Celebrating Resilience: Seattle Unsheltered

In this episode of Seattle Unsheltered, the hosts discuss and celebrate the resiliency of people experiencing homelessness with disabilities. They are joined by guests who work in organizations that support this population. The episode highlights the high rates of homelessness and the challenges faced by those with disabilities. It explores the definition of disability and the stigma associated with it. The guests emphasize the strengths and resilience of individuals experiencing homelessness with disabilities. They also discuss ways to support and advocate for this community. The hosts share personal experiences and call for respectful language and behavior towards people experiencing homelessness. They encourage education, volunteering, and using privilege to serve this population. The episode concludes with a reminder that people with disabilities are not helpless and should be recognized for their skills and resilience. Welcome to the newest season of Seattle Unsheltered. In this episode, recorded May 29th, 2023, in the U-District of Seattle, we will be discussing and celebrating the resiliency of people experiencing homelessness with a disability. We are your hosts. I'm Jacqueline Williamson. My name is Hailey Rose. And I'm Hallie Gellman. Our special guests this episode include Jovan Smith, who is the Volunteer Engagement Director at Mary's Place, and Rachel Scott, who is the Screening and Outreach Coordinator at Evergreen Treatment Services. Both guests help us understand what experiencing homelessness with a disability looks like, what their strengths are, and how people can best support them. With that, let's get right into the episode. Homelessness in Seattle has been a big topic in recent years, as rates of homelessness have been on the rise. According to the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, as of 2022, there are over 13,000 people experiencing homelessness in King County, half of which identifies having a disability, a third identifies having a mental health disorder and or substance use disorder. When denied access to shelters, 7 in 10 people with disabilities who experience homelessness will stay in dangerous locations, which affect their health outcomes. There's so many different definitions for disability, so to start off, we wanted to present Rachel's idea of what having a disability really means. It's like I consider like a disability to be any sort of either something related to health that includes behavioral health, mental health, physical health, that provides challenges for that person navigating through society. That's kind of how I think about it. It could be anything from like something from birth or something developmental. You can also have like disabilities. I would say like there are some people that probably have like would have like controversial opinions on whether having a substance use disorder is a disability, which it is. But like out of using substances, people can develop additional disabilities. Or like, you know, things can like exacerbate one another between like mental health and substance use or even physical health. But yeah, I just think about it like anything that kind of health related that gets in the way of someone being able to like navigate living a healthy life or like navigating society. I think unfortunately, our health care systems, our housing systems, our educational systems, and so on have so many different qualifications and different requirements for what it means to have a disability. Yet, if you mark the box for having a disability to seek accommodations, it may result in further barriers. And that's because people with disabilities have been stigmatized throughout history. In many cultures, disability is associated with disease, hopelessness, dependence, or curses. This stigma has developed from a shared public lack of understanding of other people's lived experiences. This contributes to decreased empathy and patience for people with a disability. And therefore, people with a disability are at a higher risk of becoming homeless and experiencing social exclusion, which creates an ongoing cycle of poor health outcomes and marginalization. To this point, Javin emphasized that experiences with homelessness are a moment in time and a person's disability does not define them. You also think if you're thinking of an intellectual or developmental disability, I think it's always to remember that doesn't identify that person, right? There's so much more of a person. There's so much more to their strengths and their, you know, the joy that they bring to themselves and their family and to the space. And, you know, I think it's uplifting that, and it's how do we also celebrate that in a way that supports them. Now, when we asked both Javin and Rachel what the strengths of people experiencing homelessness with a disability in Seattle are, they shared the same answer, resiliency, or the ability to positively adapt to hard things. I'll speak to the Mary Space population of families. I would say that the biggest strength that we try to highlight is resilience and lived experience. And I think that those are two things that aren't always a part of the conversation. And so I think, you know, when I think resilience, I think, you know, not only have they had to support their family and bring their family into shelter potentially and use Mary's Place as a resource, families are so resilient. Caregivers and kids are so resilient. And while they're going through very, very difficult times, there's still a lot of joy, and there's still a lot of joy in being together and being a family. Rachel echoed a similar message about the ways that people experiencing homelessness with disabilities adapt and navigate the hard circumstances they encounter to ensure their needs are met. People, and like, I, this term can like be kind of annoying, like the term resilience. I don't know, I just, that word can like be tricky, but people that we work with that are on the street, a lot of people who have disabilities are so, like, I just, I can't even understand how people get so much stuff done sometimes. Like people know so much about services and like locations and just like navigating the world and like their diagnoses and what type of medication that they were on or should be on or like have prescriptions for but can't get access to currently because of their situation. People are really smart, and they just don't have access to the resources that they need or have, you know, very challenging disabilities that make it really hard for them to be housed. Yeah, I just like, I know people that have, are like double amputees and like they don't have walkers or a wheelchair and stuff, like people get around. Yeah, people are just, they're really smart and resilient in ways that are like mind-blowing to me. Rachel also expresses this community's perseverance to the harsh reality of living in a society that, quite frankly, pretends they don't exist. People have to get their basic needs met. They have to eat. They have to use the bathroom. They have to have water and, you know, sometimes the only way people can get those basic needs met are through less than or other than legal channels. While that might not be what society likes, I still think it indicates or like shows that people that have nothing and are like in serious, deep, dire situations can still figure out how to survive every single day. That shows like how strong people are, that they're just like, they can do so many things to survive day-to-day so that they can like, if people don't eat or if people don't have the things they need to survive, they will die. And like, you can't get out of homelessness if you are not alive. Like, I know it sounds bleak, but like, you know, if like we want people to be housed and like live to see it, like people have to survive day-to-day in order for them to be able to get help so that like ideally people can be housed and like healthy and safe. We wanted to end this episode by speaking about some of our personal experiences seeing students interacting with people experiencing homelessness in the U-District and include some examples of how we can change our behavior and how we can support this community. Yeah, a lot of the times when I'm walking around U-District or specifically on the Ave, I commonly witness people moving to the other side of the street to avoid people who are experiencing homelessness or even just ignoring their presence completely, not speaking to them, looking the other direction. Yeah, I've literally seen people step over other people on the street just to avoid them and just completely dehumanizing them. I've also even heard about people destroying their encampments. Oh yeah, I remember Rachel also mentioned in the interview that she's worked with people at Evergreen Treatment Services who've had their tents set on fire, which is just unbelievable. And these behaviors just perpetuate stigmas against this population. And I just, we think that we need to treat our neighbors with respect and work on building long-term relationships because it's the only way we're going to be able to find meaningful solutions. Yeah, on top of that, I have also heard folks refer to people experiencing homelessness with a disability by names that are completely diminishing and dehumanizing. We have to remember that language can be very stigmatizing. One way we can center our mindset around the person and recognize that homelessness does not define an individual is to use person-centered, respectful language, which is why instead of using homeless person, we use person experiencing homelessness or houselessness, as you've heard throughout this episode. Rachel also talks about the importance of educating your friends, family, and peers about this issue. There's a lot of good services in the U District, I think, that people could get involved with or just like learn about. I think talking to your friends or like neighborhood meetings and stuff can be a way to kind of spread that education piece and reduce some of that stigma or like help other people see that, sounds crazy, but help people see the humanity of the humans living outside can really go a long way. Rachel also mentioned how impactful it can be for students to use their voice to talk to city council members, especially since we see large disparities in wealth among residents of this district, and promote solutions other than forced removal. Jevin goes on to highlight the importance of solutions that are not one size fits all. In terms of how to reduce the stigma and support, specifically if you were like, you know, walking down the ave and you saw someone who you thought might be experiencing homelessness and needed support, you know, I think it's knowing what resources might be available to either say, hey, would this be of interest? I think it's always giving that option. It's like an opting in. It's not saying like, this is what you need. This is prescriptive because it isn't. And I think that goes to that second part again. It's just like everyone wants to be supported differently. Everyone has different needs. To our peers, we should utilize and recognize our privilege to having access to a higher education by finding ways to serve the population surrounding us who might not have access to a higher education. You can do this by volunteering at or donating to nearby shelters like Roots or Mary's Place for people experiencing homelessness. Other ways can be just as simple as acknowledging someone's presence who's living on the streets, smiling at them, or just starting up a conversation. Lastly, if you take anything away from this discussion, we hope it is that people experiencing homelessness with a disability are not helpless. And we should lean into the skills these folks demonstrate on a daily basis to navigate the oppressive policies and stigmas opposed by our society. Thank you all for tuning into this episode of Seattle Unsheltered Podcast, focusing on commemorating the resiliency of people experiencing homelessness with a disability. And a special thank you to our guests this episode, Rachel Scott and Javon Smith, for sharing their insights and experiences with us. We hope you check out the resources linked in our show notes to learn more about this topic and continue to have conversations about the remarkable adaptability of the members of our community.