My name is Sandra Conley, and I have dealt with lifelong mobility issues. As a result, at various stages of my life, I have used short leg braces, wheelchairs, walkers, prosthetic legs, long-leg braces, ankle braces, and canes to assist me with walking. When I moved to Mobile, Alabama, my credit was poor, and my income was low; as a result, my spouse and I moved to an extended-stay hotel while we worked to obtain affordable housing. We stayed in the extended hotel for 1 year. After that, we moved to a boarding house where we lived for 1.5 years before it shut down after we were given 30 days to move. After the boarding house was closed, my husband and I ended up in separate shelters since we didn’t have minor children. Within 60 days, my former landlady recommended that I move to a 1 bedroom apartment owned by her brother. I applied for affordable/accessible housing in 2019 to prepare for an upcoming surgery. However, at 59 years old, I was considered too young for senior housing. Although I was eligible for Section 8 housing, the waiting list was over 2 years long.
In 2020, I had a major operation on my right foot that would not allow me to put weight on it. As a result, I had to stay in a nursing home because my apartment was not wheelchair accessible. I could only enter/exit my home via 3-5 steps at both my front and back doors. I attempted to access services that would allow me to recover at home with nursing/housekeeping services and access to transportation to medical services (doctors, physical and occupational therapy). However, because I owned a home in another state, I was denied the services that would have allowed me to recuperate in my home.
Because of my stay in the nursing home, I acquired a $ 7000 bill. Furthermore, I had to advocate for myself to stay in the nursing home. The administrators attempted to evict me after 14 days. Upon learning that the nursing home administrators planned to evict me despite my not having ADA compliant housing or access to caregivers (I was non-weight bearing for 2 months), I contacted various agencies such as the local Area Agency on Aging (SARPC), and other organizations for assisting me on my advocacy journey. Most of my adult life, I have had to be my own advocate, as a result, I usually did not have the luxury I processing my feelings, I generally spent my time focused on obtaining the needed funds to exist (i.e. side hustles, and payday loans, etc.) to meet my needs. I re-iterated to the social worker that my biggest fear was that should a fire emergency occur, I would be trapped. Although they begrudgingly allowed me to stay, they made it clear that I would be responsible for the medical bill; I informed them that my safety was worth any price.
I’m not sure what happened, but when I contacted the nursing home to make payment arrangements and informed them of a down payment of $150 sent (after discharge), I was informed that the debt was paid in full. I was in shock, but I requested that the nursing home send me proof that the bill was “paid in full”. Needless to say, I received that proof within 4 weeks of requesting it.
People with disabilities should have access to paid housekeepers/assistants so that they can remain independent when dealing with medical/disability issues that could prevent them from living on their own (i.e., due to surgeries or procedures that impact mobility). From my perspective, “independence” means having the ability to live on my own terms (housing of my choosing) with the means to earn the needed funds to do so, without being penalized with the loss of medical insurance and other resources. For instance, if I earn over the income threshold set for SSDI in Alabama, I could lose my Medicaid benefits. In addition, when I lived in public housing, for every $1 I earned while working, my rent increased by fifty cents. As a result, I felt like I was being punished if I earned too much. What would be the point of earning an extra $ 2000 or $ 3000 annually, if my Medicaid/Medicare benefits are cut and my job does not offer comparable insurance options?
It is now my desire to own multi-family homes that have wheelchair-accessible/ADA-compliant units so that more persons with disabilities in Mobile AL can live independently.