Stop Disabled Person Using Plastic

Hello,

My name is Kim and I am disabled. As a result of being disabled, I frequently encounter daily tasks that are difficult or dangerous for me to undertake. This frequently occurs while I am preparing food. One of the ways that I offset this issue is by purchasing produce and other food items that are pre-cut or otherwise already prepared.

An unavoidable side effect of buying prepared foods is that they are usually sold in single-use plastic packaging. Packaging that contributes to pollution.

Single-use plastics are currently facing large-scale opposition from environmental campaigns. The biggest campaign currently making the rounds is one to ban straws. Ostensibly to save the oceans.

Many disabled people rely on single-use plastic straws to drink (yes they do need to be the single-use plastic kind)



Plastic straws make up a minuscule proportion of ocean trash and are not as dangerous as plastic bags or party balloons but I am repeatedly informed that this irrelevant because any amount of plastic being gone is a good thing regardless of social consequences.

When I point out that banning straws doesn't actually reduce plastic, it just stops petroleum being turned into straws specifically, I am told that getting the conversation started outways the real consequences of banning accessible products. Even if that conversation gives people the false impression that they are actually achieving something that won't occur. Even if that lie allows people to justify denying disabled people tools they need to live their lives.
 
So I'm here to do my bit. I don't currently rely on plastic straws and can simply opt not to use them. I do, however, as previously mentioned, rely on other single-use plastic. pre-cut produce has certainly also been targetted by environmental campaigns, so while the focus is currently on straws, I feel confident that those of you who would deny me a straw if I needed it would also like me to stop using other single-use plastics that I rely on because I'm disabled.

I can't do this alone.

Whenever a disabled person points out that they use single-use plastic out of necessity, countless nondisabled people pop up to helpfully tell us that we should just get someone else to do the thing for us. They usually invoke Personal Care Workers (PSWs) as the people we should get to do this for us.

I don't currently have a PSW. I am not currently in a position to need another human being's assistance just to be able to live my life.

For people who do rely on PSWs for basic daily assistance, they already aren't getting enough of it. People often only get assistance in short increments of time. It would be fundamentally unjust for me to take away an already limited resource from people who clearly need it more than I do.

My needs could really be solved by hiring a housekeeper.

So I am here asking you in the name of the environment to help me hire a fulltime housekeeper so that I can significantly reduce if not completely forgo the single-use plastic I currently rely on to mitigate my access needs.

This will not be a cheap solution but it is one that has been suggested to me repeatedly and I can only assume that if people suggest it so frequently, they must also be willing to contribute to making it a reality.

I will need $965,103

Please understand that I am not doing this to enrich myself and that money will almost entirely be used to pay the salary of the housekeeper. However, there are a number of concerns that do require me to add a few other cost considerations.

My research indicates that hiring a housekeeper will cost between $45,000-$80,000/year. I'll optimistically hope that I can get a housekeeper for about $65,000/year. This is already more than three times my average annual income.

It is unlikely that after the first year, I will be able to make salary payments on my own so I will need funds to pay this person's salary indefinitely.

This is where you, prospective donor are in luck. In addition to my physical disabilities, I am also autistic. Autistic people have a very short life expectancy (we frequently die by violence or suicide) with some studies putting our life expectancy as low as 36 or 39 .

I'm already 31 so even if we optimistically assume that I in fact make it to 39, I only need to have enough for a housekeeper for 8 years.

So $65,000 for 8 years is

$520,000

Now things get a little complicated because even though I would never dream of using this campaign to do anything but help the environment in whatever misguided way I can, this is where things start to cost me money.

I am currently actively asking you to give me money which means that any funds raised do not qualify as a windfall and I will have to claim any funds received on my income tax and pay any applicable taxes and result in my losing financial aid I currently rely on for things like paying rent and buying food.

There is no point to hiring a housekeeper to help me reduce plastic waste if I no longer have an apartment for them to work in.

As a result, I must add $51,000 to offset the likely loss of several years of student loans and other grants/bursaries that I currently rely on to make up the difference in my income.

GoFundMe also has associated fees which need to be prepared for

All campaigns are subject to a 2.9% transaction fee which in the context of the needs of this campaign amounts to $16,559.

There is also a per donation transaction fee of $0.30/donation. This is perhaps the most difficult part of the campaign to estimate. It is impossible to know how generous people will be. How much they really love the environment. So this is the portion of the campaign most likely to result in changing the total necessary funds.

If a conservative estimate of 50,000 donors are required to raise the necessary funds then that will add $15,000 (wow that's more than I pay in rent in a year but that's really not the priority here is it?) to the cost but that number could very easily be higher so watch this space as the campaign progresses.

I will also have to pay taxes on all of this, an estimated $262,125 and because the government doesn't care that I raised that money to pay taxes, I may have to pay an estimated additional $100,419.

I have been very conservative in my estimates so for this campaign to proceed I really do require the full amount.

If I get it I promise to spend it as I have laid out. I promise not to spend that money on myself regardless if being able to afford a better apartment might allow me to live closer to amenities which might passively allow myself to reduce waste by cutting my dependence on delivery services and in countless ways I can't begin to predict.

I will absolutely hire a housekeeper for my tiny apartment and forevermore forfeit any semblance of privacy.

However, if I am unable to get the entire amount, I will have to repurpose this money into things like supporting myself which may as I have already posited assist me in at least cutting down on my carbon footprint in different less definable and potentially more effective ways.

If I manage to actually get more than the amount I need then those too will be used in less clearly defined ways but which if I am lifted out of poverty will likely put me in a better position to make changes to help the environment.

So to recap if you give me $965,103 I will spend that money on

a housekeeper and offsetting lost financial aid

I will still be functionally poor despite having nearly $1,000,000

But you told me the answer was to get someone else to help me and functionally that's what this costs.