I’ve been waiting for a good moment to weigh in on this issue, and a Facebook discussion last week has put it at the top of my mind. Let’s talk about the single-use plastic Straw ban and its implications for the disabled community.

Image Description: Closeup top view on many colorful plastic straws.

Content Warning: Ableism, assumptions, accessibility, straw ban 

Starbucks is the latest large restaurant chain to announce plans to phase out the use of single-use plastic Straws. It’s joining a movement gaining steam around the world. As of this post’s publication, these companies have already put a straw ban  in place or have announced plans to in at least some of their locations:

• Hilton Hotels
• Marriott International UK
• American Airlines
• Alaska Airlines
• SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc.
• Royal Carribean

Miami Beach, Seattle, Oakland and Berkeley have plastic straw policies in place designed to eliminate their use,  and the UK is working toward eliminating the use of plastic straws on a national level.

Environmentalists are correct in their assessment that a reduction in our use of single-use plastic straws is an important step in the struggle to reduce the massive load of plastic that’s dumped in our oceans each day, polluting the water and endangering wildlife. But the call for a complete straw ban overlooks something vital:

If implemented, it will making drinking liquid all but impossible for some disabled people.

The Straw Ban – The Issue

Some disabled people can only drink liquid through a straw, such as people with:

• Various types of cerebral palsy
• Spinal Muscular Atrophy
• Muscular Dystrophy

This is by no means an exhaustive list. Any disability that makes it difficult for a person to grasp, hold, or lift a cup, and/or to sip from it (for any reason) could make using a straw a necessity.  If straws aren’t available in public, people with these disabilities can’t drink in public – and that’s an access issue.

“They should bring their own straw,” said the gentleman with whom I was arguing on Facebook.

Yeah, I thought that originally too. But I’ve never been in a position where I’ve been dependent on using a straw to get the liquid I need to stay hydrated, take my meds, have a drink when I’m out with friends, etc. Once I started actually talking to people who are in that position and doing some research on straw bans (as I suggested to this gentleman that he do), I changed my mind. That’s what being smacked in the face with your privilege does to you.

Let’s unpack this.

The Straw Ban – Bringing Your Own Straw

We all have stuff that we have to carry around with us, yes. And, as I’ve said before, I think that part of good self-advocacy as disabled people is having a good awareness of our needs and, as much as possible, bringing along what we need to provide for them – simply because what we need isn’t always available.

And in an ideal world, we’d all get out of the house every day anticipating every need we might have for when we’re out, and nothing unexpected would happen. No one would forget a straw, or forget to replace it in a kit after using it the day before for an unexpected coffee date. No one would get jostled taking a glass straw out of a bag, dropping it on the floor and breaking it. No one would get a bag stolen. No one would use their plastic straw to take their afternoon meds with water, and then find themselves unavoidably detained into the evening and unable to take meds again because they don’t have another straw.

I’m pretty good at getting out of the house with everything I need for the day, but it wasn’t so long ago that it was a real struggle for me, and we all have teens and young adults in our lives that we know would leave the house without a head if it wasn’t attached to their body.

Besides, imagine you lived in Malibu, where you can’t even buy plastic straws in stores anymore.

“But there are alternatives to plastic,” people say. “Just use paper. Or metal.”

Easier said than done.

The Straw Ban – The Issue with Alternatives

It’s true that alternatives exist to the single-use plastic straw – metal, bamboo, glass, silicone, acrylic, paper, and pasta.  The following  bullets are a summary of Sarah Packwood’s excellent infogram on why plastic straw alternatives aren’t suitable for many disabled people:

• None of them are positional – plastic straws can be bent so that the user can approach their drink at an optimal angle.
• With the exception of silicon and paper straws, all of them carry the risk of user injury.
• Paper and pasta straws can easily become choking hazards. Unfortunately, they are also the only two alternatives that aren’t cost-prohibitive (and disabled people are often living in poverty.)  Paper is also the most-cited alternative that restaurants with a ban policy are considering offering customers that require straws.
• Glass, acrylic, paper and pasta straws aren’t suitable for hot drinks.
• Silicon, glass, acrylic and metal straws can be difficult to clean for those with physical disabilities.

Packwood’s infogram appears later in the post.

The frustrating thing about the straw ban issue is that I’ve come across many disabled people who will acknowledge that the environmental concerns are legitimate, but there seems very little recognition from environmentalists, governments and corporations that the concerns of disabled people are also legitimate – so disheartening, when these concerns are literally life and death for some disabled people.

Talking About the Straw Ban With Non-Disabled People

In the Facebook discussion on the straw ban that I referenced earlier, a (non-disabled) friend asked, “Just how much stuff am I supposed to carry around with me? Water bottles, bags, straws, silverware?”

The response from the most vocal straw ban defender was as follows:  “Whatever you need. Alternatively, we could ask how much disposable crap does one person have to generate to feel part of the 21st century?”

Up until then he had been arguing that it’s not a hardship to carry a straw and “hard cases make bad laws”. I’ve reread his statement over and over, trying to discern whether my initial impression of it was correct.

Was he making a benign observation that people carry more than they need to get through public life without a thought for how the things they carry affect the environment?

Because that’s not how I originally read it. Right or wrong, I read it as, “Wow, it’s getting really bad for the environment to make sure all these disabled people feel included.”

And I went off on him a bit. I was quite sarcastic, but I think I got my point across that:

1) Disabled people that must use plastic straws aren’t generating plastic waste because they want to – this is a life-and-death issue.

2) It’s not fair to demonize disabled people who must use plastic straws, as they did not ask to be disabled. I also posted this graphic, by Sarah Packwood,  that has been making the rounds on social media, to demonstrate why alternatives to plastic straws are problematic:

Image Description: Chart of why plastic straw alternatives don’t work, by activist Sarah Packwood. Summary available in “The Issue With Alternatives” section. 

He insisted that he hadn’t demonized anyone and demanded an apology, and I refused to give one.  I’ve seen the numbers on how many straws are used per day in our plastic-obsessed society, and I’m frankly not convinced that the number of straws used by disabled people who truly need them is the problem. Targeting them as a way of trying to make a dent in the amount of plastic that ends up in oceans without making sweeping legislation to curb plastic use in other realms makes as much sense to me as putting a carbon tax on my elderly neighbour who drives her car the mile to town and back twice a week while letting major polluters like factories go without paying their fair share of tax.

As I said, I’ve never had to use a straw to drink, although I sometimes do. But non-disabled people telling me that my accessibility and/or accommodation needs are wrong, as a disabled person, is one of my biggest pet peeves.

I’m the one who lives in my body 24 hours a day.

I am the expert on my needs.

If I say, ” ______ is an accessibility need for me,” it’s not likely to be because I haven’t considered alternatives. Quite the contrary – I’ve probably considered all the alternatives available to me very carefully and arrived at the conclusion that whatever I’ve named is in fact the best option for me. It may not be for everyone, but it is for me.  I’ve read a lot of articles about straw bans, and in the “Comments” sections it never fails – there are multiple journeys down the “But there are alternatives” road, in a variety of guises, with disabled people explaining again and again why the alternatives don’t work for everyone.

People from marginalized groups have to do this sort of constant, repetitive work all the time…explaining their experience to people who who tell them it’s wrong. As a disabled person, I pick my battles about it. When people seem genuinely willing to engage and be in dialogue, I’m happy to have that dialogue about my perspective. But I understand why many marginalized people choose not to do this at all, because it can be exhausting.

The Straw Ban – What Are the Answers?

I feel like the beginning of the answer to the straw ban issue is for restaurants to stop giving out straws automatically when they serve drinks, but to have some on hand for those who need them. It’s not a perfect solution, for either side, for a variety of reasons – especially for disabled people, who may feel they’re then at the mercy of “gatekeepers” who could refuse or deny their request…which can’t be a pleasant feeling.

But I think that hard-core straw ban supporters who would jump on that solution as being unacceptable need to examine their feelings about it as well, because I truly do believe that we’re at the point with the straw ban where the US is with its health care issue, where a fundamental question needs asking: What kind of society do we want to live in?

One where rigid adherence to an arbitrary measure of “personal responsibility” means that when someone needs a sip of water to take medication, they may not be able to get it?

Or one where restaurants don’t give out straws in drinks, but keep a small stockpile in reserve in case someone asks for one?

I know my answer, but ideally I’d like it to go a bit further.

I choose the society where disabled people are consulted about decisions that could affect their well-being, and where research is done and policy is debated to come up with acceptable alternatives for everyone involved before it’s dropped into place in a half-assed manner.

The ADA is almost 28 years old, people – what is it going to take to make a truly accessible society a reality? Seriously?

ETA: Literally 30 seconds after I posted this, activist Emily Ladau tweeted this press release from Starbucks announcing its plan to keep providing straws to those who need them. Way to go, Starbucks!

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