If you dare come at me about banning straws, I will throw you into the sun cannon. I’m disabled, I’m crippled, I need disposable plastic straws, and all those pricey ridiculous alternatives aren’t working as well. Plastic straws were invented for the disabled.
Way to shit all over a vital access need because you think straws are worse than corporate greed.
We all care about the turtles, the seals, the oceans, obviously. Notice how the easiest thing to yell about was something that would barely affect anything but appealed heavily to emotional discourse.
The disabled community is huge, and it can be joined by anyone. Most of those As Seen On TV products were invented for us. Society still mocks us and ignores us, and often outright harms us in multiple ways.
Communicate better. Listen better. But stop putting us out in the cold because you are inconvenienced by our simplest needs.
Straws aren’t killing the planet, its animals, or people. They’re a microscopic fraction of an iota of a percentage of the problem. You want to do something? Ban plastic fishing nets. Anything else is just a hollow feel-good gesture at the expense of real living disabled people.
i have an environmental degree and i’ve been saying this since this straw ‘debate’ started: its all a tactic by those in power to distract people’s attention from bigger issues such as fishing waste. don’t fall for it. and don’t be a dick to disabled people who need straws to make their lives easier.
That’s the best analogy. Thank you.
There are single-use plastics that don’t need to exist (don’t kill me, let me finish, please). Spices are the most obvious to me—yes, a lot of spices need to be finished off before they expire because otherwise they’re not as potent/don’t taste as good, but salt? Ground pepper? Dried onion? There are other shelf-stable spices that are good for YEARS—slap a best-by label on each batch, put it in a bulk dispenser, and have customers write it on a sticker and put it on a reusable bottle. Customers who care will do so, customers who think “it all tastes the same” won’t but won’t be bothered. Sell reusable bottles or let customers bring their own containers and sell by weight. A few isolated places do this (Winco comes to mind), but very few.
But some stuff can’t be reused, or can technically be reused but it’s really not safe (for example, syringes). We need to focus on things that do not impact QoL, and stop throwing disabled people to the wolves.
Genuine question,I feel like there must be something obvious that I’m missing: what disability prevents one from using a paper straw?
Some people have allergies to wood pulp. Any organic material will have this issue, unfortunately, and people with the kinds of disabilities severe enough to need straws almost certainly have comorbidities such that anything potentially triggering to the immune system could be a problem. As some examples consider chemo patients, organ transplant recipients, and people with autoimmune disorders.
Paper straws also dissolve, which can cause problems for people who need to drink more slowly to avoid choking (there are a TON of disorders where this is a problem), and people with Parkinson’s, some forms of cerebral palsy, and similar conditions may need a straw that bends, which paper cannot do. People with Alzheimer’s struggle to drink and may reject an unfamiliar kind of straw because they can’t process new information, and low-functioning/high support needs autistic people may require assistance drinking but find that paper straws are a Bad Texture, and thus avoid them to the point of dehydration.
@thebibliosphere has a fantastic chart on the different kinds of straws and what the pros and cons of each are for disabled people, and the reality is, only plastic ticks the boxes that cover everyone, and some straws are simply impractical for daily use (figure out how to carry a glass straw in a purse!). (Joy, if you see this, I don’t remember a single stitch of text from that post to look it up on your blog, could you do me a solid and share the link?)
Also aren’t paper straws like, not gluten free? Or at the very least they trigger people who have a gluten intolerance/celiac/similar things (I know I’ve seen ‘not gluten free’ come up before as an issue with, some kind of not plastic straw before). So like, that’s ANOTHER big problem there.
I think you’re thinking of a similar type of biodegradable straw that’s made of wheat something-or-other. I know the one you’re talking about, the details are just failing me at the moment. It’s not paper, but it’s marketed along the same lines.
The glue used on some paper straws uses wheat, so they are not guaranteed to be gluten-free either.
And I’ll do you one better, here’s Jessica’s video and the straw ban:
And here’s the chart:
Apologies for the lack of image description, I’m on mobile and my crippled hands hurt.
I will point out that I know some people who are allergic to disposable plastic straws (if having a mast cell disease has taught me anything, it’s that your body can develop a reaction to anything) but as you can see from the chart, disposable plastic straws are the most allergen-friendly next to glass.
Unfortunately, glass is not safe or accessible for many disabilities (my own included) so disposable plastic straws remain a vital necessity for disabled people.
I really don’t want to get back into the straw debate, but I have seen numerous variations of these tags popping up a lot in my notes since I reblogged this earlier, so I’m just going to draw attention again to the chart up above where biodegradable straws are listed as allergens – and yes that includes biodegradable plastic.
Many are made using corn, cactus, potato starch, and occasionally wheat starch. Supposedly, they have been processed to remove the allergen, but speaking from personal experience, it’s still possible to react to them.
I found out in a fricken hospital that the hospital canteen had switched to biodegradable cups and straws and ended up needing to be treated for an allergic reaction on top of the reason I was already there. All I drank was water. There was nothing else I’d ingested during my time that could have caused the reaction. I also had blisters on my lips and tongue where the straw touched me, so it wasn’t a mild reaction either. All from a biodegradable straw and cup.
Single-use plastics are a vital necessity for many individuals.
The sooner people make their peace with that and start targeting the industries doing actual quantifiable harm to the world, the sooner we can fix this shit, and disabled people like me can stop being worried we’re going to be harassed for using disability aids.
The vitriol I received back in 2018 for saying I need plastic straws to drink so I don’t risk aspirating is so bad that I won’t use a straw to drink on stream. I am that self-conscious about it.
I know I shouldn’t be. I know ableists can go fuck themselves, and I should be telling them to fuck off, but the trauma caused by people telling me over and over that the world would be better off without people like me in it because my existence contributes to the pollution killing the planet is real and lasting to the point where I’ll risk choking in front of a live audience to avoid someone commenting on my use of a straw.
And I know that’s bonkers! I know it is! I know I’m being irrational, but that’s what this site put me through in 2018 when the initial straw ban debate broke out, and I’m still processing it in therapy.
People who I thought were friends told me they’d rather I was dead than keep using plastic straws because it was “killing the sea turtles.”
A lot of left-leaning people who think they are disability allies need to unpack the eugenics in their green-washing. And it can start with people minding their own damn business when it comes to single-use plastic straws.
