How does a disabled person with acute chemical sensitivity, who’s dependent on government assistance, prepare to move?
This photo is one of Linda's submissions for The Canary Report's 2010 calendar, expressing her despair at her unsafe housing, the toxic air, and lack of safe, nontoxic clothing. ©2009 The Canary Report, may not be republished without permission.
Those of you who follow The Canary Report know how important Linda Sepp is to our Canary Community. She’s a wealth of information about chemical and environmental sensitivities, and shares her knowledge freely through blogging, comments, posts on our forum, email, facebook, and her blog.
Linda carries the title of research assistant here at TCR, but in reality, she’s been my mentor for the past two years. TCR would not be half the blog and community it is without her. Linda is relentless in holding us all to the highest standard when it comes to dealing with toxic chemicals; she will not let anyone get away with skimming by an important issue or settling for a product that might be “okay” but in reality isn’t nontoxic. She makes us all better in our cause for toxic chemical policy reform, better in our cause for human rights as disabled people, and she helps us live safer, more productive lives.
But she does all this while being completely disabled by chemical sensitivities, fibromyalgia, and electro hypersensitivity, and living in a precarious, unsafe housing situation herself.
For years, she’s been the last resident in an Ontario neighborhood slated for demolition by a landlord wanting to raze the area to build new. The place is decaying, crumbling and frequently vandalized. Linda’s house has a leaky roof and basement, problems with mold, a contaminated water pipeline, and a leaky gas stove (now disconnected). She doesn’t want to be there, but where is she to go?
The problem is, how does a disabled person with acute chemical sensitivity, who’s dependent on government assistance, prepare to move? How does a disabled person with acute chemical sensitivity secure and install a whole house water filtration system so she can bathe and wash clothes properly (not just for everyday health but also in preparation for a move); secure safe clothing and a washing machine in the first place (there is a reason why she’s naked in the photo, she only has about five articles of safe, uncontaminated clothing to her name); conduct a housing search and then properly prepare that house for an uber sensitive person? How does she do that? And if she can’t do it herself, how does she find a knowledgeable advocate to help navigate the entire process?
On Linda’s blog, she writes eloquently about her dependence on government aid from a social service system that refuses to understand the complexity of chemical sensitivity. She describes the evidence she has from an environmental physician who declared her medical needs to include a nontoxic home with clean air and water (a simple, basic need you’d think, no?), and yet neither the medical nor government systems seem equipped to assist Linda in accessing the solutions to those needs. Once again, someone with chemical sensitivity is slipping through the cracks.
So here’s the kicker: Linda’s eviction date was April 4. Aside from a couple of valiant last minute efforts (which have failed to yield anything feasible), all the agencies and people you’d think should be there to assist—social workers, physicians, elected officials, the landlord—have all receded like water before the coming of a tidal wave.
Given that the April 4 eviction date was set by the court, the landlord has the power to put in motion the sheriff’s removal of Linda from her home. And should that happen, then what? The injustice of this situation is staggering.
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04/24/10 UPDATE:
Last week, Linda’s Member of Parliament contacted her current landlord to see if a new deal could be reached on securing Linda a safe home, but the landlord declined, saying the April 4 eviction deadline was past so all offers were off the table. (As background, Linda’s landlord had offered to buy and renovate a rental home for Linda at a total cap of $200K, including the consultation of an eco-builder, but none of the homes found on the market met Linda’s criteria.)
Linda’s physician is in phone contact with her and has asked for more tests, which Linda has scheduled for next week.
Toronto Community Housing, which provides housing for low and moderate income households, prepared an apartment for Linda this past week. Linda says it won’t work because it does not meet her criteria; she has declined the offer.
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