[id: Tweet by Dinah Applewhite @Dinahlew · Aug 6 reading “Tax dollars at work. Crushing wheelchairs” A photo is attached of a garbage truck crushing wheelchairs. It is dark out. Second image: Tweet again by @Dinahlew reading: “For context: this was part of ‘Operation Clean Sweep’ in Boston. I watched as peoples’ belongings-including wheelchairs-were thrown into a dumptruck. People were crying. There were many cops present helping to coordinate this. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The cruelty.” end id]
https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2019/08/09/operation-clean-sweep-south-end-boston
In addition to the rampant dehumanization of homeless people & people with substance use disorders, there’s a clear influence of ableism in the police’s response to this: in the article, Boston police spokesperson John Boyle says “Nobody was taken out a wheelchair and the wheelchair was thrown away. It wasn’t a case of that. It was abandoned property.” while the wheelchair user himself & his partner say he only left his chair for a minute and is unable to be mobile without it.
Stereotypes that all wheelchair users must be totally nonambulatory support this destruction of property; ‘obviously,’ people think, ‘if they really needed a wheelchair, they’d be in it right now, so it must be abandoned,’ and although the people who destroyed these chairs know that’s bullshit because someone was actively pleading with them not to take it, there’s a strong chance that the general public will buy that excuse.
This is one of the many, many reasons disabled people without substance use disorders absolutely have to be in solidarity with people with substance use disorders & movements promoting their health and safety. I’ve seen too many people with chronic pain blame doctors denying us pain medications on people with substance use disorders—this is not an “us versus them” issue, and constantly repeating ‘i’m not an addict, i’m one of the good, responsible users’ is just hurting other vulnerable people.