Tag Archives: sacramento

disability, poverty

I’m Impoverished & Disabled. I’m About to Be a Homeowner in California.

13 Comments

I moved to Sacramento in 2011 because it was one of the most affordable big cities in California. The cost of living was fairly similar to Raleigh, NC at the time (where I lived before moving to California). In recent years Sacramento has faced one of the fastest climbing housing booms in the nation as a result of Bay Area residents moving in. Rent has climbed at astronomical rates, and so has the price of homes. Low-income and affordable housing has not been a priority to the city and region, and homelessness has grown as a result.

In 2013 I was diagnosed with the same disease that killed my father, Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS). My health deteriorated and I became disabled and impoverished as a result of not being able to work.

Ten days ago, on January 23rd, 2019, when I woke up I didn’t know I would be writing an offer on a house that night. I didn’t think it was even possible.

But when I saw a listing pop up in the MLS search that evening for a house I could afford, I told my real estate agent (who also has AS), “I want a house more than anything. I want to move on this.”

Continue reading I’m Impoverished & Disabled. I’m About to Be a Homeowner in California. →

#sickbody, Current Events, sacramento

My Search for Clean Air in a World Blowing Smoke | California on Fire

1 Comment

I don’t usually have an emotional attachment to the appliances in my home. In general I don’t think much about the refrigerator, toilet, or my kitchen table. Unless they break or smell bad. Then I have some emotions, but not good ones.

But I just got an air purifier and I’m definitely emotionally attached.

This isn’t a post about the air purifier though. I figured you’d want to know ahead of time that this is not a post hailing the low-intelligence robot performing air quality CPR in my living room. I’m sorry if you were here for that.

In all seriousness, wildfires and a medical crisis brought a community of people to this impoverished person’s nostrils. My people showed up and breathed life back into me. Literally.

Kind of. Continue reading My Search for Clean Air in a World Blowing Smoke | California on Fire →

Inequality, sacramento

In Support of Rent Control in Sacramento

1 Comment

I’m a severely low-income resident of Sacramento.

This might surprise you considering I’m pretty well-known for my advocacy related to healthcare, disability, and chronic diseases. You’ve seen me on the Sacramento TEDx stage, the Women’s March on Sacramento, in press conferences and on healthcare panels, in this upcoming documentary, and in numerous television interviews about national healthcare policies.

Someone so steeped in the public eye shouldn’t have a worry about housing, right?

Yet what I haven’t talked about publicly is my very fear of becoming homeless. I’ve reached out to local representatives about my fears only to be redirected or ignored completely. It’s time you know what it’s like for me facing barriers to safe, stable, affordable housing in Sacramento, California.

Mid-June 2018 I was officially granted permanent disability benefits, Continue reading In Support of Rent Control in Sacramento →

Becoming Incurable, chronic disease

Becoming Incurable | Help Make This Chronic Disease Documentary a Reality

9 Comments

Last summer I announced that I was being featured in Becoming Incurable, a film featuring the stories of three people in Sacramento, California, each living with different chronic diseases: Ankylosing Spondylitis, Lyme Disease, Mold Illness, and Dystonia.

In that announcement I said:

Since that day in February when I received Victoria’s (filmmaker/director) email, I have welcomed her into my life with Ankylosing Spondylitis and hidden nothing from view.

I am heartened by Victoria’s passion, curiosity, and talent in videography and visual storytelling. I am humbled by her desire to make this more than a film. She has poured heart and soul into this and I have witnessed her feel deeply and dream big as she has jumped into the deep end with us three professional, chronic survivors.

What I didn’t realize, even when I told all of you that I was in the film, was how big of an impact it would have in the chronic disease community even before the movie itself was ever finished! Becoming Incurable has become much more than a film; it has become a platform empowering people to share their own stories and lives with incurable diseases, largely thanks to the passion and drive of director/filmmaker Victoria.

Becoming Incurable Banner Image
Voices of the Chronically Incurable

Becoming Incurable, which is scheduled for release in 2019, has already been telling short stories of people living with chronic diseases in the USA and abroad in “Inside Incurable Lives” video episodes and audio-digital magazine issues (find the latest issues on Facebook or the film’s website).

Continue reading Becoming Incurable | Help Make This Chronic Disease Documentary a Reality →