Tessera

Robyn (Redd)@thredd.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨Tell the Department of Energy not to change the Section 504 rules!🚨 Accessibility for disabled people is about to be REMOVED from new federal buildings unless we act by MON, JUNE 16!! Tell the gov't: If we build a new building, it MUST be fully accessible! 👇TAKE ACTION NOW!👇

Red flyer, black and white text. Header reads emergency action needed, large block text with exclamation points on both sides. Below, a call to action that reads

Accessibility for disabled people is about to be removed from federal buildings unless we act by Monday June sixteenth!

The US Department of Energy has issued a quote direct final rule end quote that would eliminate the long standing requirement that new buildings constructed with federal money must be accessible to people with disabilities!

They claim it’s unnecessary and burdensome.”But here’s what eliminating this rule really means

New federally funded buildings could be built without ramps, elevators, accessible bathrooms, or doors.

There would be no enforceable standards for accessibility in construction or major renovations.

It weakens the civil rights protections guaranteed by Section five oh four of the Rehabilitation Act.

Robyn (Redd)@thredd.bsky.social · last yr.

For those in #NYC or nearby - free rapid tests available. If you are part of an org/group or can help w/community distro…come grab a box and do your part! Individuals who need tests are welcome also! DM for pick up. Please share.

Robyn (Redd)@thredd.bsky.social · last yr.

42 cases of *unexpired* rapid antigen tests ⬇️ #CovidIsNotOver

Stacks of cardboard boxes filled with rapid antigen tests for covid 19 acquired from the government sit in a living room on hardwood floors in front of open windows with white curtains. A white air purifier is on the ground to the right of the boxes and a grey metal rolling cart with a green handle is to the left.

Robyn (Redd)@thredd.bsky.social · last yr.

UPDATE: Someone nearby is coming tmro to help out! Thank you for helping get word out about this.Very grateful for you all! 🫶 If any local community groups/individuals want to help distro tests/need tests, they can lmk and arrange for pick up. I’ll also be contacting groups and doing handouts.

Robyn (Redd)@thredd.bsky.social · last yr.

Please help me find someone to lend a hand with this? Feel free to share on other platforms, dm to people, post in groups, etc. These tests will be made available (free) to the community!! If I refuse the delivery it goes back to HHS. Thank you!!📦😷 #NYC #MutualAid #CovidIsNotOver

Robyn (Redd)@thredd.bsky.social · last yr.

Please help me find someone to lend a hand with this? Feel free to share on other platforms, dm to people, post in groups, etc. These tests will be made available (free) to the community!! If I refuse the delivery it goes back to HHS. Thank you!!📦😷 #NYC #MutualAid #CovidIsNotOver

A square flier with light purple abstract shapes and dark purple lettering. In the bottom right corner, three line drawn rapid tests. The flier has an ask for urgent volunteer help.

Help needed!

Mon April 21 in NYC, Harlem.

Help needed w/large delivery of Rapid Tests from Health and Human Services. They won’t deliver up to my apartment and I can’t physically lift the boxes.

Boxes will need to be moved from curbside (possibly lobby) up to my apartment.

Elevator building, will have a dolly slash cart available.

Please let me know if you can help!
(A mask is required and provided. You can take tests home with you!!)

Interested in distro?
Reach out!

Robyn (Redd)@thredd.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨HELP NEEDED MONDAY 4/21 IN NYC (HARLEM)🚨 Rapid test delivery being done curbside, they refuse to do it to my door and I can’t physically lift the boxes. I have an elevator and can make a dolly available. Please lmk if you can help! Anyone interested in distro also lmk!

Robyn (Redd)@thredd.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨HELP NEEDED MONDAY 4/21 IN NYC (HARLEM)🚨 Rapid test delivery being done curbside, they refuse to do it to my door and I can’t physically lift the boxes. I have an elevator and can make a dolly available. Please lmk if you can help! Anyone interested in distro also lmk!

COVID Long-Haulers Against Fascism @guerillaadvocacy.bsky.social · last yr.

Join us on April 19 at 2:00 pm EDT for Guerilla Advocacy Round 2, a #50501 event. This is a virtual rally with captions. If there are other accessibility requests, we will do our best to provide! Speakers TBA. Limited space; overflow streamed to YouTube. Sign up👇 events.pol-rev.com/events/afc50...

Soft blue background with a little boy and a dog drawing. Text says yes I did it. No I'm not sorry. Yes, I'd do it again.

Robyn (Redd)@thredd.bsky.social · last yr.

I spoke yesterday at an online #HandsOff event organized by @rubyslippahs.bsky.social. Here's my speech. Please keep talking about these important things, get involved in mutual aid efforts and community organizing, ask your neighbors how you can help, and know your rights.

I’m Robyn Saldino, I live in New York City, and I developed Long COVID after a COVID infection in December 2021. I’ve participated in advocacy across several orgs, I’m a RECOVER patient representative, I do resource distribution from my apartment, and I’m active in mutual aid efforts. I’ve also been fighting my own eviction for more than 18 months.

After multiple months of trying to convince legal aid orgs to proactively take my case, give me advice, or point me to resources before I lost my housing or was served with an eviction notice, I found out that a warning and eviction had both been filed only after I emailed my landlord about a separate issue and was told my concern was likely made up, due only to the fact that we were about to go to court. I had not received either one. I again began trying to find a legal aid group to help me, and could not get anyone to give me advice without a case number or without physically going to court first. I repeatedly explained that my disability would prevent me from physically traveling to the courthouse, but still received no help.

As a disabled person, it is extremely difficult for me to make last minute plans, and unlikely that I will be traveling to the courthouse in-person due to my disability. I need time to arrange for virtual accommodations, submit requests, and handle other paperwork that comes along with living in a world that is not designed for accessibility. The hardship that this causes is extraordinary, and knowing that no one has bothered to inform me is infuriating and disheartening.

Throughout the course of my case, I was never given a lawyer, though here in NYC we have Right to Counsel, and I am legally entitled to have one present.

I came into contact with more 50 people, lawyers, social workers, advocates, housing specialists, court workers, etc, and these contacts became my lifeline, but no one ever took on my case. I eventually was told to refer myself to Adult Protective Services.

APS asked the court assign me a Guardian ad Litem.

The case dragged on. My Landlord refused to accept a housing voucher.

My APS worker helped to finally sort out my SNAP, utility benefit, and health insurance, and allowed me to finally, after more than 2 1/2 years in this city, see a doctor.

My case took 18 months, and I won. Immediately after winning my case, my landlord filed for eviction again under a different pretense, and I successfully got that case dismissed, too.

Mutual aid kept me afloat, allowing me to make a single payment to my landlord and extend the case long enough to continue searching for housing that would accept a voucher.

It kept me fed when I didn’t have SNAP. It got me to a doctor and got me meds when I needed them. It got me to clinical trial appointments for a Long COVID trial I was enrolled in. It has allowed me to distribute thousands of covid tests and masks, to lend out my air purifiers, and even to give direct aid to long haulers in need of support.

I live in a medically underserved community— a FEMA-designated, medically underserved community. My neighborhood has one of the highest eviction rates in the city. There is no Long COVID clinic in my community. We’re losing funding, care, homes, rights, and lives.

Prior to the global outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, approximately 1 in 10 households were being threatened with evictions in formal court filings each year. By September 2020, that number was 1 in 6. 1 in 6 households were behind on rent and at risk of eviction. Renters were 2 to 6 times more likely to report housing insecurity than homeowners. Many of the filings were unresolved pre-pandemic cases, filed before the eviction moratorium was put into place in 2020, which means we were playing catch-up. When the moratorium ended in 2021, eviction filings increased 78.6% over the next year.

Even if a tenant is able to win their case or gain access to a housing voucher, the housing crisis persists.

Finding accessible housing is it’s own unique challenge.

There is an extreme lack of accessible housing. Less than 5% of housing is accessible for people with moderate mobility needs. Less than 1% of housing is fully accessible for wheelchair users. The cost of living in the United States, and the average rent already exceeds the maximum monthly supplemental security income a person is able to receive. When people with disabilities apply for affordable housing, widespread discrimination coupled with a lack of available accessible housing, creates additional barriers that are more likely to lead to homelessness and institutionalization.

I’m not having it. I’m saying hands off. Hands off our community, hands off our long haulers. We can do better. Thank you for being here.

Robyn (Redd)@thredd.bsky.social · last yr.

Disabled and chronically ill DV survivor struggling trying to balance things, get bills paid, make it to appts, take care of myself, etc. Recent tests worse than previous ones. New rx and new docs. Finally won eviction case. Trying to stay afloat. Any help makes a difference. TYSM 🫶

Robyn (Redd)@thredd.bsky.social · last yr.

Help w/emergency needs: 💸PP: PayPal.me/RobynthRedd Help me stay independent and safe: 👑WL: throne.com/robynthredd

Robyn (Redd)@thredd.bsky.social · last yr.

Help w/emergency needs: 💸PP: PayPal.me/RobynthRedd Help me stay independent and safe: 👑WL: throne.com/robynthredd

Robyn (Redd)@thredd.bsky.social · 2y ago

Disabled DV survivor at risk of losing utilities/apt due to $20k+ arrears. Fees are stacking, landlord is harassing me. Court again 7/29. 🏘️: $442/$2900 (June/July only, DUE 7/5 W/LATE FEE) 🔌: $285/$887 (FINAL NOTICE) gofund.me/8991e474 PyPl/Vnmo: RobynthRedd #MutualAid #Crowdfund #HousingCrisis