ramps are not a yeah-but.

It’s great that so much work and community building and resistance and so on happens around a kitchen table, a bed, not necessarily always in the streets, but in the hangouts we have where we laugh our asses off for hours or make crafty things or food or poetry together or any number of other things not deemed “activist” enough and without a bullhorn. i love that, and i believe it and feel it in my bones.

But i can tell you that if that kitchen, bed, common room, whatever, doesn’t have a ramp? i can’t be or build with you. When you actually, tangibly, literally rely on ramps to be part-of something, to be part-of this building that happens not-on-the-streets(*), ramps aren’t just a yeah-but. They’re a requirement, a bottom line, a non-negotiable deal breaker, and they are often -for those of us who specifically, actually rely on them- the first line of shut-down, of no-building (though they’re rarely the only one).

So please, non-wheeled folks, including other disabled folks, please stop telling me “yes yes of course ramps matter but…”.
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[*streets, which, just to be real for a moment, are often significantly more wheels accessible (and are at least fairly predictable) than any other proposed gathering space for building, so there’s that.]