Category Archives: Accessibility

When Keeping Your Job Depends On What Other People Do

When we develop MCS/ES, one of the first concerns we have is how to keep our job when other people keep using products and materials that disable us.

Some people are able to negotiate a legally required accommodation  policy, but sadly, too many people find these policies are rarely or effectively enforced as they should be.

no enforcement lost my job

Recent research from Dr Anne Steinemann shows there are serious adverse  impacts due to fragrance use:

“Significantly, 15.1 % of the general population reported that exposure to fragranced products in their work environment has caused them to become sick, lose workdays, or lose a job. Also, 20.2 % of the population reported that if they enter a business, and smell air fresheners or some fragranced product, they want to leave as quickly as possible.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11869-016-0442-z

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Here are some Human Rights resources on various laws, regulations, and solutions that, when enforced, can help people remain employed without losing their health and abilities:

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What Do You Think About Accommodating Someone With MCS/ES or Allergies?

Some people think they have the right to do whatever they want, regardless of how it affects anyone else around them. Sometimes what they do is from ignorance (not knowing or understanding causes and effects), sometimes it’s a deliberately hurtful, even criminal action. Either way, what they do causes all kinds of suffering that is fully preventable.

Here are a few images you can think about and share if they “speak” to you:

telling 1

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Loneliness, Posttraumatic Growth, and Invisible Disabilities

Amelia Hill shared an eloquent post about enduring and working with loneliness (see below).  Amelia and I are both  housebound (and have been so for years), but she is currently confined to a much smaller space in her home than I am in mine.

loneliness - Amelia HillFrom Heal Amelia’s Life:

Loneliness. I’ve kinda learned to override the often relentless waves of loneliness one feels living an isolated existence like mine.I don’t deny the feelings of loneliness or push them down in an unhealthy way. But it’s more like a repetitive cycle of acknowledging it & letting it go, acknowledging it & letting it go. It’s how I survive.

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Fragrance, Flying, and “Sensitivities”

Progress is being made!

Even if you can’t actually get a fragrance-free flight, you can now get to the plane along a fragrance-free route if you are in Vancouver, BC!

from Vancouver Airport's twitter account

Maybe it needs some work to make the English language portion clear?

Right now, it could be taken to mean that they have a free route to fragrance!

So, once they get the English fixed for those who don’t understand French (where it’s clear they mean without perfume, but then again, how many people actually read their box or bottle of laundry detergent to see that there’s parfum in there? and in their deodorant? and in their shampoo?)  we can (maybe) get to the plane without being assaulted by fragrance chemicals (but, oh, it’s only “free” from the duty free shops with fragrance).  Still, I guess it IS progress… kind of…   Right?

Assuming we can actually get there without a life threatening (or merely disabling) reaction,  what happens once we are in the actual plane?

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First Municipal Government Adopts Life Saving Plan for People With MCS/ES, CFS/ME, and FM

Good news for some people who have MCS/ES, CFS/ME, and FM

Tarragona SPAIN

RESCUE PLAN FOR PEOPLE WITH CENTRAL SENSITIVITY SYNDROMES:

THE CITY OF TARRAGONA (CATALONIA, SPAIN) IS THE FIRST MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT THAT IMPLEMENTS IT!

The first municipal government that has stepped forward to implement this plan, is the City of Tarragona Municipal Government (Tarragona is a major city 100 kilometres south of Barcelona). In the plenary session held last November 30th, the “Institutional Declaration of support for people with Central Sensitivity Syndromes” was approved, which consists of a concrete programme of measures. This is a historical step.

In part, the agreement includes:

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And The Winning Answer Is…

About a year ago I decided to give away an electronic item of some value that had belonged to my kids as they no longer wanted it and it had some chemical residues that prevented me from enjoying it (more too toxic tech issues). I posted it to a community giving group that is similar to Buy Nothing or Freecycle, where there are a lot of things given and received, for free (mostly clothing, toys, and small items).

 

community

As it was permitted to ask questions of respondents, I also decided to ask a question that people had to answer to be considered as a potential recipient.

Along with the description of the item, I posted:

*Please answer one of the following questions

1. Has anyone ever told you a product you use made them sick, and if so, how did you handle it?
or
2. If it hasn’t happened yet, how would you handle it if it did happen?

The responses included:

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Wired Connection for iPads

Guest post by Beau Binder

LOW EMF/RF Wired Network Configuration of iPad Tested Successfully

Some interesting — and hopefully also good — news.

I just had success with connecting an iPad via wired Ethernet to the Internet and enjoying the additional freedom this configuration offers. iPads can offer a low-cost, low EMF/RF alternative for standard computers when used in this way.

NOTE: This is not a promotion of any products or services from any entity. It is just a report on something that may be of use to some in the EHS community.

using iPad with wired access

Typically, present-day iPads are forced to use Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to connect to the Internet. But with this setup, one can have all wireless services disabled and still access the Internet via a wired Ethernet network.

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An Open Letter to the Scented

Guest post by Debbie Clark Seely

Dear friends,

I wanted to take the time to write this letter because we (the “unscented” community) are concerned for you. With it being the holiday season we are seeing multiple reports of friends and family members choosing to cut ties to their unscented loved ones rather than make the effort to visit them unscented. This perplexes us. It makes us feel like you are choosing scent over a human being. Continue reading

Industrial Engineering Students Learn That EHS is a Functional Impairment… and More About Wireless

This presentation by Professor Olle Johansson about the biological and health effects of  electromagnetic pollution was given to a group of Industrial Engineering students in Barcelona, Spain and was recorded in October 2015. We are fortunate to be able to have access to easy to understand scientific presentations of this caliber.

Pr Olle Johansson presentation

Professor  Johansson, from the Neuroscience department at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, starts by saying the first problem is that they have no women in the class and then discussed how EHS is recognized as a functional impairment in Sweden, and how the environment must be modified to accommodate and include people with a functional impairment. (His recently published paper on the subject is also available below). He went on to describe other issues with wireless radiation and encouraged the class to come up with solutions.

I think it’s worth taking the time to watch, but I like learning about the things that are affecting our lives, and what we can and have to do now and to protect future generations, so that they have a chance at more than mere survival.

Adverse health effects of modern electromagnetic fields from wireless telecommunication, such as mobile phones and WiFi

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Research Shows Harmful Chemicals Can Remain In Clothing Even After Washing

“Exposure to these chemicals increases the risk of allergic dermatitis, but more severe health effect for humans as well as the environment could possibly be related to these chemicals. Some of them are suspected or proved carcinogens and some have aquatic toxicity,”

textile chemical release

Giovanna Luongo found that there are harmful chemical residues left in clothing even after 10 washes and presents the information in her Doctoral Thesis, Chemicals in textiles A potential source for human exposure and environmental pollution.

This scientifically validates what some of us have been saying for years, that some harmful chemical residues can be extremely difficult if not impossible to remove, (as the rigmarole we have to go through in an attempt to have safe to wear clothing to wear attests), and that normally undetectable trace levels can cause disabling effects.

Many chemicals present in clothing (and bedding) enter the human body via dermal absorption, and can be detected in urine hours later!

This poster shows how chemicals enter our bodies:

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