This is a super fun and exciting one for me to get to write.
Not too long ago the whole world got extremely, momentarily impassioned about single use plastic straws, and I spent a lot of my time trying to educate folx about why they are very important to disabled people. I also took a whole lot of abuse from people who seemed to assume that because I wouldn’t back down on accessibility and equality, I hated the environment and just wanted the whole world to burn. I was told that I and people like me should die off so that the turtles could have a chance. I was told I was a monster. I was called heartless and the r-word. But the truth of the matter is, I’m far from uncaring or uninformed. Quite the opposite, actually. As you might know if you know me IRL or have followed my work for a while, I’ve spent years doing environmental, climate change, and conservation work. I just happen to believe in environmentalism, not ableism. In making the world better for everyone, including for marginalized groups. If our good works exclude minorities and those suffering, is it really good work? But we’ll get to that.
So yeah, this is still fairly fresh on my mind. It was also kind of what got me involved in actual politics versus strictly activism/advocacy work, but I will probably touch on that later. And if I don’t, you can read a bit about it HERE and HERE.
Straws are nothing new. They have been around FOREVERRRRRRRRR. They were first created in around 3000 BC in Mesopotamia by some inventive Sumerians who wanted to drink beer! But the beer they brewed was in huge vats, and the vats were too big to lift, thus straws were created, made of rye grasses and the like, and the Sumerians would sit around and drink from the vats with straws together. The straws also helped them avoid sediment from the fermentation that settled to the bottom of the vats. But much like todays paper straws, rye straws tended to turn to mush, so the Sumerians also made straws from metal. A gold and blue lapis lazuli straw was found in a Sumerian tomb, and is the first known straw archeologists have uncovered!
Similarly, Argentinians have used metal straws called bombillas for centuries, at least, to drink mate, a popular caffeine-rich beverage made from the yerba mate plant. Their metal straw included a sieve-type feature to help filter out the yerba mate plant matter from the tea-like infusion. So smooth!
In the late 1800’s an American inventor named Marvin Stone started wrapping manila hemp paper around a pencil and created a straw that DIDN’T taste like grass, and he filed a patent for the first paper straws! They were 8.5” long and wide enough that things like strawberry seeds or lumps of milkshake wouldn’t get stuck. Stone came from a line of industrialists and knew how to mass produce products and market them well - and he did! And oh boy, were they a hit! He focused on places like pharmacies and soda shops for his paper straws and highlighted their sanitation and economy.
In 1937 a man named Joseph Friedman noticed his little daughter Judith having a hard time drinking a milkshake from a paper straw. She was sitting on the bar stool at the soda fountain, and the straw in her drink was too high, or perhaps she was too short. Either way, she was having a hard time. So being the kind and clever father that he was, he took the straw home and made some modifications. He made accordion-like folds in the paper by sticking a screw in the top of the straw, wrapping it in dental floss, and tracing the grooves. Once he removed the screw, he was left with the bendable ridges in the paper, creating the first positionable paper straw! Now his daughter, or any child, could reach the straw over any drink!
He started manufacturing his creation under the name Flex-Straw Company in 1939. He took his new invention first not to the open market where he could have made a not-so-small fortune, but rather to hospitals. In the 1930’s and 40’s hospitals still used glass tubes for straws. This made sterilization easy, but was a nightmare for patients who needed to hydrate while in a reclined position, for children, the elderly, disabled patients, or anyone with tremors or other motor control disorders, or sensitive teeth. They were also quite costly and broke easily! The introduction of a single use, positionable straw was revolutionary on multiple fronts. Once these straws became readily available in plastic in the 1960’s they became an even more accessible tool for ill and disabled folks.
It wasn’t until after Friedman’s overwhelming success in hospitals that his clever invention began to spread to restaurants, businesses, and homes alike.
To this day, positionable plastic straws are still a necessity for many sick and disabled people, in and out of hospitals. While many able-bodied folk consider them little more than a minor convenience, they can be the difference between being able to drink water (or whatever) or having to go without. There are lots of alternatives to plastic positionable straws out there, but none of them check all the boxes that the single use plastic does. And for those with severe allergies, things like compostable/biodegradable straws can be a dangerous alternative.
There’s always the suggestion of “well just carry reusable straws with you!” And that’s a lovely idea, but have you never forgotten your reusable grocery bag? What if that meant you didn’t get to drink water? And also were very sick? Or just wanted to go out for drinks with your friends on short notice? Also disabled people are more likely to have motor control issues, and cleaning reusable straws is fine motor skill city! Gotta make sure no bacteria re growing in there, because we are also prone to having lower immune responses, so that’s even more important. Also, disabled folk are often living in literal poverty. If we receive disability from the government, we are up to 2x under the poverty line. And should we put the financial burden on an already struggling group? I don’t think so. I could go on, but here… have this lovely graphic instead!
graphic by @sarahbreannep
When this was all hot in the news and cities were implementing their plastic bag and straw bans, I joined my towns task force to speak up for disabled people in my town. I talked to a bunch of conservationists, biologists, researchers, and people who do cleanups locally, statewide, nationally, and globally. I read a TON. Here’s what I learned. Plastic in the oceans is a problem. No one is arguing that (well, I’m not). But plastic STRAWS in the ocean are .003% of ocean plastic (or were at the time). They weren’t even in the top 10 types of plastic picked up by most clean up groups. Things that were? Nip bottles, balloons, plastic soda/water bottles, caps for plastic bottles. Balloons and nips (those little individual shots of liquor, for non-locals wondering) are the thing that every single environmentalist complained about the most, but when I brought them up with my committee, with the people yelling at me about straws and how disabled people are the problem, the answer was always “But people LIKE those things! We can’t take them away! That would be really difficult! People would be upset!”
My conclusion was that most people don’t really care about cutting down on plastic, or that maybe they do, but that’s not their primary concern. It’s about doing what’s easy, what’s popular, what’s trending, and what requires the least amount of effort and change to your day-to-day life, but that you can also shame and yell at people about. I also learned that people like shots of alcohol and balloons but don’t like disabled people. But I guess I knew that already.
I also wondered why we were targeting the .003% when huge companies are doing exponentially worse, are the real problem in my view, but I guess that’s another committee for another day.
I AM proud that my town did what I consider a good job on compromising. We wrote our ordinance to read that in the town of Stonington and all towns encompassed, single use plastic straws may not be left out on the counters or offered without request (not my preference, but okay), but MUST be available by request. I felt it was at least better than banning them entirely, and if we can cut down on some extra plastic that abled bodied Karens might just use and toss out their window, I’m okay with that. But I would not back down on requiring having them available by request, and I’m so thankful that my awesome committee members agreed.
As we’ve talked about a bajillion times, no one knows what another person’s needs are, and it’s ridiculous and egotistical (and ableist) to pretend to. It also is wholly unacceptable to create spaces where some people cannot exist, whether it’s because of a flight of stairs, or because you feel their straws aren’t “green enough” for you. And while we must all be more environmentally responsible, it’s important that we make sure that what we are doing is environmentalism and not ableism.
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