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Chronic Crowdfund

Disability and Chronic Illness Centered Mutual Aid

Mutual Aid Packages Sent: 21

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My Mission

The goal of Chronic Crowdfund is to help people with chronic health issues and unmet financial needs get their mutual aid requests fulfilled by sharing their posts and raising awareness of the barriers to accessing financial stability that disabled people face daily. I also hope to help people with mutual aid needs help themselves by providing mutual aid resources specifically tailored to their needs and demographics.
My account @ChronicCrwdfnd shares crowdfund posts by marginalized community members, posts resources, shares crowdfunding tips, and directs people towards mutual aid accounts and resources that serve their location and demographics. On this website I discuss: what mutual aid is, how to organize mutual aid, how to boost your own crowdfunds, resources specific to marginalized communities, and food bank/community fridge information, tips on how to help others with limited resources, covid mutual aid, mutual aid literature, links to my programs, and how to contact me.

Why Do We Need Disability Specific Mutual Aid?

There are two parts to this answer. First of all, many disabled people are homeless or live in severe poverty. Every year over a million [mostly disabled & chronically ill] people go into medical bankruptcy. There is no country on earth that has an SSDI/SSI program that gives checks above the poverty line- thus many disabled people must live below the poverty line or they will loose the only income [SSI/SSDI] they have. There are many other barriers to financial mobility, such as the fact that companies can legally pay disabled workers sub-minimum wages. This is not unique to the United States, either. Other factors, such as denial of accessibility accommodations and discrimination/ableism, make it difficult to get or keep a job. During the COVID-19 pandemic many high risk workers were forced to decide between their income and their life basically, and many quit their jobs and now rely on mutual aid.
Now that I have briefly established the factors that contribute to poverty in the disabled community, I want to discuss barriers to accessing mutual aid we face as well. Mutual aid does not discriminate, but people do. Inaccessibility can make it difficult or impossible to access online or in person mutual aid resources. Additionally, there are many programs for specific marginalized communities but the disabled community is often forgotten and left out. When asking for mutual aid on social media, many disabled crowdfunders get harassed for posting, and told they are just lazy, greedy, and should simply "get a job." Disabled people, especially during the pandemic, also have needs that often take extra work to meet [such as delivering groceries and medications], and many are unwilling to put in the work to protect our valuable disabled community members during this pandemic. Due to all of these factors, disabled people desperately need mutual aid and also struggle to access it.

What I've Donated

WHAT I CURRENTLY NEED DONATED

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Free Disability Related Mentorship Programs

Disability Mutual Aid Pages [Twitter]
@spoonieuni mutual aid for bipoc disabled and chronically ill people
@MutualAidBetes diabetes mutual aid, including supplies
@AtRiskMutualAid mutual aid for high risk people
@AutisticPOC mutual aid for autistic people of color [has a fund you can apply for]
@ChronicCommFund disability mutual aid boost page
@ChronicCrwdfnd sharing resources and boosting mutual aid posts for disabled people
@vondutchhandbag individual sharing lots of mutual aid posts
@Sophanas individual sharing lots of mutual aid posts
@madmutualaid mutual aid by and for mentally ill and disabled BIPOC people
@Tinu black disabled women who does individual fundraisers for disabled people in need read pinned tweet before tagging or DMing
@transhoodoofund trans BIPOC disability mutual aid page
@OpticalBlocPDX Portland based free optical care
@Witches4Access Portland based accessible activism and mutual aid
@testblocSEA Seattle based rapid test [covid] mutual aid group
@testblocpdx Portland based rapid test [covid] mutual aid group
@HollerHealth free health clinic, prioritizes marginalized groups
@PurifierBlocPDX Portland free air purifiers
@maskblocpdx Portland free masks
@PDX_Care mental health care Portland

What is Mutual Aid?

Mutual aid is not a new idea, but the recent popularity of the concept has certainly led to great developments in organizing strategy and the philosophy behind mutual aid. I have found some incredibly old quotes that seem to reference mutual aid.

"The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry man; the coat hanging in your closet belongs to the man who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the man who has no shoes; the money which you put into the bank belongs to the poor."Basil of Caesarea, 330-370 A.D.

Mutual aid often grows from cracks in existing systems that do not provide adequate support to marginalized communities. These mutual aid efforts benefit community health by providing access to economic support, food donations, housing solutions and other resources that contribute to individuals’ physical and mental wellbeing. Mutual aid also helps to foster relationships between community members that can create a feeling of solidarity and kinship. The increased interest in mutual aid has the potential to greatly benefit community health. Before getting involved in mutual aid efforts, individuals who are new to the concept can educate themselves on how they can best contribute to their community.The term mutual aid refers to the voluntary exchange of resources and services between community members to provide support for those who need it. These organized community efforts most often form within underserved communities and aim to empower people through solidarity rather than charity. Mutual aid efforts are sometimes linked with social movements, providing a stepping stone toward systemic change.Many attribute the concept of mutual aid to philosopher Peter Kropotkin, who argued for mutually beneficial community practices in his 1897 work Mutual Aid: A Factor in EvolutionTo learn more about what mutual aid is, and how to organize your very own mutual aid network, check out my own writing on the subject. You Can Buy My Mutual Aid Memoir Here

Who Deserves Mutual Aid?

If you don't need mutual aid, it is likely you view asking for aid as lazy or selfish. Many people who need mutual aid, especially if they are members of marginalized communities, are harassed when they crowdfund online and told they don't "deserve" mutual aid. Mutual aid does not discriminate. If you have unmet financial needs, you deserve mutual aid. Seeking mutual aid does not mean you are greedy, selfish, or lazy. Crowdfunding is very difficult emotionally, and there are many barriers to financial stability especially during the covid pandemic.