Having been housebound for far too many years due to having to avoid exposure to common, everyday products and materials that disable me, has given me time to observe the world (and sometimes even make a little sense of it).
Still, there are some things that make no sense. With over 404,207 Ontario citizens diagnosed with MCS, and 740,370 with one or more diagnoses of MCS, FM, and/or CFS (ME) (in 2016), why hasn’t the Ontario government done anything about the Task Force recommendation to raise
Posted in Accessibility, Air Quality, Disability, Environmental Health, Fragrance, Human Rights, Policy, Public Health
Tagged allergies, asthma, autism, cancer, CFS/ME, chemical sensitivity, environmental sensitivities, fibromyalgia, fragrance-free, hazardous air pollutants, IAQ, invisible disabilities, MCS, multiple chemical sensitivities, sensitive to pollution, toxic trespass, VOCs
There are those who invite us to celebrations, sometimes year after year, but who also refuse to remove the accessibility barriers so that we can attend.
There are 25 barriers in this photo.
Can you find them all?
Click on the image to enlarge it.
Don’t understand?
Learn more here:
Posted in Accessibility, Air Quality, Community, Disability, Environmental Health, Fragrance, Products
Tagged accessibility barriers, allergies, asthma, autism, cancer, chemical sensitivity, environmental sensitivities, fibromyalgia, Fragrance, hazardous air pollutants, IAQ, invisible disabilities, MCS, multiple chemical sensitivities, quit fragrance, toxic chemicals, VOCs
Having an invisible disability isn’t easy.
How many of us have experienced this?
“You don’t look like you’re sick or disabled”
Says here that every human has a heart
even when we can’t see any evidence of that
…
Does anyone ever say:
“You don’t look hungry“?
via How to Show That Your Disability Accommodation is Disability-Related
Lots of great tips at the link for how to write your disability related accommodation requests.
There are many other helpful resources on the How to Get On website too!
How to Show That Your Disability Accommodation
is Disability-Related
The Canadian Human Rights Commission’s
Policy on Environmental Sensitivities
has been updated to add more on scent-free policies.
Image description: “Environmental sensitivity and scent-free policies” text on a blue background to the left, with a photo of a dark haired woman resting her chin on her hand, while looking wistfully (towards the title text) out a window with rain drops on it, on the right side.
The new policy includes this:
“A scent-free policy is similar to other workplace policies such as
anti-harassment policies. It applies to all employees and is intended to guide
their conduct. If an employee does not comply with the policy, disciplinary
action can be taken.”
and this:
“If an employee with environmental sensitivities needs to leave because of a trigger, this person should not suffer negative impacts because of their disability
or their need for accommodation.”
Visit the CHRC website to download the PDF:
https://www.chrc-ccdp.gc.ca/eng/content/policy-environmental-sensitivities
Full text of the policy
(as copied from their PDF for people who have difficulties with PDFs):
Posted in Accessibility, Air Quality, Disability, Environmental Sensitivities, Fragrance, Government, Human Rights, Policy
Tagged accommodation, allergies, anti-harassment, chemical sensitivity, CHRC, employment, fragrance-free, health and safety, IAQ, invisible disabilities, less toxic, MCS, multiple chemical sensitivities, scent free, service providers
Holidays
are not easy for human canaries these days.
But friends CAN make it better:
Posted in Environmental Health, Environmental Sensitivities, Friendship, Gifts, Support
Tagged accessibility, allergies, asthma, autism, chemical sensitivity, fragrance-free, Gifts, hazardous air pollutants, holidays, IAQ, invisible disabilities, MCS, MCS/ES, multiple chemical sensitivities, non-toxic, non-toxic gifts, petrochemicals, presents, resources, sensitive to pollution, toxic chemicals, VOCs
Seriously "Sensitive" to Pollution 