A story about discrimination and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Posted on Nov 03, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Disability Rights, Guest Bloggers, MCS, Social Justice

I have learned not to apologize for asking for the simple right to raise my health issue when looking for safe housing.

By Guest Blogger Missy Gluckmann.

Living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity can be a challenge, sometimes more so than others. We know that it can also be incredibly inconvenient– having to duck and weave like Muhammad Ali when you are presented with a chemical that wants to take you down. MCS can send you to bed, even to the hospital. But this past weekend, MCS hurt the most when I realized that I was being discriminated against because of it.

While in the process of selling my house, my boyfriend Tony (who is incredibly supportive and sensitive of my MCS) and I have been diligently looking for an apartment in a new community. Which community was not the issue; we found a lovely town north of the city that would meet both of our needs beautifully. The apartment, however, is a bit more tricky. We all know the list: wood floors, good ventilation, no signs of water damage, more recent construction, no basements, not recently painted, away from parking lots/auto repair shops/dry cleaners– anything that can spew an obvious toxic chemical our way. Tony and I found what we thought was a perfect place: a 1st floor apartment with wood floors in a beautifully renovated building. We began negotiations for the rent and lease terms, determined an amount and were told that the lease would be drafted this week. We were even willing to pay a significant finder’s fee for this place as it appeared to be “MCS friendly.”

While packing on Saturday and preparing to move to a temporary apartment for one month while the owners of the co-op we’d be renting found their new apartment, we received a call from the agent. I heard Tony on the phone exclaim loudly, “What?!? You’re kidding me!” It was Halloween after all– perhaps whatever she said was some sort of ghoulish joke. It wasn’t. We were not going to be able to take the apartment after all. Why? Apparently because I had asked the agent to have the owner consider giving us a three month escape clause in the event that something in the apartment seriously threatened my health– and, unfortunately, I could not know if that would be the case until I lived there. I had thought about it the previous week– one possible issue with this apartment is that there was a common laundry room in the basement and we were on the first floor. Would I be smelling those evil dryer sheets daily? Would I be feeling the laundry room chemicals as I slept? Would I be sick again, possibly for weeks, because I didn’t ask a hard question?

Now, having been a landlord, I realize that owners have a mortgage obligation. I was not asking these people to consider my request as a last minute deal breaker– we would have taken the apartment because we had generally done our homework and we thought it would be fine. Other apartments that we have taken have been fine, and I told them this with my written request. I explained MCS and stated that obviously I would not want to have to move because of my illness– and that while I didn’t anticipate anything happening with the apartment, I did have an obligation to pose the question because health comes before a mortgage payment. I indicated that if I did feel unwell that we would give three months notice and provide a detailed letter from an environmental medicine MD to confirm that I was not just being difficult. I emphasized that Tony and I had carefully selected the apartment based on my MCS needs and that we did not anticipate any issues and certainly wouldn’t take a request to move lightly as it would result in stress on my health, loss of a significant agent finder’s fee, moving costs, etc.

When the agent called us yesterday, she essentially said they don’t want to take a risk on me because of my health. They did not say, “No, we cannot commit to an escape clause.” We would have signed a lease regardless as we really believed the apartment would be fine– and as you know, if you live with MCS, you learn to live dodging bullets all day long. Yesterday was the first time that someone directly told me that my health was going to be cause for denying me access to an apartment. I felt like I was slapped in the face, hard. Tony and I told them, as politely as possible, what to do with their apartment and quickly scrambled to cancel our mover the next day, find a new apartment, cancel our temporary housing (which we had just paid in cash that morning!), sell furniture that we thought we would need and now no longer do need for the newer, but smaller space. It was a very good exercise in going with the flow and responding to the challenges of MCS.

Now, could I get a lawyer and make a big MCS stink about it? Yes, sure I could. Will I? No. I took the high road and quickly decided two things that would reflect how I want to live this life. I chose to send an email to educate the agent (and hopefully, therefore, the owners) about how their decision impacted many people and how their lack of communication about any concern caused incredible stress and financial burden to us. But most importantly, I thought of sharing this story with The Canary Report. Why? Because in my email to the agent I reiterated the following: “I have learned not to apologize for asking for the simple right to raise my health issue and that remains the case.” And today I got a lovely email back from the agent, thanking me for my note and apologizing for her client’s poor decision. I was true to myself and stayed an educator, which MCS cannot take away from me.

Canaries, I hope you all remember that you should NEVER EVER apologize for asking hard questions. If the world isn’t ready for them, too bad. Our health and our needs come first, and we will not be silenced. KEEP CHIRPING whether the world is ready for us or not!

A message from Missy Gluckmann: The fox is watching the hen house

Missy kicks ass, forces former employer to fix sick building

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12 Responses to “A story about discrimination and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity”

Terry

03. Nov, 2009

Hi Missy,

Thank you for sharing your story. I can definitely understand and empathize with the challenge you faced. Although it was nice for the agent to respond to you with empathy, perhaps the agent would be willing to assist and support you in writing to the Housing Authority and law makers. Anyone should be able to end a lease, entered into in good faith, if the housing or management thereof becomes a contributor to a tenant’s poor health.

Good luck to you.

Terry

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Lisa

03. Nov, 2009

Missy, thank you for sharing this experience and how you handled it. Inspiring.

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Missy

06. Nov, 2009

Thank you for your kind words. I am happy to report that we are in our “Plan B” apartment and all is well! The nice thing about this apt is that it automatically has a 30 day escape clause, so I feel a lot less stress about the “what ifs” of MCS.
Thank you again for sharing your support – and a special shout out to Susie for posting this to her blog!

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Phillip & Glenda Moon

07. Nov, 2009

Hello Missy, when I talk to people about MCS they think I am an alien or something and they look at me with blank faces, like many thousands of other people would have also gone through. On the 20th February 1970 at the old age of nineteen, I proudly marched into the Australian Defence Recruiting Office in Brisbane and joined the Royal Australian Air Force. The Government of the day were calling for volunteers to join and be sent to Vietnam to fight. As my Father before me did, he also joined one of the three services to fight in Korea, so he spent twelve years in the Royal Australian Navy. I lost two distant Uncle’s when they were in the Australian Army and were killed fighting the Japanese in Papua New Guinea. I spent sixteen years in the Air Force and handled in my bare hands over two hundred chemicals, with no gloves or other protective clothing or breathing equipment. The Governments didn’t worry about those things back then. However Glenda and I got married on the 4th November 1976, while I had been handling chemicals from 1975 after I rejoined the Air Force after a seventeen month break. We couldn’t work out why we couldn’t have any children by 1983 and as Glenda turned 24 in 1987, she had a hysterectomy, which was just the start of our problems. Then came all of my Allergies and operations. My Gall bladder was first to go, then we both came down with diabetes (there is no diabetes in our family history), as the years went by, my respiratory side of things began to suffer, then I became an Asthmatic. While working in the Air Force I was in charge of the Fuel Farms at a large operational base. I was subjected to almost daily saturation’s of Avtur and Avgas. Many times I had the liquid hit me from a distance of only one meter or three feet directly into my face at 200psi, so I would swallow a lot of it, then the rest would shoot directly into my eyes, up my nose and into my ears. Now I am 57 it seems I may be going blind in my right eye, I have to use a CPAP breathing machine as I stop breathing on average around 160 times every night from anywhere from three seconds to three minutes. My pancreas isn’t very good, my liver is twice the normal size, I have already had my kidneys shut down once and I have spots on my lungs and hardening of my right leg arteries. I think the only thing that hasn’t happened is a Qantas Jumbo Jet’s engine hasn’t fallen on me – YET! Glenda has also the suffering ordeal because she would handle my dirty chemical saturated work clothes and put them in the washing machine, but the chemicals stayed glued to the bowl, so when her own clothes went into the machine, they too would become contaminated, so now she also has a number of medical conditions. My MCS with the allergies is a list about thirty items long and the Doctors just don’t care, for Australia doesn’t yet recognise MCS.
So I feel that anyone joining the Military anywhere in the world, must say to themselves at the very beginning, I won’t live a long happy life. We already know that we are slowly dying, just like the other 2,600 handlers/workers who handled the SR51 for our F-111′s from 1973 through to 2000, when the Government of the day finally said, oh gee this stuff is deadly. Gee I’m so pleased I joined the Air Force to protect this country that doesn’t want to look after us now, especially with compensation needed urgently. With my respiratory problem alone, we live in a mouldy two bedroom house and as we are on disability pensions, we can’t afford to move. I am also a walking paraplegic so I am not allowed to fall or I will become a quadriplegic immediately, so Glenda and I say, we just think that the Government hope that we die quickly, so they won’t have to pay out any money to us, so we could actually buy our very first home. We are not Australia the lucky country anymore, that saying was used many decades ago, when we had millions of sheep, however looking at us now, we are the land with the uranium and coal! Hurray for us, but we pity anyone in the younger years and what’s ahead! Phil

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Susan E.

11. Nov, 2009

I’m not sure I would have had the courage to do what you did, however, if you live in the US I believe there are laws that a person cannot be discriminated against in housing because of disability. The phrase is something like “Equal Opportunity Housing” or something like that. There are I think 90 day limits to make a claim of discrimination. Now, I probably wouldn’t want to go back to that source after such an insult and rent a flat after all, but even if a complaint isn’t filed, the law is also there because it can be quoted and used as leverage. I’m not a lawyer, so don’t know what kind of case it would be, but one could find out. But it is easy to go into any library and look up the federal law and perhaps even similar state statutes and city codes to bolster an argument before or if it never comes to be a case. Just ask any reference librarian, and they can assist. Just and FYI. – S

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Missy

20. Dec, 2009

Hi Susan – We didn’t bother with a case bc frankly, I’m just too tired dealing with my worker’s compensation case. Having MCS is draining enough, so I pick and choose my battles. In the end it has worked out beautifully bc we love our Plan B place and after last night’s snow fall, I’m glad that we have a garage here (the other place had street parking). You are correct however – I could have gone that route. This time, I chose not to. Happy holidays, Missy

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Melody Sokolow

02. Jun, 2010

Here at my ground floor one – bedroom apartment in the suburbs of Portland, a guy smokes on the other side of my wall. This is a non-smoking community. Possibly due to my complaints, the guys, apparently, the guy is moving AT THE END OF JUNE.

Every night when the office closes at 6, that’s when he starts up. The smoke is visible in the air within my apartment. I put on my 2 HEPA filters and open doors and windows (checking for laundryswamp).

I have called and called and called the office and left messages to this effect, never is anything done. Only “he’s moving soon.”

Today, when I went in the office to once again tell them “I have a lung condition”, etc., I was told that they would do a “walk-through” in a week. If they could “see evidence” of his smoking then, they would let me know a day in advance that upon his move-out, they would “SHELLAC” the place before they painted.

I explained how dangerous that was, and not just for a day for me, my health and all my belongings. I told them I knew of a safe product (which people here suggested “SAFECOAT”) which was used for JUST this purpose!

I was told “no, we have to use what “THEY” tell us. So, I called the corporate leasing office in downtown Portland and left a message with the woman in charge. My voicemail said who I was, where I lived, the whole situation, the guy who smokes, what I had been told by the office, etc., and then provided her with the info on the safe product which “would not damage my health.”

I then gave her my phone number in case she wanted more information. I was met with a phone call by MY LEASING OFFICE later this afternoon, telling me that I never should have CALLED “corporate” because it “makes her look like she’s not doing her job”. I explained I was being pro-active about my own health and I didn’t mean for it to have an effect on her job. She went on that it was up to HER about the product use, and that SHE HAS TO USE WHAT THE PROTOCOL PRODUCT IS FOR “SHELLAC”.

My taking proactive action on the behalf of my own health went out the door and I was pegged as a complainer, who had overstepped my bounds. I tried, utilizing a product that I had heard about on THIS WEBSITE which would have perfectly sealed in his smoke, if they didn’t want to hack it out. I still live next door!!!!!! I live in fear now, that in a month, I will have no place to run when they paint the other side of my wall with a product that recently was used in a hotel on a different floor and I had to leave the hotel for good.

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Missy

03. Jun, 2010

Melody – sorry to hear what you’re going through. I live in a bldg and had to go to the corporate folks and threaten a lawsuit bc they kept using bleach in the elevator (!) and I ended up in the ER two nights in a row from it. The corporate office has jumped on it now that I ripped them a new one in an email and mentioned legal action. I would consult an attorney and ask for advice. As far as I’m aware, MCS is a disability and they have to accommodate you if it is reasonable. If the stuff you’re asking them to use is reasonable in terms of cost differential, they should be doing it. Talk with an attorney – and meanwhile, please know that we feel your pain bc we all have to live with the challenge of finding a “safe zone”. People don’t realize that coming home shouldn’t be a challenge – and for us, despite careful selection and review of living space – it continues to be in many cases. Best wishes to you.

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- Melody
  
  03. Jun, 2010
  
  Does that mean I have to pay money to a lawyer? because I make enough only to pay my rent and food/utilities through my Disability and thank you, Missy, for writing. Sounds right on to me. I can only imagine the bleach in the elevator. And I can well imagine shellac covering the apartment on the other side of my wall.
  
  I agree that coming home should never feel like a challenge. We desperately NEED our homes, as our respites from what we endure. and yet, you’re right – no matter how well we plan – seems it’s also a potential minefield……full of hills and valleys and frought with
  battles.
  
  Best to you,
  Melody
  
  Reply to this comment
celia

04. Jun, 2010

my heart goes out to both of you–

I am sorry you are having to deal with this sort of incivility–
I am all too familiar with that mindset–
I can’t enter my church for that same reason. They could have used (for no more $) a product that wouldn’t have hurt me, but they chose to use a toxic product, and now people without MCS are complaining. It’s hard when you feel that, because you have a special need, you are treated like the ‘bad guy’–

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celia

04. Jun, 2010

and to Phillip and Glenda–

I am so sorry–

Did you see my post on the way American military members are being treated when they report illness? It is very sad–

I thought maybe it would make you feel a little less alone–

it’s on here somewhere–

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Airy

04. Jun, 2010

Hi Melody,

1) I would get a doctor’s note stating that safecoat is the product that is recommended because of your respiratory problems and that shellac will exacerbate your illness.

2) I would send one copy to your leasing office and a copy to corporate.

3) I would write a letter to corporate about the lady in the rental office. This is your home and you expect to be treated with respect. You deserve a safe, non-threatening environment to live in.

I would do the letter ASAP.

Don’t back down! We are behind you. You don’t need a lawyer at this point, but start making a paper trail and documenting day-by-day everything that happens between you, the rental office and the neighbor. Write down all your phone calls and exactly what the rental lady says to you. Reconstruct what has been said to this point.

A lawyer will typically do a consult for free or a reduced rate. You can even get a lawyer who will take your case for free and take a percentage of the settlement. You have a good case, just start making a paper trail for if you get to the point where you need to sue the rental company. Even a letter from an attorney could be enough to scare them into complying.

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