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Support Recovery from Disability and Imminent Homelessness

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Hi there, I was physically disabled twice this past year (2024) and I’m now catching up on 5 months of expenses.

I have a pay or quit eviction notice that ends on 11/17/24. That’s less than a week.

I had a progressive spine disorder that was ignored by my medical professionals for 2.5 years (because I’m “too young for a spine disorder”, black, feminine, PCOS/ quarantine cortisol fat, with “crazy” on their chart).

The pain started in October 2021, was dismissed repeatedly by my ex PCP/ spine doc, and it got so bad, it left me unable to work or walk come February 2024. I locate a new doctor who takes me seriously and puts me on disability for 4 months, with 4 rounds of corticosteroid injections/ transforaminal epidurals that finally relieved my 8/10 pain enough for me to focus on working out / physical therapy to help reverse the spinal stenosis/ nerve damage caused by my degenerative disc disease. My pain is manageable now thank gods, but being on disability BARELY covered my living expenses.

I was on track to hustle my way back into financial stability, but on my commute to work in early September 2024, I SLIP on a BART escalator and slash open my right knee. I’m on disability for another 3 weeks, work impacted for 8 weeks. Same problem: not only does disability pay LATE, but it doesn’t pay my full wage = struggling with a FIFTH month of expenses.

This got so insurmountable/ overwhelming for me, to be pushed behind AGAIN after ALREADY STRUGGLING to get ahead for months, that I considered hospitalizing myself so I wouldn’t commit s*icide a few times.

Im getting in touch with rental assistance agencies, trying to figure out legal options, getting a few different types of therapy, am focusing on what I CAN do versus the imminent doom, using better meds, but what I need here is HELP to get out of what feels like a slippery slope from repeated physical disability (and therefore compounded psychiatric disability due to an inability to accrue basic needs including housing expenses over months, and mounting expenses from disability that just doesn’t pay) into imminent homelessness. Because me street sleeping in a WEEK isn’t going to help much even if rental assistance or legal DOES pull through in a month or 3. I literally don’t even have the time to hustle 7 days a week out if this.
My roommate is a disabled indigenous Translady who is out of work.
Anything helps & thank you for reading.
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Donations (5)

  • Shannon Wiseman
    • $25
    • 8 mos
  • Lawrence Jarach
    • $501st donor
    • 8 mos
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Organizer

Meredith Simon
Organizer
Oakland, CA

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