Author: Angela Van Etten

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Relationships

Presidential Impact

Presidents Day

The New Zealand Embassy in Washington, D.C. was the meeting place of two presidents representing two countries in March 1981—not the White House or Camp David. The venue was chosen because the Little People of New Zealand president asked to meet the Little People of America President. And in an extraordinary turn of events, the meetings continued in civilian quarters for another 41 years as a married couple! 

As husband and wife, we now look back on Presidential influences in our lives. On January 20, 1981, President Ronald Reagan ordered a retroactive hiring freeze that eliminated 1800 federal jobs, including Robert’s position as a communications engineer with the Access Board.

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Because the national media covered Robert’s story as a hardship case, I had the advantage of boning up on his background before we met. And with his job frozen, Robert had the time to be my tour guide during my five-week visit.

The Lincoln Memorial was our first stop. President Abraham Lincoln’s statue towered above us at more than six times our height. We were inspired by the display of Lincoln’s words from the Gettysburg address: all men are created equalbecause we shared a life mission to achieve equality for little people and others with disabilities.

On July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush advanced this goal when he threw open the door to equality for people with dwarfism and disabilities by signing the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In October 1993, President William Clinton inspected a three-foot-high Lego replica of the White House with Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich. The president joked that the four-foot-ten secretary “could almost live in there.” Kyle Smith, a New York Post reporter, sought my reaction to Clinton’s quip. My answer reported in Smith’s article—“Labor Sec is a living doll, says big Bill”—made me a target of two polar opposite radio personalities, Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh. Both Stern and Limbaugh took umbrage with my saying the joke was inappropriate and didn’t help our cause. Limbaugh said, “What cause?”

After 17 years living in America as a legal permanent resident alien, I tired of sitting on election sidelines. I wanted to vote. And on January 17, 1998 after news broke of President Clinton’s alleged White House sex scandal with a White House intern, I knew I needed to vote. So on June 26, 1998, I applied for citizenship. And the basis for my decision was confirmed in December 1998 when President Clinton was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice. My application was approved and my naturalization ceremony followed in Miami, Florida on September 25, 1999.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s directive to hide his dependence on leg braces and a wheelchair for mobility was reversed on January 11, 2001. A life-sized statue showing FDR in his wheelchair was added at the FDR Memorial entrance and accurately demonstrates that his strength was in his leadership not his legs. Disability doesn’t limit what people can accomplish and should not be hidden. 

So how have American Presidents impacted your life?

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Relationships

Marriage Vows and Valentines

Valentine

Our love journey did not begin on Valentine’s Day. In February 1981 we didn’t even know each other. Rather we made our love commitment in marriage vows on October 31, 1981:

We will stand by each other no matter what happens, respecting each other’s individuality, understanding the other’s needs, accepting our changes, and enjoying our love until death parts us.

Nonetheless, in February 1982, I did expect our first Valentine’s Day together to be special.

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I gave my husband Robert a romantic card depicting a cartoon of a woman with curly hair lying under the bedcovers with an empty pillow next to her. The message read: “If you’d like to be my Valentine, you know where to find me. All my love and kisses.” Instead tears flowed when Robert had no card to give me. Of course in the long haul, our marriage vows were much more important.

We could not have imagined what “standing by each other no matter what happens” would involve—adjusting to life as an alien resident living thousands of miles from families in New Zealand, Australia, and Florida; qualifying to practice law in America; multiple moves across state lines chasing jobs as a two career couple; employment discrimination and unemployment; running a sole proprietor business; betrayal by a trusted friend and embezzlement; LPA leadership; surgeries for cataracts, detached retina, hips, and aortic valve replacements; workaholism and marriage counseling; car accidents; ice storms and hurricanes. Yet with God’s help we kept this vow.

Our ability to “respect each other’s individuality” is continually challenged. Take, for example, Robert’s idea of being ready for a camping trip was a kayak strapped on top of the van without packing any food, bedding, or camping gear. Also, I often didn’t appreciate Robert’s humor. Like when he forwarded me an email listing bumper stickers he thought were funny. Only a couple caused me to even crack a smile. One sticker reminded me of our road trip experiences—He Who Hesitates Not Only is Lost, but is Miles from The Next Exit.

And I was not amused when I missed an I-90 exit when driving home from Boston, Massachusetts to Rochester, New York. Robert took great delight in repeatedly singing the chorus from “M.T.A.,” a song about a man trapped on the Boston subway.

Well, did he ever return?
No, he never returned and his fate is still unlearned.
He may ride forever ‘neath the streets of Boston,
And he’s the man who never returned.

On the flip side, Robert wasn’t amused when his photo in the gallery of national officers published in the 1983 LPA Boston convention brochure was of him sporting a snorkel and goggles in contrast to the formal attire of the other officers. I had sent the editor two photos—the funny one for the editor’s personal pleasure and a serious one for publication. The editor shared the joke with everyone.

            Forty years later in our retirement years we are now learning to accept our changes, and enjoy our love until death parts us.

This post was adapted from book II in Angela Muir Van Etten’s dwarfism memoir trilogy—PASS ME YOUR SHOES: A Couple with Dwarfism Navigates Life’s Detours with Love and Faith, https://angelamuirvanetten.com/pass-me-your-shoes/. 

Categories
Medical

Heart Health Habits and Helps

Heart Health
Image: February is Heart Health Month by SusanWilkingHoran.com

As I approach February 19, 2023—the tenth anniversary of open heart surgery to implant my top hat mechanical aortic heart valve—I remain eternally grateful for God’s interventions leading me to a diagnosis of aortic stenosis and Johns Hopkins Hospital for life-saving surgery. This experience makes me tender towards the February heart days reserved to save more lives and promote heart healthy living: 

  • American Heart Month.
  • February 1 to 7, Women’s Heart Week.
  • February 3, National Wear Red Day® to raise and spread awareness to help eradicate heart disease and stroke in millions of women.
  • February 7 to 14, Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Week.
  • February 22, Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day.

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According to the American Heart Association, 655,000 Americans die annually from heart and cardiovascular diseases. Forty-three million women have some type of heart disease. Two to three million people have Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) and as many as 11 million have heart valve disease that kills around 25,000 people per year.

Here’s the good news: 87 percent of all heart issues are believed to be preventable. Plus, as medical care and treatment have advanced, people with CHD live longer and healthier. Valve disease can usually be successfully treated in patients of all ages. However, positive outcomes call for people to practice self-care and, if necessary, make lifestyle changes.

Most of us already know that being physically active, eating healthy foods, getting enough sleep, not smoking, and finding healthy ways to reduce stress can help prevent heart disease. But many of these things are easier said than done and some are especially difficult for people with dwarfism and disabilities. Take, for example, the advice to be physically active. While diet and exercise are touted as our greatest weapon and reduce our chances of heart disease by as much as 80 percent, the recommended 150 minutes of heart-pumping physical activity per week may not be feasible.

Yet not being able to walk briskly, do water aerobics, or play tennis doubles doesn’t take us off the hook. Being active is not an all-or-nothing thing. Physical activity is anything that moves our body and burns calories. Any amount of movement is better than none. And for those of us who are sedentary, sitting less is a great place to start along with walking and stretching. 

It’s also important to know the five numbers that determine our risk for developing cardiovascular diseases: (1) total cholesterol;  (2) HDL (good) cholesterol; (3) blood pressure; (4) blood sugar; and (5) body mass index (BMI). I never used to pay attention to these numbers, but now I ask for copies of blood work reports and for the numbers when my blood pressure is taken. Knowing whether a number is in or out of the healthy range is the best way to be pro-active in managing heart health. I’m as much a member of my health care team as any doctor or nurse.

If there’s something I can do to avoid a stroke or heart attack, I’m going to do it. How about you?

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Accessibility

Defendants Feign Ignorance When Hit With ADA Complaints

Access Counter

According to an attorney who defends businesses charged with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title III violations, most defendants don’t know there’s a problem until served with a summons notifying them of the lawsuit. So 31 years after the ADA’s January 26, 1992 effective date, we’re expected to believe defendants don’t know wheelchairs can’t climb steps, people using walkers and canes have trouble opening heavy doors, and little people can’t reach high counters!” Incredulous. No, it’s way past time for defendants to cry foul when held accountable for access violations that exclude people with dwarfism and disabilities.

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Thankfully the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) ADA enforcement actions demonstrate ignorance is no excuse. For example, in 2017, the DOJ entered voluntary compliance agreements with two Iowa restaurants to resolve designated accessible parking space issues. At Cedar Grill, the spaces were not located on the shortest accessible route to the main entrance. At Birdsall Ice Cream Co., the stripes were worn and did not effectively define the van accessible parking space and adjacent access aisle. 

Doors are another bone of contention for people whose disability limits their ability to push or pull. Heavy doors can effectively block people from entering a building or getting out of a public bathroom. For example, when my husband Robert did not return from using the bathroom at a COVID-19 testing site, I asked a paramedic on duty to go and check if he was okay. Sure enough he was trapped by a heavy door. Likewise, the closer on the Cedar Grill restaurant bathroom door at 7 lbs force was heavier than the maximum allowable force of 5 lbs.

It may surprise you to know that many people with dwarfism choose a restaurant based on furniture. As Deb Hecht, a little person from Indiana, said:

“Look at ALL the bar stools instead of regular dining room chairs. I am now very selective in my restaurant choices because of the height of the chair, not the food choice!”

Although food is important, it’s irrelevant if you can’t sit comfortably while eating it.

As it turns out, inaccessible seating is not something little people have to accept. The DOJ called out the two Iowa restaurants, named above, on this very issue. Both were required to remove architectural barriers—like fixed bar stools—that failed to provide accessible dining surfaces. At least five percent of the seating or standing spaces at dining surfaces must provide a dining surface 28 inches minimum and 34 inches maximum above the finished floor. 

Counter heights can make the difference between being served or not. The accessible height is between 28 and 36 inches high. The 42 inch service counter where orders are taken and filled at Birdsall Ice Cream Co. caused the DOJ to require management to agree to transact business with disabled customers at the 30” high sales counter near the cash register when requested.

This is just a sampling of access issues the ADA addresses. What barriers are you ready to challenge?

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Transportation

Public Participation ADA Violation

Public Participation

In my role as an advocate for a Center for Independent Living, I monitored county compliance on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In January 2012, I spotted a public transit issue. Not only was it an ADA violation, but it also violated the principle “nothing about us without us.”

County staff was seeking Board of County Commission (BOCC) approval of an ADA Paratransit Plan—door-to-door service for those unable to ride fixed-route buses—without giving adequate notice or opportunity for the public participation required by the ADA.

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Specifically staff had failed to reach out to paratransit riders or people with disabilities and groups representing them in the community. The public notice of the proposed plan had been posted in a newspaper, but not the newspaper read by the Radio Reading Service for blind or visually-impaired listeners. And no notices were posted on buses or distributed to organizations whose clients used county transit services.

I recruited paratransit riders to join me in making public comments to ask the BOCC to postpone approval of the paratransit plan until public participation was provided. After five years advocating at the BOCC in support of public transit funding, the entire BOCC knew my name. The BOCC Chair declared me trustworthy and responded favorably to our comments.

Our advocacy achieved the desired result when the BOCC declined to adopt the ADA Paratransit Plan and directed staff to come back after working out the notice and public participation issues with me. Although county staff also knew me, they weren’t so appreciative. The staff member who had prepared and presented the ADA Paratransit Plan to the BOCC cried when the plan was not adopted. Still, she had no choice but to work with me.

After following my lead on giving adequate notice to riders and meaningful outreach to disabled organizations, public participation on the plan was scheduled in March 2012. Even so, county staff still saw this as “Angela’s” meeting that would only need a small conference room. When 30 people turned up, staff had to open the county commission chamber at the last minute.

County staff were astounded that 15 people and disability organizations made public comments—nine riders, five disability professionals, and one employer—giving meaningful input on the plan. Staff listened to the public input and responded with many improvements to the plan relating to eligibility recertification, the trip pick-up window, consideration of weather conditions that affect a person’s ability to get to a bus stop, and the appeal process. Finally, I was ready to support the revised ADA Paratransit Plan when staff resubmitted it to the BOCC four months later.

Another recurring issue was the county Metropolitan Planning Organization’s scheduling of public participation transit workshops on evening and weekend hours when there was no transit service. We dealt with this issue at a Florida Transportation Disadvantaged (TD) Local Coordinating Board (LCB) meeting. The motion to schedule public workshops at times when TD riders could get there either by providing after-hours transit or scheduling daytime meetings passed unanimously.

This post is a condensed excerpt from chapter 18 in book three of my dwarfism memoir trilogy, “ALWAYS AN ADVOCATE: Champions of Change for People with Dwarfism and Disabilities,” https://angelamuirvanetten.com/always-an-advocate/.

Categories
Character

Legalization of Infanticide Looms After Dobbs

Infanticide unsplash

Almost 50 years of fighting for pro-life values paid off when the United States (U.S.) Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with its June 24, 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The Dobb’s decision eviscerated the former federal constitutionally protected right to abortion and upheld Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Yet Dobbs does not herald the end of abortion.  The polarizing positions of pro-life and pro-choice advocates are now duking it out in Congress, 50 state legislatures, and the ballot box. The fight is fast and furious.

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The Women’s Health Protection Act of 2022—prohibiting governmental restrictions on abortion services—passed the House of Representatives on July 15, 2022 (it was not approved in the U.S. Senate). In 2022, states enacted 50 pro-life laws and 77 pro-abortion laws. In the November 2022 election, California, Michigan and Vermont all passed referendums enshrining reproductive rights in their state constitutions.

In the past, pro-choice rationalizations for abortion claimed “life begins at birth, not conception” and “a fetus is not a baby until it can live outside the womb.”  Today’s ardent pro-choice advocates make an even more egregious attack on life by alleging that  babies born alive after a botched abortion should not be protected because they’re not “actual persons,” “morally relevant,” or fully human until they are “self-aware.” In so doing, they promote infanticide—euphemistically called after-birth or perinatal abortion. They hold that the well-being of parents outweighs the interests of a living child. Just as progressive is the idea that a newborn imposes no obligations on a parent because whether a child will exist as a person in the future is a parent’s choice.

Are these the reasons why—as of 2019—19 States allow infanticide and let abortionists leave babies to die if they survive an abortion?

Does this explain why California passed an infanticide law in September 2022 permitting perinatal (post-birth) abortions of babies due to a pregnancy-related cause without civil or criminal liability or penalty?

Will the California law be a forerunner of similar laws in other states, or will states back off because the Maryland bill sanctioning “perinatal” deaths up to the first 28 days after birth did not pass?

Will infanticide—a deliberate killing of a child that is under a year old—be decriminalized or denounced as murder subject to criminal penalties?

Will American society sacrifice the lives of innocent infants born to women who choose not to raise a child with a disability or illness and decline to take advantage of abortion alternatives like safe haven laws and adoption?

The answers to these questions lies squarely with the American people.

So let your voice be heard on January 22, 2023, Sanctity of Human Life Day, with a stand for prenatal and perinatal life. Celebrate the January 11, 2023 passage in the 118th Congress of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act in the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R. 26), and call your Senator to nail down a vote for the bill when it comes up for a vote.     

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Disability Rights Medical

COVID-19 AT THREE-YEAR MARKER

Mitigation measures

COVID-19 entered the dictionary after the first confirmed American case on January 21, 2020. Three years later, the virus has claimed the lives of well over one million Americans and 6.5 million worldwide.

Although pandemic isolation and lockdowns took its toll on everyone, people with disabilities were disproportionately impacted as shown in the following examples:

  • People with developmental disabilities lost home and community based services and adult day programs closed.

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  • Students receiving special education services regressed on their learning goals and missed out on speech, physical, occupational, and behavior therapies.
  • Disruption to healthcare services increased disability for patients, like stroke survivors, who were unable to access rehabilitation services.
  • Employment of working-age people with disabilities was reduced by 20 percent.

Today in a populace weary of COVID-19 restrictions and emboldened by herd immunity from vaccines and prior COVID waves, getting “back to normal” is a priority. Students are back in school, employers have called their staff back to the workplace, and travelers are on the move in record numbers. What’s more, the three-W guidance—wear a mask, wait six feet back, and wash your hands—has gone by the wayside. This is bad news for people with disabilities who have an underlying medical condition—such as cancer, chronic kidney disease, COPD, Down syndrome, or immunocompromised. They have a higher risk for severe illness.

As a result, discarding mitigating measures is a bone of contention between those at risk and those who are risk averse. The impassioned pleas of people with underlying medical conditions has largely fallen on deaf ears. To obtain a different result, parents of immunocompromised children with disabilities in Virginia public schools went beyond impassioned pleas to protect their children when Governor Younkin issued an executive order to stop mandatory mask wearing. They filed a federal lawsuit and won. Armed with words backed by the force of federal disability laws, public school teachers and students in the state of Virginia can be required to wear masks as a reasonable modification, under the executive order, for students with disabilities who request the masking.

            Likewise, under the Americans with Disabilities Act employers cannot exclude high-risk employees from the workplace unless the employee’s disability poses a direct threat to the employee’s health or safety that cannot be eliminated or reduced by reasonable accommodation. A High Efficiency Particulate Air filtration system is one example of a possible reasonable accommodation.

Despite President Biden’s assertion that “the pandemic is over,” COVID-19 not only persists, but is spreading. As of January 4, 2023, the Center for Disease Control weekly COVID-19 report included 2,731 deaths, 470,699 new cases, and 46,029 new hospital admissions. And these counts are an underestimate given how many don’t test at all, or don’t report home test results. And, due to the surge of cases in China, travelers from China must now show a negative COVID-19 test before entering the U.S.

So let’s add another W to COVID-19 guidance. Be Wary of positive political predictions—it ain’t over ‘til it’s over. 

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Celebrations

MIDNIGHT STRIKES ANOTHER NEW YEAR

Fireworks

The clock strikes twelve as it does every night. But one midnight strike stands apart from the other 364—over one billion people across the globe watch New York’s Times Square ball drop 70 feet in 60 seconds.

For 2023, the Ball lit by 32,000 plus LEDs twinkled with 2,688 Waterford Crystal triangles designed to represent ten gifts—love, wisdom, happiness, goodwill, harmony, serenity, kindness, wonder, fortitude, and imagination. The million or so celebrants in Time Square skipped the champagne toasts—no alcohol allowed—but enjoyed midnight kisses, Auld Lang Syne, and a one ton confetti shower inscribed with thousands of New Year wishes.

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Actually the Times Square party was a symbolic welcome to the New Year given that 28 time zones preceded New York in starting the party. A cascade of spectacular fireworks and light celebrations circled the globe from Sydney, Australia to Dubai, United Arab Emirates to London, United Kingdom to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In December 2018, when visiting my family in Sydney, Australia, my husband Robert saw it as his chance to see the Sydney fireworks in person. My family worked very hard to convince him that he could not just roll up on his scooter a couple of hours before midnight. He’d have to be there for hours ahead of time and would be roped in by security for several more hours after midnight. On top of that, the crushing crowd of one million partygoers would block his 40 inch line-of-sight and make public transport home a nightmare. He reluctantly settled for a view from my brother’s balcony a few miles away.

About 20 years earlier, I messed with Robert and another New Year’s tradition. We were on vacation in Florida when he and his brother Peter were asked to dress up as Father Time and Baby New Year. I objected when Robert was chosen to dress as the baby. As little people we work very hard at being taken seriously and treated as adults. Age is not related to size. The last thing we needed was for Robert to be stereotyped as the baby with photos to prove it for years to come. The compromise came when Robert dressed as Father Time personifying the old year and his brother dressed as Baby New Year illustrating the new year.

As I close out 2022 and look forward to 2023, my perspective as an author and blogger draws me to quotes related to writing:

“Do not let kindness and truth leave you; write them on the tablet of your heart.”

~ Solomon

 “The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written.”

~ Melody Beattie

“New year—a new chapter, new verse, or just the same old story? Ultimately we write it. The choice is ours.”

~ Alex Morritt

 “Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one.”

~ Brad Paisley.

Praying you have a Happy New Year filled with God’s light and love.

For more information on my dwarfism book trilogy and weekly blog posts, go to my website at https://angelamuirvanetten.com.

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Open

2022 Year in Review: Now and Then

looking back

January. A positive interview on The Morning Glory Project podcast, helped market book three in my dwarfism trilogy, “Always an Advocate.” This was in stark contrast to a 1990 interview with a radio shock-jock who ridiculed little people.

February. The message in my 40th Valentine’s card from Robert—I’m a lucky husband and better man for having your love in my life—generated smiles instead of tears when he had no card to give his bride in 1982.

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March. The release of “Always an Advocate” Audiobook generated favorable reviews by listeners with vision impairments. In contrast, John Stossel’s “Give Me a Break” ABC TV segment on dwarf tossing 20 years earlier earned my negative review.

April. Our LPA trip to Lion Country Safari in Palm Beach, Florida was reminiscent of our 1984 trip to an African Lion Safari in Canada minus the need for directions from a farmer who laughed at the idea of lions roaming the landscape.

May. A garage worker totaled my car when his foot got caught on the accelerator! Twenty-two years earlier, a truck driver totaled Robert’s van when the thin metal edge of the flatbed sliced open the passenger’s side like a can.

June. My blog post, “Give Blood, Give Life,” highlighted the difficult blood draw process for many little people and need for donated blood during elective surgeries. Many years earlier, Robert was disqualified from a Hepatitis C research study because staff were unable to draw his blood.

July. Although I chaffed at the $100 surcharge it cost to ride in an accessible taxi with my scooter from the Spokane, Washington airport to the LPA conference hotel, this was better than being denied taxi service at the Denver LPA conference five years earlier.

August. An involved debridement appointment with my dental hygienist was a solemn reminder of the day nine years earlier when I needed a thorough debridement and teeth cleaning before the periodontist would write a letter clearing me for aortic valve replacement surgery.

September. After 18 weeks without wheels, we bought a 2020 Toyota Sienna Wheelchair Accessible Van equipped with pedal extensions, a power adjustable height driver seat, and steering wheel extension. It was a far cry from the Austin Mini car my parents gave me on my 18th birthday.

October. The “Ten Steps to Effective Advocacy” workshop I presented at the Florida LPA regional in Gainesville, Florida reminded me of the many advocacy workshops I presented as far back as 1986 to people with dwarfism and disabilities, parents of special education students, and disability professionals.

November. My interview on the Joni and Friends Ministry Podcast to discuss advocacy to change discrimination against people with dwarfism and other disabilities was a perfect follow-up to the two 2020 podcasts the ministry recorded after publication of “Pass Me Your Shoes.”

December. On December 29, 1999 a newspaper called the dwarf tossing atrocity one of the ten worst inventions of the millennium. My June 27th blog post, “Florida Bans Dwarf Tossing in Bars,” explains why the June 28, 1989 law was needed. For more book, blog, and media information, go to my website at https://angelamuirvanetten.com

Categories
Awareness Disability Rights

Disabled Caught In Homeless Crisis

homeless man

People with disabilities make up almost one quarter of the half million plus homeless in America. And more than half of homeless veterans are disabled. So on December 21, National Homeless Persons’ Remembrance Day, let’s zoom in on the homeless crisis for people with disabilities.

Homelessness is primarily concentrated in cities. As exciting as it is for tourists to visit the likes of Boston, New York City, and Washington DC, it’s troubling to see so many homeless people sleeping on the streets.  The national rate for homelessness is 17 per 10,000; in these cities, the rate is well over 100 per 10,000. One fifth of America’s homeless population live in New York City.

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According to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, a person is homeless if they:

  1. Lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence;
  2. Stay overnight at a place not ordinarily used for sleeping, such as a car, park, or bus depot;
  3. Occupy temporary residences like homeless shelters or motels paid for by the government or a charity;
  4. Live in a place not meant for human habitation; or
  5. Have nowhere to go after eviction for nonpayment of rent or mortgage, or when fleeing domestic violence and/or human trafficking.

The leading causes of homelessness—unemployment, lack of trustworthy relationships, lack of affordable housing, disability and illness, and abuse—are too complex and diverse to discuss in this post.  But here’s a light touch on disability and illness.

An illness can take away a job, health insurance, a home, and a car. A disability can prevent someone from even entering the workforce. A 2019 national study on homelessness, showed that of those living on the streets 46 percent had physical disabilities. Mental illness accounts for 25 percent of the homeless. And mental illnesses—such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, and substance abuse—reportedly affect half of all homeless veterans. Also, veterans who have PTSD often use substances as a way to cope with PTSD symptoms.

The magnitude of the crisis mandates that we take action. Sitting around and doing nothing is unacceptable. Our duty to help those in need dates back to ancient times. In the words of Asaph, we must:  

“Give justice to the poor and the orphan;
    uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.”
Psalm 82:3, New Living Translation

To help you get started, here are some ideas for helping homeless people with disabilities. Acknowledge their existence. Stop walking by without making eye contact. Say hello. Smile.

Be polite if asked for money. If not comfortable giving money, direct people to a nearby food pantry, meal site, or homeless service center. Support that organization with donations of food, toiletries, clothes and blankets, tents, or whatever else is on their needs list. Volunteer.

And on a larger scale, advocate for the homeless with local businesses and elected representatives to increase resources to address the causes of homelessness and meet the need of those needing a job, training, transportation, health care, and affordable housing.

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