A Past Accessibility Advisor Makes a Dire Plea for Trauma-Responsive Practices for Survivors

This example may resonate more if Black, Indigenous, or racialized, but "trauma-informed" is much like in 2020 when many white folx expressed an interest in racial justice as they informed us of all the anti-racist books they bought, as if their being more informed about our oppression would result in any actual improvements for our communities of colour! 🤡"

Similarly, I have barely seen trauma-informed approaches practiced by colleagues who use that term despite 15 years as a registered social worker, as those with privilege often find it easier to assume they know better since their strides without the trauma of oppression can obscure insight, while heightening their perception of professional expertise, but even that "informed" lens is useless if not operationalizing that understanding of trauma impacts by meeting folx where we are at, as bureaucracy and complacency tend to embody complicity with our hauntingly slow deaths as our quality of life decreases like a ticking time bomb!💣"

Until being harassed by that white supremacist Executive Director of the family health team, loved ones and I would joke about how those who mistreated me must not know that I survived Ava, as a measure of how I was equipped to survive anything! In 2016, my toxic "mother" would be replaced with the name of that bigoted boss! By 2024, that colonizer would be replaced with the name of my abusive ex! Unfortunately, with each traumatic experience, my ability to keep going is depleted. As I get increasingly closer to losing the condo unit I have called home since 2018 after 3 missed mortgage payments, which has reduced my migraine-free hours to only a handful a week, part of me hopes this exacerbation of pain would be indicative of some acute condition that would extinguish my life swiftly!🤞🏾"

When these decades have traumatized the fuck out of me while ripping those rewards the myth of meritocracy deceitfully offered for an ethical, hard-working existence, my commitment to honouring my access needs will need to be pried from my cold, dead hands, as decades of trauma taught me that further violations usually follow refusals to accommodate our access needs, and if I find life only barely worth living now, the last thing I need is more trauma that fails to kill me expeditiously!🔥"

Disability Justice activists, organizers, and cultural workers understand that able-bodied supremacy has been formed in relation to other systems of domination and exploitation. The histories of white supremacy and ableism are inextricably entwined, both forged in the crucible of colonial conquest and capitalist domination. One cannot look at the history of US slavery, the stealing of indigenous lands, and US imperialism without seeing the way that white supremacy leverages ableism to create a subjugated “other” that is deemed less worthy/abled/smart/capable. A single-issue civil rights framework is not enough to comprehend the full extent of ableism and how it operates in society. We cannot comprehend ableism without grasping its interrelations with heteropatriarchy, white supremacy, colonialism and capitalism. Each system benefits from extracting profits and status from the subjugated “other.” 500+ years of violence against black and brown communities includes 500+ years of bodies and minds deemed “dangerous” by being non-normative – again, not simply within able-bodied normativity, but within the violence of heteronormativity, white supremacy, and gender normativity, within which our various bodies and multiple communities have been deemed “deviant,” “unproductive,” and “invalid.”

This is not the 1st time I have been hounded by creditors, but when this last happened in 2010, I was graduating with a Master's of Social Work degree despite how being listed as secondary on Ava's credit cards had disqualified me from government student loans and forced me to incur extensive credit card debt, with high hopes for a lengthy career making a difference supporting folx, without realizing how my commitment to anti-oppressive practice was expected to end before opposing white supremacy, settler-colonialism, ableism, xenophobia, etc! 👀"

As I desperately attempt to scrounge together $5417.67 by October 15, 2026, before another $1775.89 is due on November 1, 2026, despite exhausting my retirement savings after suffering $183,364+ in financial abuse, if you are able to support me in staying alive by remaining housed, I would be grateful for any monetary contributions!🙏🏾"