Category Archives: Medically Required Housing

Healthy Housing for Ann – Help Needed

Posted on April 14, 2024 | 2 comments

 

My friend Ann needs to relocate soon, and really needs an accessible place where exposures to pollutants are minimized as much as possible.

The Plays that Says Here
Painting by Ann Cognito

 

She has written about her needs here:

Hello, I am a friend of Linda’s, who needs to find safe and accommodative housing. My name is Ann Cognito (pen name – my legal surname is Bucknor).

I am an older woman with disabilities and serious long term health issues including severe chronic pain (multiple causes) and severe environmental/chemical intolerances (probably MCS; I’m on a very long list waiting for assessment at the Women’s College Hospital Environmental Health Clinic). I am also agoraphobic, autistic, and have CPTSD.

Before my health deteriorated so much, I used to have a career, and owned my home.  I am very well educated, and an environmental activist. While I was still able to function more, I walked from Calgary to Ottawa with my support/service dog to raise awareness about the climate crisis. 

I am now looking for safe housing, again.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Disability, Health, Human Rights, Environmental Health, Medically Required Housing, Accessibility, Air Quality, Community, Real Estate

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Are You Feeling Lucky?

Posted on May 5, 2023 | 1 comment

Some of us are fairly independent, (no-one is fully independent  in an interdependent society).

Some of us may need helping hands to exist, sometimes in little ways, sometimes in seemingly big ways, which can seem even larger if policies have been created that make solutions much harder to access or create.

Some people’s basic medical needs which make it possible for them to exist are expensive, and these survival needs may seem elitist to others who can’t afford them, because the system is set up to make healthier (and for some, medically necessary) options more expensive and unavailable to everyone, even though everyone would benefit from access to them.

Society has also been conditioned to add on a quiet “they must be doing something wrong if they can’t manage independently”, and “I can’t afford those things that I would like to have too”, or  “I had to work my ass off for those things, why should someone get them for free”.

Are you feeling lucky today that your basic needs are being met?

Here’s a list of questions to consider:

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Accessibility, Air Quality, Disability, Environmental Health, Fragrance, Health, Housing, Human Rights, Medically Required Housing, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

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

Posted on February 14, 2023 | 2 comments

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)
Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Accessibility, Disability, Environment, Environmental Health, Generosity, Housing, Human Rights, Indoor Air Quality, MAID, Medically Required Housing, Real Estate

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MCS and Housing Update

Posted on January 26, 2023 | 6 comments

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

6 Comments

Posted in Accessibility, Disability, Environmental Health, Environmental Sensitivities, Housing, Human Rights, Medically Required Housing, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

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Homeless Canaries Need Access to Fragrance-Free Showers

Posted on May 2, 2020 | 12 comments

 

I saw an announcement on fb from a city agency that was opening up an arena to allow homeless people a place to shower, and they were also providing soap, shampoo, and other necessities.

“People who are homeless or precariously housed in (the city) relied upon bathrooms and showers in public facilities. But, they have closed their doors during the pandemic. There are now free showers and washrooms open daily at (the)  Arena.”

Homelessness is something far too many human canaries are intimately  familiar with, since there are so few accessible, medically safe housing options available when our ‘sensitivities’ become disabling.  Many  human canaries are  precariously housed too.


Graphic image text description:
Everyone welcome.
Toothbrushes, shampoo, soap, and more provided.
Free showers & washrooms
———————————————————————-
ACCESSIBILITY QUESTION:
Is the soap and shampoo fragrance-free so that people with environmental ‘sensitivities’ could also access the space?
MAY is MCS/ES Awareness Month
—

I was (due to MCS/ES related accessibility barriers) homeless myself for a year, and the need to shower did not go away. I know several homeless canaries now, one who just a few days ago was discussing her attempts to create a shower outside the van she is living in, so I asked the fb page a question about accessibility for homeless canaries.

Here’s what happened:

Continue reading →

12 Comments

Posted in Accessibility, Air Quality, Disability, Environmental Health, Environmental Sensitivities, Fragrance, Human Rights, Medically Required Housing, Policy, Public Health

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Safe Housing Survey

Posted on August 20, 2019 | 2 comments

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”.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Accessibility, Community, Environmental Health, Environmental Sensitivities, Housing, Medically Required Housing, Research

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When a Friend’s Life Is Being Threatened

Posted on September 14, 2016 | 2 comments

Guest Post

A few of us in the MCS community have been burning the proverbial candle at both ends and in the middle, trying to generate public awareness and interest to persuade the NS housing authority to reconsider their 3 year battle to evict our good friend Wendy, despite no accessible alternatives being available.

Their unwillingness to understand and accommodate her disability and her medical team’s recommendations… well, it’s something a lot of us have faced and are facing.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Accessibility, Action, Disability, Environmental Health, Friendship, Housing, Human Rights, Medically Required Housing, Support

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Update: Wendy is NOT a Widget and She Shouldn’t be Treated Like One

Posted on May 2, 2016 | 6 comments

UPDATE:
The bureaucrats expect Wendy to leave the only safe and accessible home Wendy has access to, the sherriffs could be there any day, and there is still no other safe and accessible place for Wendy to move to!

In a kind and sane society, disabled people would be treated with respect and dignity, and safe and accessible housing would not be taken from them when there is no place else to go to.

We need to treat people with invisible, inconvenient disabilities better!

Wendy has a safe-for-her-home, the ONLY place she can now be and remain functional, but the bureaucrats only see that it is a 3 bedroom home and not the 2 bedroom home her doctors have said she (at minimum) needs.

She cannot go to the mall, to the hospital, to a library, or to an apartment where people smoke, use fragrances, pesticides, or have dryer vents spewing toxic laundry products her way.

The only kind, humane, and sane solution is that she should be allowed to remain where she is, until the province has built MCS/ES accessible housing that is safe for her to move to…

2016 W.K. 1


UPDATE May 3rd:

According to this CBC interview, the housing authority has extended Wendy’s stay until the end of July, although a week or so ago they had told Wendy that she only had until April 30th, and they have not informed Wendy or her lawyer about this news (she learned via the CBC).

Hers is the 1st interview: http://www.cbc.ca/maritimenoon/2016/05/03/chemical-sensitivity-eviction-pot-pardons-your-thoughts/

∴ Wendy is NOT a widget. Widgets can go anywhere. Wendy can’t. “Widget” is used in texts and speech, especially in the context of accounting, to indicate a hypothetical “any…

Source: Wendy is NOT a Widget and She Shouldn’t be Treated Like One

6 Comments

Posted in Accessibility, Community, Disability, Environmental Health, Environmental Sensitivities, Government, Housing, Human Rights, MCS/ES, Medically Required Housing, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, Policy

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MCSVille: A Canary Safe Sanctuary

Posted on December 18, 2015 | 6 comments

Guest post by Laura Canary

Since I could not sleep, I thought I would bake a gingerbread house for our Christmas party. When I still could not sleep, I got carried away and baked enough to piece together this whole gingerbread village.

MCS ES gingerbread village kit 2(image for inspirational purposes only)

But, what to call it?
Canary City? Sansparfumville? Beneficidale? Healington? MCSville? Magic Canary Sanctuary?

Welcome to our Magic Canary Sanctuary, or MCSville!

See all the houses! They are all built MCS safe, to accommodate all Canaries in need.

Continue reading →

6 Comments

Posted in Environmental Health, Green Building, Healthy Environment, Imagination, Medically Required Housing

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Wendy is NOT a Widget and She Shouldn’t be Treated Like One

Posted on April 1, 2015 | 10 comments

∴

Wendy is NOT a widget. Widgets can go anywhere. Wendy can’t.

“Widget” is used in texts and speech, especially in the context of accounting, to indicate a hypothetical “any-product”. Companies in such texts will frequently be given names such as “ABC Widgets” or “Acme Widget Corp.” to indicate that the particular business of the hypothetical company is not relevant to the topic of discussion.
(Widget economics – wikipedia)

“Economists often use the term widget to refer to an abstract unit of production.”

∴

Wendy is NOT a widget as her local housing authority seems to believe. They have a capacity problem, but instead of addressing the need for improved (and accessible) capacity, they want to re-arrange people’s lives as if they were widgets, with little to no regard or understanding of the consequences.

∴

INVESTOPEDIA EXPLAINS ‘Capacity’

“The widget manufacturer may be able to produce 150,000 widgets in a month. However, due to downtime because of equipment maintenance and worker illness, only about 130,000 widgets can actually be produced per month. Over the long run, a business can increase its capacity and output by acquiring more factors of productions. For example, if market demand for widgets spikes, the widget manufacturer can buy more equipment and hire more workers, and thus increase its capacity to 175,000 widgets per month.”

∴

Wendy is not a widget. She is a living, breathing, human being, a human being with a complex, chronic environmentally linked condition and disability related needs, needs that widgets don’t have.

Wendy Kearly photo by ADAM MACINNIS – THE NEWS

Wendy Kearly photo by ADAM MACINNIS – THE NEWS

The housing authority from which Wendy rents her safe home has deemed her over-housed, and are in the process of evicting her, despite the fact that Wendy has no other option for medically required, safe housing available, and no safe access to any of the other places most people take for granted (see below).

In the following audio interview with Wendy, among other things, she talks about the process her grown children take to detox themselves enough to be able to safely visit with her, so that she is able to safely hug them when they come to town.

Continue reading →

10 Comments

Posted in Accessibility, Disability, Human Rights, MCS/ES, Medically Required Housing, Policy

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