P Paris
Dec 12, 2018, 11:19 PM

@tinuviel This has been a consistent issue with dealing with services for the disabled, most of whose providers just assume that we're home all day and ready to receive anyone. 1) I'm the one who gets us up and we're both disabled so that's twice the morning work, and 2) we get our own groceries and sundries and everything else, and 3) we work. But trying to get wheelchair repair people or aides (until we started directly paying one out of pocket) to come at specified hours has been a recurring issue for years. I've always been surprised at how hostile folks in industries catering the disabled are to actual disabled people (with opinions), they really do try to infantilize you-- home nurses are often the worst about this. Becoming more self-sufficient has been a real pleasure.

Today's gripe is the rodeo that invades town for two weeks and books up every hotel room on (and off) the Strip. As street artists, we are heavily reliant on tips and on-the-spot commissions, and cowboys offer neither, whilst crowding out every other type of tourist, who can't book anything in the meantime. Instead, they stare at you like you're circus freaks, are condescending and insulting, and spend almost nothing while they're here. From waiters to bussers to valets to performers, basically anyone who relies on tips for their wage, WE ALL HATE THEM, and it makes the two weeks before xmas a real financial struggle. The religious judginess about how we're all sinners (who should get 'real' jobs) is just icing on the shitcake.

IE, instead of eating out at the usual spots, I have to cook, and since my kitchen is not accessible, I try to limit that to a couple nights a week instead of ALL WEEK. I risk a fall or a faint every time I stand up for too long (this is how I broke my back to begin with), as neither my legs, back or blood pressure are particularly strong, and as our only aidecare now I've already got enough to do.

We have tried pre-prepared meal services (kind of glorified MREs in a giant box that gets delivered to your home), which were available for free when we used to go through aidecare agencies, and that ended up as a wash because, to save expenses, they ALL use soy protein in everything as an extender for meat-- and just one small shot of soy protein triggers my ulcerative colitis. This boggles me, because they charge you about 8-10 bucks a meal if you pay out of pocket, and their ingredient list is shittier than a two-dollar Michelina's frozen dinner and the portion isn't much bigger.

IE, cowboys suck. The hotels make money on them and the rodeo venue makes money on them but everyone else struggles at the most expensive time of the year.

Editedit: the extra workload means that I have been too tired to RP in almost two weeks. :<