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> Saying impaired people shouldn't have to work and from there arranging a world where they aren't allowed to work is a nightmare scenario where any defect cuts

> Saying impaired people shouldn't have to work and from there arranging a world where they aren't allowed to work is a nightmare scenario where any defect cuts you out of the system entirely. This really struck me. There's an interesting stain of American progressivism that sees a bad situation and, in earnestly attempting to address it, makes the problem worse. See the death of SROs and various forms of actually affordable housing: a veneer of compassion justified restrictive zoning ("nobody deserves to live in conditions like that!"), but without a suitable replacement occupants often just ended up on the street. Same effect with asylums: horrible abuses spurred public interest in dismantling them, but absent a replacement you just end up dumping the patients on the street without their meds. Sex work? Nobody should have to sell their body to survive! Therefore, let's persecute Backpage and force sex workers back out on the street where they can't meaningfully vet clients! Oh... There's a pattern here. This history makes me apprehensive that well-intentioned (or not, just wearing the mask) attempts to reform gig work will end up being a huge fuck you to the people actually impacted by them. That's not to say the gig economy doesn't enable abuses - it absolutely does, but any action should at minimum involve a lot of genuine consultation with those affected and, preferably, address root causes rather than symptoms, e.g. a workable solution to lack of job-provided healthcare probably shouldn't involve reenforcing our already-fucked system of employer-provided healthcare serfdom.

DoreenMichele 7y ago
I got off the street by moving into a 100 year old SRO. I had a nightmare just last night about being evicted. They've essentially outlawed gig work in California. I left California to get back in housing. I spent three years researching where I could move to make my life work. There isn't any place else I can go. If I get evicted, I'm screwed. I can't go back to California and wouldn't want to, but no place else has similarly dry, temperate weather. Washington is much colder and wetter. I have no car and no driver's license. If my life cones unraveled, there isn't another town where I can make it work. The pandemic is causing a lot of homeless shelters and soup kitchens to close. They've also closed coffee shops and restaurants and libraries. There's no place for a homeless person to go sit and eat, plug in and get on the wifi. If I got evicted, I would be facing a nightmare situation with no solutions. I'm trying to chalk the dream up to insomnia and stress, but I grew up with really poisonous ideas that "if you dream it, it absolutely will come true" and I'm completely freaked out today. We've spent decades tearing down SROs and not building anything that works as a viable solution at that price point for people. Then we claim our homeless problem is just a bunch of junkies and isn't about a lack of affordable housing options. It's nigh impossible to live without a car in the US. Gig work is one of the few things that worked for me while the entire world was all too comfortable metaphorically stepping over my body in the gutter. I've spent a lot of years fighting the good fight while getting no real support and being told it's somehow my fault my life is in the toilet. I've spent years trying to educate HN about reality for the masses in this country and being told there is no housing crisis, it's just a personal problem, the homeless are all junkies, get a real job, etc. When the pandemic first hit, my life was only minorly impacted. I already live like a hermit because of my medical situation and I already do remote work even though I'm dirt poor and not one of the privileged few. But if I got evicted, I'm not sure I wouldn't just kill myself. It looks so impossible to cope with at this point and the world doesn't want to change. Everyone is in a hurry to get back to "normal" and it's like, hello!, Normal isn't working well for a lot of people and is probably why we have a pandemic. But no one is going to listen to me. I've tried to promote gig work as a solution for homeless people and lifestyle interventions for health issues for years and been dismissed as a kook. I can't get traction. I think our problems could be solved. But I'm beginning to think they won't be solved. The world would literally rather die than take advice from me and I'm not seeing other sources providing better solutions. I'm finally starting to get very concerned.
- saganus 7y ago
  I wish there was something meaningful I could say or do to help you. I've read your posts over the years and always found them interesting and well written. It has changed the way I look at homelessness, even though I'm not from, or live in, the US. Just know that, for what it's worth, you have at least made one person change their mind. I know it's not much and it won't solve any of the issues you have, but I really hope things work out for you. I won't say "everything will be ok" because I don't know if they will be... but I hope I can at least warm your heart or make you smile for a few seconds while reading this. I really wish for you to find the strength, luck, light at the end of the tunnel, or however you wanna call it, to pull through this situation. You have obviously poured a lot of energy and well articulated and informative thoughts into this forum and I'd like to at least thank you for what I've learned from them. Godspeed Doreen.
  - DoreenMichele 7y ago
    Thank you.
- dhoror32423 7y ago
  My grandma was basically a Russian subsistence farmer and died as one. She had three children and one of them learned German and met a German man in Poland and eventually married him. That was my mother. However, the relationship became violent and abusive by the time I was 4. When my mother got a divorce she immediately left the city and moved to an different city that turned out to be extremely car dependent. The first thing she did was get a driver's license and a used Golf 3 for $2000. It was 15 year old at that time and pretty much nearing the end of it's life. She managed to bring up two children on unemployment benefits and seasonal work. Unfortunately one of the children has autism, back problems at a young age and major digestive problems and the other child was normal but got a worthless degree. Was all of that struggle worthless in the end? No. I'm the "cripple" but I personally am doing just fine as a developer and I am actually out-earning my other sibling.

DoreenMichele 7y ago

I got off the street by moving into a 100 year old SRO. I had a nightmare just last night about being evicted. They've essentially outlawed gig work in California. I left California to get back in housing. I spent three years researching where I could move to make my life work. There isn't any place else I can go. If I get evicted, I'm screwed. I can't go back to California and wouldn't want to, but no place else has similarly dry, temperate weather. Washington is much colder and wetter. I have no car and no driver's license. If my life cones unraveled, there isn't another town where I can make it work. The pandemic is causing a lot of homeless shelters and soup kitchens to close. They've also closed coffee shops and restaurants and libraries. There's no place for a homeless person to go sit and eat, plug in and get on the wifi. If I got evicted, I would be facing a nightmare situation with no solutions. I'm trying to chalk the dream up to insomnia and stress, but I grew up with really poisonous ideas that "if you dream it, it absolutely will come true" and I'm completely freaked out today. We've spent decades tearing down SROs and not building anything that works as a viable solution at that price point for people. Then we claim our homeless problem is just a bunch of junkies and isn't about a lack of affordable housing options. It's nigh impossible to live without a car in the US. Gig work is one of the few things that worked for me while the entire world was all too comfortable metaphorically stepping over my body in the gutter. I've spent a lot of years fighting the good fight while getting no real support and being told it's somehow my fault my life is in the toilet. I've spent years trying to educate HN about reality for the masses in this country and being told there is no housing crisis, it's just a personal problem, the homeless are all junkies, get a real job, etc. When the pandemic first hit, my life was only minorly impacted. I already live like a hermit because of my medical situation and I already do remote work even though I'm dirt poor and not one of the privileged few. But if I got evicted, I'm not sure I wouldn't just kill myself. It looks so impossible to cope with at this point and the world doesn't want to change. Everyone is in a hurry to get back to "normal" and it's like, hello!, Normal isn't working well for a lot of people and is probably why we have a pandemic. But no one is going to listen to me. I've tried to promote gig work as a solution for homeless people and lifestyle interventions for health issues for years and been dismissed as a kook. I can't get traction. I think our problems could be solved. But I'm beginning to think they won't be solved. The world would literally rather die than take advice from me and I'm not seeing other sources providing better solutions. I'm finally starting to get very concerned.

saganus 7y ago
I wish there was something meaningful I could say or do to help you. I've read your posts over the years and always found them interesting and well written. It has changed the way I look at homelessness, even though I'm not from, or live in, the US. Just know that, for what it's worth, you have at least made one person change their mind. I know it's not much and it won't solve any of the issues you have, but I really hope things work out for you. I won't say "everything will be ok" because I don't know if they will be... but I hope I can at least warm your heart or make you smile for a few seconds while reading this. I really wish for you to find the strength, luck, light at the end of the tunnel, or however you wanna call it, to pull through this situation. You have obviously poured a lot of energy and well articulated and informative thoughts into this forum and I'd like to at least thank you for what I've learned from them. Godspeed Doreen.
- DoreenMichele 7y ago
  Thank you.
dhoror32423 7y ago
My grandma was basically a Russian subsistence farmer and died as one. She had three children and one of them learned German and met a German man in Poland and eventually married him. That was my mother. However, the relationship became violent and abusive by the time I was 4. When my mother got a divorce she immediately left the city and moved to an different city that turned out to be extremely car dependent. The first thing she did was get a driver's license and a used Golf 3 for $2000. It was 15 year old at that time and pretty much nearing the end of it's life. She managed to bring up two children on unemployment benefits and seasonal work. Unfortunately one of the children has autism, back problems at a young age and major digestive problems and the other child was normal but got a worthless degree. Was all of that struggle worthless in the end? No. I'm the "cripple" but I personally am doing just fine as a developer and I am actually out-earning my other sibling.