From Hoovervile To Arnievile?

For the past six days, members of the East Bay disability community have been camped out on a street divider in Berkeley. We are trying to garner support and wake people up to the ugly things going on in Sacramento. Please think hard before saying, "Well there are two million people who are unemployed in California, times are hard for everybody." I'm saying WAIT, because there have been continued cut-backs for the past decade. 

Our lives now hang in the balance, with almost NO Medi-cal services for adults! With severely disabled people who have successfully been living independently in their own homes or apartments, with the support of their in-home support service providers, do you think it's right to say, "Well, you have to go live in a nursing home?" You know it would not be right. 

The politicians also know it is not right. They have proven they do not care. The Nursing Home Industry has already benefited, our Stinking asinine governor, made a move last summer that filled me with rage. He gave them millions of dollars to make more beds available for the thousands of people that are going to undoubtedly lose their In-Home Support Services due to the cuts!!! 

This, after stating that IHSS takes so much of the budget in California. Yet he gives millions to the Nursing Home Industry. But even those millions would not come close to preparing the massive numbers of beds that would be needed. The IHSS budget is 1.5% of the entire California budget.

It has been things like this that make me despise the Governor more than any other politician in recent times. BUT let me be very clear! It isn't just this governor, it is the legislators on both sides who voted for this budget. Last summer when we demonstrated in the hallway to the governor's offices, many Democrats came to talk with us, and said, "We are behind you; keep up the good fight!" Many of those, had photo ops with the demonstrators, but all but one went and voted against us. I was so angry, that I didn't feel like our demonstrations were getting through. Yes, I also spoke while the budget committee was hearing testimony, in addition to getting arrested twice, and taking part in other protests. I had to stop protesting and gather my energy. And I have spent 5 hours on that strip in the cold wind, holding signs and waving. But I cannot gather the energy to spend the night or sit in the rain when what we are doing, doesn't seem to be getting through to the folks that can sign our lives away!

What many people refuse to think about, is that we are you; we could be your mother, father, grandmother, brother sister, aunt, uncle, or your children and friends. Disability does not discriminate! It comes to us all. I have a friend in a nursing home, the only things she can do is watch TV and listen to books on CD or tape. I hate seeing her in that place! This is a UC Berkeley Grad who for seven years volunteered at a school and helped second graders learn to read and do math. She was also a writer and performer. Does she belong in that place? No. She has a severe disability, and could not get enough support after her mother died. She lost her job and then her mom, and then lost her roommate after the roommate graduated. Her Regional Center and Supported Living agency failed her. She was sent first to live in a group home, and I'm not sure why she ended up in a nursing home, but as you might guess, it made her already severe depression much worse.  I know there are thousands of people like my friend, who COULD contribute SO MUCH to society if they had the physical support in place.

I have noticed the deafening silence on the Berkeley Disabled listserv, I think, like me, many of my comrades are depressed and terrified and that leads us to inaction, and just worrying a lot about who is going to get us out of bed in the morning, who will bathe us, dress us, cook for us, and feed us, and who will help us go to the bathroom throughout the day. How can we make plans when we are the poor? Many will have no options. 

And yet Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to treat us like criminals! He wants to spend 5 BILLION dollars on high tech cameras that are used by the military and on the U.S. borders. He could provide over 500 people on IHSS with services for a year. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND his logic. One can get a full background check on a person receiving services, or a worker for a lot less. There are places on the Internet that allows people to get as many reports as they want for $40.00 a month. But that is not the point. The point is that the governor, wants to cut 90 percent from the IHSS! Ninety percent! He wants social workers to grade our disabilities on a scale that is highly inadequate, and many, like me have mixed needs that the scale simply can't grade or take into account. Please ask your legislators to cancel this grading system! If anybody grades us, it should be qualified Occupational Therapists!

One last point and I will get off the soapbox! In-Home Supportive Services, accounts for ONLY 1.5 percent of the entire budget! Read that again! ONE point Five percent! Yet it's always been the first thing that this governor wants to cut! The poor the elderly, the disabled are seen as fat to be trimmed EVERY STINKING YEAR! I AM SICK OF IT! Please help! Stop THIS GENOCIDE! FOR IT Will BE GENOCIDE IF ALL THESE CUTS GO THROUGH! Even though the state is in dire straits, Arnold has refused to raise taxes of any kind. The wealthy are not losing medical benefits, they go on living like kings, they own four houses and four cars. THEY SHOULD PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE!!! They get so many tax breaks it makes me sick. They are not "sharing the pain". Besides, 35 million people live in this State, and it makes me wonder how many ARE Employed?

Tamar Raine

We need More Cute shoes in size 11 Wide!

The apprael and shoe market do not market to those of us with a larger bone structure. Instead I have to go to certain stores in the Bay Area, where various national stores do have clothing and shoes for women with "full figures".

What the heck? My feet don't seem that much bigger, it's just that my ankles are swollen. And I do already have certain types of shoes I can't wear. Wedge shoes for instance, My sense of balance is poor, so I can't wear wedges or stilettos, and if I ever did were those, I'd probably end up in the ER with a broken ankle. You might be curious since I am in a wheelchair, why I couldn't wear those. Because if I have to get in or out of the car, or go to the bathroom, I need to be able to make the transfer. When I tried to find a pair of good looking shoes that would be appropriate for a black-tie wedding, I could not find any locally that were even close to what I needed. It seems that once a style like wedges has been introduced in one type of shoe, the industry proceeds to make wedges in ALL of its product line.

I remember in the 70s when wedges were popular, and I begged my mother for a pair, she said "only if you can balance in them," because in those days I pretty much walked everywhere. We finally found a pair of wedge platforms where the wedge was across the entire sole.

My feet have grown as I've aged, my arches were never high, but now they've fallen. I cannot possibly be the only woman in Oakland wearing a size 11 2E! It's not like I can starve and diet my feet down to a 9 M. Real women need as much a selection in clothing and footwear as skinny girls with no curves have available!

So after two dismal days of looking locally, I took my search online. Even the stores for large ladies didn't have a lot of choices for those of us who can't wear wedges. Nevertheless, I ordered four pair from two places, hopefully at least one pair will be suitable and fit me correctly.

As far as clothing goes, it never ceases to annoy me that stores don't have much, if any selection beyond an 18-W and that if I am to find clothes that fir my larger frame, I have to find it only at certain select stores, or go online to the larger ladies catalogs. You see I am not FAT. ost of the tops at these places are too big for me, so I have to order tops from still another store. Even if I were really overweight, why shouldn't I be able to pop into a store locally and have something other than sweats and big shirts available? This is just a refusal on the part of the stores, designers and manufacturers to acknowledge that there is a whole range of sizes that they should be providing and promoting.

I have been thin most of my life, usually 130 LB and a size 12, but I was NEVER a size 9. I will NOT purchase shoes that are too small and narrow. I now weigh about 165 lb. Where are the clothes?

Stores, designers, and manufacturers should acknowledge that people who are overweight, or have larger bone structures and larger feet need and want to have the same opportunities to look cute, and beautiful as our skinnier friends!

Tamar Raine

Mother's Day

When I think about my mother, it is with conflicting emotions. I still hear her critisms in my head every day. everything. "turn your arm the other way", "pick up your feet," and the #1... "TRY TO RELAX!" "for God's sake Tamar!" Oh hell's bells! Oh shit! jezzle pizzle. For pete's sake! and on it goes......... "try harder!!" there was seldom praise.