I’ve recently got very into eating yoghurt. It’s fruity and fresh and tasty and I can’t believe I didn’t eat any for years, but they were so associated with diet culture that I couldn’t stand the idea.
The problem is, of course, all the little plastic pots that this obsession is generating. However, I’ve come across no social, legal or organisational pressure to stop eating them, despite the plastic situation. Unlike plastic straws, which are suddenly the enemy of the world. To everyone other than disabled folk, that is.
Plastic straws save lives
The first person I knew who would have died without access to plastic straws was a man with no arms. Straws meant he could drink a drink by himself, without assistance.
It was one of many adaptations he took for granted that non-disabled people can find quite ingenious, but they just formed part of how he gets through his daily life. Using his feet and his mouth got him through a lot of tasks, but there were also those that needed equipment, whether that was as big as a wheelchair or as small as a plastic straw.
Save the seas
The problem with the straw row is that the righteous fury that has emerged since David Attenborough made his Blue Planet 2 series is turning its anger in the wrong direction. The show put oceans full of plastic products on our television screens, and we all instantly – and rightly – wanted to do something to make it better. Individuals, organisations and governments were prompted to take action, and I was one of many who started looking more critically at the plastics I use unnecessarily.
The vastness of the problem makes it overwhelming, but there are so many potential (and often contradictory) “solutions” that people will be most tempted by a simple public campaign based around a single action. For whatever reason, this year’s outrage is now pointed towards those who use plastic straws.
I’ve never seen anybody tutted at in the supermarket for picking up a bag of pasta (wrapped in plastic), a loaf of bread (wrapped in plastic) or a packet of crisps (you guessed it). My yoghurts seem to be socially acceptable. But, increasingly, people defending the use of plastic straws are the target of rage, organisational policies and governmental legislation.
Changing the rules
The UK government has proposed a ban on plastic straws and cotton buds in response to the new public attention on single-use plastics, and Starbucks has said that it will be phasing out plastic straws in its cafes. Both of these are misguided policies, with Starbucks’ proposed alternative using more single-use plastic material than the current straw / lid combination do. It is a move to appease campaigners, not to make any real difference to plastic waste or usage.
The government has also been challenged on its proposed straw ban. Disability campaigners have been quick to point out that many disabled people, like my former friend mentioned above, need straws in order to live independent lives and, without them, could risk injury (for instance from trying to hold a hot drink) or even dehydration.
It is easy to ask disabled people to provide their own straws but, seriously, have you seen how much gear many of us have to carry about already? Under the Equality Act 2010, it is up to businesses to make themselves accessible, not up to us to carry ramps and audio systems and – yes – straws around to make sure they work for us.
Some people have suggested that straws should be available on prescription instead of on general sale. That would ensure that disabled people had access to the straws they needed, while preventing the general public from using them unnecessarily. And to those people, I ask: have you seen the stress the NHS is under? Have you seen the exorbitant fees they are charged for items we can buy for pennies, like packets of paracetamol (which cost 26p or so in the supermarket, versus costing the NHS £3.23); the same would be the case for packets of straws.
Plus, doctors really have better things to do. They’re busy seeing patients and prescribing actual medicines, not messing about with last-minute scripts for someone on holiday who forgot to bring their straw quota with them.
It is also wrong ethically to put the burden on disabled people. “Tourette’s Hero” Jess Thom was abused by a member of staff in a restaurant when she requested a straw, and there is no way that someone whose disability status is ambiguous, based on their appearance, won’t be policed in this way.
There are alternatives to plastic straws, such as metal ones, glass (which alarms me immediately) and even bits of pasta, but these are far from satisfactory alternatives for most disabled people reliant on plastic straws. This chart explains it better than I can:
Fabulous. Appreciate you sharing it. Will do the same! RT @JoyceTakako: @JodyJotes @DorfmanDoron @DisVisibility @DREDF @LCarterLong When I don’t have enough spoons to deal with the non disabled I just keep posting this chart. I’m tired pic.twitter.com/y1JJnsJwqu
— Lawrence Carter-Long (@LCarterLong) July 14, 2018
Not just for disabled people
There are plenty of people who are injured or have dental work done and who then need plastic straws temporarily. Sue Jackson, a friend of a friend, is non-disabled but broke both wrists snowboarding. For four weeks, she had full-length plasters on her arms and required plastic straws to drink.
They’re actually not that bad
Plastic straws aren’t even the big environmental problem they are being made out to be. Sure, the world would benefit from fewer of them being produced, but they account for 0.03% of ocean plastic, when dumped fishing nets account for 46% of it. There is a clear message here about tackling industry and the really significant issues, rather than messing about with cotton buds, wet wipes and plastic straws.
Every little helps but, unless you’re tackling the big stuff as well, it seems like there’s little point. And when your environmental campaigning sets you up against people who need something to stay alive, you need to question whose rights you are advocating for, and whose lives you are willing to throw under the bus.
If you’re still convinced that disabled people should never use straws, it’s time to donate significantly to Kim Sauder’s request for $965,103 to live straw-free for the rest of her life. Anything else would be hypocritical.
Hat tip to Lisa Egan for support with this piece
Photo credit: Horia Varlan/Creative Commons