Episode 64: You Can't Fight Every Fight

TRANSCRIPT OF “YOU CAN’T FIGHT EVERY FIGHT”

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MALE VO [00:03]
This is Bad Attitudes.

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LAURA [00:20]
Hello friends and strangers! Welcome to another episode of Bad Attitudes: An Uninspiring Podcast about Disability. I’m your host, Laura.

You can’t fight every fight. The episode can end right now.

Today’s episode is sponsored by Ruky Saavedra. Thank you so much for your support, and I sincerely hope I didn’t completely butcher your name!

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As always, I want to remind you that disability is not a monolith. My experience as a disabled person is going to be different from the experiences of other disabled people. I am one voice for the disabled community but I am not the only voice.

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LAURA [01:48]
A few weeks ago, Walgreens made pretty big news by agreeing not to carry the abortion pill in several states which were threatening legal action if Walgreens chose to carry it. This episode is not about the implication of that decision. However, just to be perfectly clear, I am staunchly in the pro-choice, abortion-is-healthcare camp. Everyone should be able to access whatever they need for their reproductive health, and Roe v. Wade should be reinstated and codified into law.

What I really want to talk about is how a lot of people (especially a particular subset of people) came out demanding boycotts of Walgreens. I’m not saying that stance is wrong, but they compared Walgreens and boycotting it to boycotting Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-a, which ignores a couple of important factors.

First and foremost, Walgreens is a pharmacy and people depend on it for medication, often medication that is necessary to their well-being and may even be a life-or-death necessity. You can live without going to Hobby Lobby or Chick-fil-a. You may not be able to live without going to Walgreens.

The subset of people I saw, in particular, suggesting boycotts were, perhaps unsurprisingly, non-disabled white women at or above certain socio-economic lines. Women who have plenty of options, and would not find forgoing their trips to Walgreens to be a particular hardship. They probably have well-paying jobs and really good health insurance.

I have good health insurance, but there are limits. Like a lot of disabled people in the US, I use Medicare, and a Medicare supplement plan. My drug coverage is great! I pay nothing for almost all of my medications — provided my prescriptions are filled through Walgreens. I can go to another pharmacy, but my prescription costs will go up. And even if I don’t have to pay very much, that’s still not as good as paying nothing.

Another thing to remember is that a lot of disabled people live at or below poverty level. Every dollar counts. And for those who are dependent on social security as their sole source of income, they can’t afford to throw money away if they can help it. And if the choice came down to saving money by going to Walgreens or standing on principle but spending that much-needed money elsewhere, most people in that situation are going to choose the option that saves them money.

Not because they don’t believe in the cause, and not even because they don’t believe they SHOULD boycott Walgreens (or whatever business happens to be on the chopping block that day). It’s because it doesn’t make sense for them. It would put an unnecessary hardship on them. If you are dependent on medication in your day-to-day life and you are dependent on getting that medication from a certain location because of financial reasons or because it's most accessible to you, then trying to get it elsewhere would be an undue burden.

This is what I mean when I say we can’t fight every fight. We can’t even fight every fight we believe in. Just like a parent might do with children, we have to pick our battles. I can live without going to Hobby Lobby. I haven’t spent any money at Hobby Lobby in years. Probably since they first denied coverage of birth control pills on their employees’ insurance. That’s a fight I CAN fight because there are other options that aren’t more difficult for me.

But I can’t live without my medication. Maybe I could, but it wouldn’t be much of a life. And asking someone to spend more than they absolutely have to when there is another option is an undue burden.

We can’t fight every fight because it would literally kill us. I don’t just mean the disabled community, I mean anyone who believes in anything. There’s that saying that you can’t pour from an empty cup, but if you were to try to take part in every fight you believe in, your cup would NEVER be full.

We also have to be aware of HOW we fight the fights we fight. (How many times can I say “fight” in this episode?) Some of us are able to go out and march and be a part of protests, and I highly admire those people, because that is not something I feel able to do. It’s often dangerous for even the most average person, but perhaps more so for a disabled person, yet many disabled people put themselves out there in that way every day. Anyone who gets out in the middle of it all and speaks truth to power in a forum where they may well be putting themselves in danger should be loudly commended.

However, that’s not the only valid way to fight. Speaking out on social media is valid. Writing letters to representatives is valid (and necessary). Making a podcast is valid. Selling protest merchandise in an Etsy store is valid. There are hundreds of valid ways to make your voice heard. Not spending your money in a particular establishment is the least of them.

I say that because, a business isn’t really going to know if you, as an individual, don’t spend your money with them. Businesses like Walgreens or Hobby Lobby are big enough to absorb that small negative impact. It doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile, and certainly, if enough people avoid spending their money in a certain place, it will make a difference, but I personally don’t feel that it’s as impactful as voicing your concerns to the CEO or upper management. Doing both is even better.

I wanted to bring this up because, sometimes, I think it’s easy for us to feel guilty if we don’t advocate in ways other people seem to think that we should. For me, when I look at disabled advocates joining marches, I do feel that guilt that I’m not participating IN THAT WAY, even if I’m participating in other ways. Because I have been told that THAT is the way you fight back. And if I’m not fighting IN THAT WAY, then am I really fighting at all?

The short answer is yes. However you choose to fight, however you are able to fight, you are fighting. We should all be grateful to those people who put themselves on the front lines in protests and marches, but what they do doesn’t invalidate what we do. A war isn’t fought only in one way. A war isn’t just two opposing forces clashing on a battlefield. It’s fought in a million little ways every day.

If you are able to boycott Walgreens because of their decision on the abortion pill, I support that. But for those of us who can’t, we shouldn’t be made to feel like the enemy. We are all on the same side, just not in the same squad.

Thanks for listening and I’ll talk to you in the next one.

[09:03]
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