It’s such a neat concept that can make certain expensive services like lawyers or therapists more accessible. I could trade a few hours gardening, sewing, cleaning, or baking, for someone else to give me a hand building a larger project. It’s a beautiful way to connect a community through acts of service 🥰
Thats true which is why we still need our usual safety nets in society like subsidised childcare, respite care, and disability benefits. This wouldn’t replace normal society, it would just add to it. I would love to see increases in those areas as well as a timebanking system for those who are interested and able to participate. It’s all about doing what you can, even if that’s just sitting and chatting with a lonely someone so I think it could be something pretty disability friendly compared to the corporate work world.
Fwiw as a PwD it doesn’t feel or look very disability friendly. I’m not dismissing the whole initiative, though, I just wafted that to be part of the conversation.
I just tried to post this but it didn’t show up apologies if this is double posted.
Oh also, my own preferred systems of community organising is standard mutual aid along the lines of “to everyone according to their needs, from everyone according to their abilities”. I get that it feels know nitpicking but it does kind of hurt as a PwD to see these kinds of initiatives (and, e.g., trade unionism specifically) be discussed, knowing that we don’t really fit into the framework and that just never really coming up.
I think people engaging with their local communities is great though and I’m not trying to diminish that.
That’s valid. Do you have any suggestions on how to make something like this more PwD friendly and feel more accessible? Part of the appeal to me is that not ever task needs to be a trades job or something highly skilled. I just read an article where an organisation (a hospital) “paid” time bankers in hours of language lessons and skilled job training for the members to help PwD and elderly community members. It’s just another way to get more people volunteering in communities and fostering that connectedness but I absolutely want to keep from having PwD feel excluded from yet another corner of society.
I don’t think PwD generally fit into skills trade or labour-oriented community organising structures. I don’t think that means that those things shouldn’t happen, I just think it is important for part of the conversation to be about the limitations of those types of organising structures and not just their merits (and they do have many merits!).
Thank you for bringing it up!
I’m disabled and like this idea. Obviously folks with disabilities aren’t monolithic and I can’t speak for everyone. Certainly there are more disabled than me. But I like the idea because it values time equally rather than valuing ability. Disabled folk are often relegated into shitty jobs with low wages because no one else wants those jobs and disabled folk often can’t get traditional roles due to lacking the ablebodiedness to perform them. This way disabled folk can do anything within their ability and an hour of their time is just as valued as an hour of an able bodied person.
Could it use some improvements? Of course! But I think it’s far and away a better system than what we have currently which not only devalues disabled folk but actively oppresses us.
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