Category Archives: Housing

Help Susy Find and Afford Safe, Accessible Housing to Prevent MAiD

Long time MCS/ES community member Susy Mallin needs our support now.

She has managed to survive years of brutal conditions due to the severity of her MCS/ES, but all this has taken a big toll on her, and she is out of energy to keep struggling just to exist.

She needs medically safe, low toxicity housing on the Sunshine Coast area of BC where her family lives, housing that is affordable on a senior’s fixed income, a home where she isn’t exposed to chemicals, fragrances, smoke, pesticides, and other pollutants all the time. For these reasons, she can’t live in any multi-unit buildings.

You might see the issue with this need.

Housing is unaffordable for so many now, especially for people with medical needs for “healthy” housing, made with inert, low VOC materials.

People with MCS/ES don’t have a social safety net, our ability to live really does depend on community support, on you.

Please donate generously so that Susy can spend her remaining years in some relative peace.

Please be on the lookout for housing that could be suitable for her.

In a world that has otherwise made it abundantly clear that she, and others with more severe MCS/ES, aren’t really welcome, and who don’t care how much preventable suffering is imposed and endured, let’s show Susy that humans care enough to make it possible for her to exist, to be able to live out her natural life in dignity, and hopefully even be able to return to sharing her art with us.


Read more, and donate here:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-save-susys-life

Banner of 5 images of jewellery that Susy was previously able to create, including hearts, pendants, and initials, all hand-made of silver

Silver jewellery made by Susy when making jewellery was still possible.

Please share widely.
Thank you for anything you can contribute.

An UPDATE on Susy’s situation (March 11th, 2023)
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MCS and Housing Update

The MCS and Housing  page has an entirely new updated resource section, divided into a few different categories.

Hope you find it helpful.

MCS and Housing

May safe, accessible, medically required housing be available for all who need it.

an illustration of different types of colourful housing on a green wavy landscape

Van Living with MCS/ES

Marie’s an artist with severe mold sensitivity and MCS/ES, and has created an amazing slide show and photo  exhibits to raise awareness about the plight of people with environmental sensitivities and environmental illnesses, despite living in a dilapitated van, having to travel to the US for our winters because it’s too cold in a van here in Canada.

We really don’t have accessible housing for people with severe MCS/ES. I have several good online friends living in vehicles now because there’s no accessible housing. Marie is one of them, and she needs a reliable new (to her) van really soon, so that she can continue to live and create the beautiful, challenging, and awareness-raising art she lives for.

Life in a specialized van is hard enough, but it’s not at all safe in the old one she’s been trying to maintain the last few years. The old van has come to the end of it’s life. She has been harassed by unscrupulous men a number of times when the van broke down, and she deserves better than this from our society.
Let’s make sure she receives what she needs. No contribution is too small. Likewise, no donation is too big if you have more than you need.
Can you please donate, share, and ask the people you know to donate and share too? The world needs Marie!

What Now?

 

A brief account of a seriously “sensitive” to pollution person living in a society where fragranced and toxic products are more important than lives, where disabled lives are disposeable, where it’s now easy to be euthanized (even for for externally imposed and inflicted) suffering, but not to receive support to remove the causes of suffering, causes and conditions that have been made systemic for many people with disabilities.

I’m not a poet and I know it and I wrote it anyway…

What Now? Continue reading

Proclamation, Video, and Other News for May 12th Awareness Day

Toronto’s Mayor John Tory has lent (not given) his support with a Proclamation for  for Awareness Day:

“Proud to proclaim today as Myalgia Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia and Multiple Chemical Sensitivities Awareness Day. It is important that we lend our support and understanding to those living with chronic illness, especially as we deal with #COVID19.

 

(I’m sorry there’s no written transcript for the image)
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Endangered Human in Jasper

If you are in or near Jasper, Alberta  anytime between February 29 and March 7, please check out Marie LeBlanc’s Endangered Human presentation at  Jasper Community Habitat for the Arts. I have seen some of it, and it’s very powerful.

 

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Accessibility Recommendations from ARCH and CELA

Accepting the leadership offered by the Task Force on Environmental Health to address the health care system, proactive change can begin immediately at all levels of society including federal, provincial, and municipal governments and public departments and agencies.

These would include, but are not limited to, public transportation providers, school boards, and the private sector.”


screenshots
of  the report recommendations
with source added

 

The Legal Rights and Challenges Faced by Persons with Chronic Disability Triggered by Environmental Factors

From ARCH Disability Law Centre and the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA),  September 2019

“3. Conclusion While there has been significant research and study into barriers to include persons with EH disabilities, critical obstacles remain.

Seeking help in the health system, trying to find and/or retain adequate housing or employment, entering public spaces, shopping, or using public transportation, limit the inclusion of persons with EH disabilities in our communities.

Much more needs to be done to acknowledge the significant hurdles faced by persons with EH disabilities.

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Quote

How to Show That Your Disability Accommodation is Disability-Related

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

https://howtogeton.wordpress.com/how-to-make-sure-your-disability-accommodation-is-disability-related/

Human Rights and Housing: New Resources for Community Workers Supporting Clients with Chemical and Environmental Sensitivities

Canadian Lawyer Magazine and The Law Foundation of Ontario have shared the news about CERA’s new resources for community workers, to help support clients with chemical and environmental sensitivities in rental housing:

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Safe Housing Survey

Do you (or will you) need safe housing?

Until the end of November 2019, Health Risk Navigation Inc. (HRNI) is conducting a much needed (yet simple) survey of the housing needs of the chemically injured in order to have quantitative data to show housing providers, communities, policy, and decision makers, funders, and other relevant parties.

This kind of data doesn’t exist currently, so even though safe housing is our core need, there are no official documents that anyone can easily point to.

More details are available on their FAQ page:
https://www.hrni.ca/Housing-Survey-FAQ.php

Some of you may have already done the 1st edition of this survey in June of 2019, when it originally came out. Thank you! Even though the survey now has a different format, those responses are not lost.

You don’t have to do the revised one, but it would be helpful if you could spend the 10-15 minutes to do so… just mention that you completed the original on the last page where people are asked to share any additional comments.

The questions of the initial survey and the current survey are identical, except that the current survey now has four new questions at the beginning  that seek  consent of the respondents to save and share info (largely due to EU privacy laws).

Every question also gives an explanation as to why the data is requested. Additionally, every question (except the consent questions) now gives us the choice to answer “Prefer Not To Say”.

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