Broadwaybabyto<p>If you think mask bans are “no big deal” because there’s medical exemptions, please consider the following:</p><p>😷 Police are not doctors <br>😷 Many disabilities are invisible <br>😷 Disabled people don’t live in a bubble. I need my friends and caregivers to mask to protect me <br>😷 Everyone should have the right to protect their health, you shouldn’t have to already be sick to be permitted to mask <br>😷 Criminalizing masks sends a message that maskers are “bad”. It emboldens anti-maskers and increases odds of aggression</p><p>The reality is that mask bans are discriminatory, ableist and eugenicist. They push disabled people out of public spaces. They put marginalized and POC at increased risk of police profiling. </p><p>There’s no official policy for a medical exemption either, it’s at police discretion. </p><p>If you’re stopped and questioned, you will have to prove you’re masking for the “right reasons” </p><p>I’m more than willing to admit that if I were stopped by a cop for masking, I would appear nervous, shaky, tachycardic and probably “suspicious”. </p><p>Not because I’m doing anything wrong, but because my illnesses do not respond well to stress and the police are stressful. </p><p>It’s not right to put the onus on the masker to defend their right to mask. We’re still in a global pandemic. Texas has a measles outbreak. There’s tuberculosis in Kansas. Bird flu is spreading and it’s the worst year for influenza A in over a decade. </p><p>Masks are a public health tool. They’re a disability accommodation. They should NOT be criminalized. </p><p>For more on mask bans and medical exemptions, I wrote an article on the Nassau County ban here: </p><p><a href="https://www.disabledginger.com/p/nassau-county-ny-makes-masking-illegal" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">disabledginger.com/p/nassau-co</span><span class="invisible">unty-ny-makes-masking-illegal</span></a></p><p><a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/nomaskban" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>nomaskban</span></a> <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/uspoli" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>uspoli</span></a> <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/texas" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>texas</span></a> <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/northcarolina" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>northcarolina</span></a> <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/maskban" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>maskban</span></a> <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/disability" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>disability</span></a> <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/uglylaws" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>uglylaws</span></a> <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/publichealth" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>publichealth</span></a> <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/ableism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ableism</span></a> <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/eugenics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>eugenics</span></a> <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/h5n1" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>h5n1</span></a> <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/measles" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>measles</span></a> <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/longcovid" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>longcovid</span></a> <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/covidisairborne" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>covidisairborne</span></a></p>