was a few blocks away, bought some chocolate, and got $50 cash out. I just didn’t (energy) budget for that extra shop, extra driving, extra walking, extra queuing. And I’m trying to make a big meal tonight so we have leftovers. I had already allocated my spoons for the day. And I just wish energy impairments were taken seriously.
I was talking to my partner about one of my common complaints earlier – that I’m jealous of people overseas who have drive through chemists. And he made a really good point – he said if they can have it prepared and ready for you at a drive through then there’s no reason they can’t have it prepared and ready for you in a store. They’re taking their time to make you wait, deliberately, to get to to purchase extra things.
Everything comes back to the fact that I wish people respected energy and how much extra this stuff takes because I’m so tired of everything being MORE. And you know, especially when you have an energy impairment, people blame you if you do it wrong. It’s like, how am I supposed to budget when everything always goes wrong or not to plan? And it’s always going to be seen as my fault for that.
This is a really frustrating situation. This compounding chemist usually takes a good twenty minutes to get me my meds. Today, because there was no point in making me wait around because I couldn’t purchase any more – the pharmacy assistant walked straight to the counter, picked up the bottle of my medication, took it straight to the chemist on duty for checking, and the entire process of filling my script was ticked off in about thirty seconds. So they could be doing this in thirty seconds every month, and instead they take my time.
And I know I said it’s a compounding chemist, so you might be thinking “Oh well they have to make it or count it”. Nope. There are so many people on this medication now that they keep it mixed and prepped and ready and on the shelf in every strength formulation. So WHY do they do this to me every month and why would I be the person in the wrong if I complained about it? Because you know I would be seen as the person in the wrong.
Part 2: the other experiences
I’ve been slowly publishing posts about the swirling collection of experiences I’ve been having in recent times. There are more, but I feel these ones are connecting most into the effects of capitalism on accomodations:
- No Queues (not queuing is a reasonable accomodation).
- Another spoon use (deciding how to use your energy takes energy).
- Stop stealing my spoons (another complaint about chemists).
- Empower does not equal outsource (companies expecting free labour from disabled people instead of educating themselves).
- Luxury is relative (what is nice to have for you is an accommodation for me).
- Corporate inclusion (reality and/or cynicism, depending on your viewpoint).
Part 3: another capitalism case study
(Shared with permission.)
I thought this was a really good case study because it’s not only another “luxury is relative” post but it felt like it landed exactly at the intersection of reasonable being decided by “but I’m a poor little business I have to keep charging too much money”:
The post is from Threads, by user MatthewJ_Scott and reads:
I understand YouTube wants to encourage people to pay for Premium by discouraging ad blockers, but I would appreciate consideration for people with disabilities like me who do not want to be forced ot watch ads due to the noise, try ot mask how irritating they are or even just not wanting to be given new impulse purchases to fight.
If giving me dignity of not having those pressures can’t be done for free, can we at least have an option that isn’t so expensive? # Neurodivergent Community
Part 4: the not-a-summary
I don’t publish blog posts only when I have a neatly wrapped up gift box of an idea. I sort out things by writing, and I share my writing. Capitalism has so much ableism to unlearn that I really don’t know where to start with unpacking money and accomodations. Why am I expected to wait at a chemist when it’s not necessary? Why is Matthew expected to grit his teeth and wade through ads that impact him a lot more than others? Why do we have to put up with these things … for capitalism? As soon as you ask “why”, the reasons seem to fall into a black hole… because there aren’t any valid ones.
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