Let's Get Yomi & William Access To Their New Home!
Our dear friend Yomi Wrong and her longtime partner William Wedemyer just bought their first home in Oakland -- an amazing feat given how crazy the market is right now and how many folks have been displaced due to escalating rents. There will be a house warming party in due time!
Now Yomi and William need our support to quite literally get her through the door: their new house is not yet accessible for people with disabilities.
The most pressing concern is that the front porch needs to be entirely rebuilt to include a ramp for Yomi's power wheelchair, and the bathroom door needs to be widened (and fixtures modified to create more space for her wheelchair). With Oakland in the midst of a construction boom, contractors can pick and choose what to work on, and the cost of both labor and materials is quite expensive. The initial bids for the work have come in at roughly $15,000 for the ramp and $6,000 for the bathroom.
About our friends:
William provides in-home support for low-income people with disabilities and seniors, work he approaches with the grounding philosophy that keeping people safe and independent in their own homes enhances lives and builds stronger, more inclusive communities.
Yomi is a dynamo who has spent her life at the intersection of disability and social justice: first as a daily news reporter, then as the executive director at the Center for Independent Living, and currently as an ADA compliance manager for Sutter Health. But that's not all: she has supported numerous community organizations and social justice causes, and currently serves on both the Northern California and National ACLU boards.
Her career has been dedicated to shining a light on inequity and making the world more accessible and just for all of us. She has educated the "abled" among us on countless access and equity issues that we take for granted, whether it is the impact of an elevator out of service on BART, the way that airlines handle wheelchairs---or being able to access the front door or bathroom of your new home.
Many people with disabilities bear enormous financial costs due to systematic oppression, ableism and physical barriers, then struggle to pay for critical accommodations out of their own pockets. Advocates, activists and allies know this as a #DisabilityTax.
Yomi and William have the keys to their new home and need to move in by June 30th. But the work on the porch and the bathroom must be completed first.
This GoFundMe was organized to assist in paying for the cost of this critical work, so that Yomi and William can begin this chapter of their lives as Oakland homeowners without taking on additional debt. We have set a goal of $25,000 to cover the cost of the work and any possible overruns. If everyone who knows and loves Yomi and William can chip in what they can, we can easily meet this goal. Please consider making a contribution by midnight on Sunday, June 2: the work needs to happen ASAP!
In community,
Mark Burns & Dana Hull