Transcript: Tinu Abayomi-Paul on Rationing Healthcare 

TINU: I'm Tinu Abayomi-Paul.
I live in Arlington, Texas.
I am the founder of
Everywhere Accessible.
I believe that since we are everywhere,
as disabled people,
that everywhere should be accessible.
The idea that I like to talk about a lot
because it's something that's
accessible to people,
that they have heard a lot,
is this idea of a productive
member of society.
Because what is that?
When people say that phrase,
they're saying, "Okay, you're a person
in our society who doesn't count."    
And they say that about disabled people
a lot, about elderly people a lot,
and their point is that we're not
contributing to the world       
so we're expendable,
and that's an ableist idea because
it's based on-- it ties your worth
to capitalism, it ties your worth to
what you're doing for a system
that really most of the time
isn't even giving us back
what we're putting into it.      
So I think that's one of the examples
of medical ableism that's widespread,
and what that evolves into now
is people saying...
you know it starts out with,
"Well, only the disabled and only the elderly
are going to have problems
with this virus." 
Um, hi, that's me...? Okay?
It makes me feel like I'm being told
that my life doesn't matter.     
It makes me feel like
somebody's saying,

"I don't care if you die.
It's really not a big deal."
You're really asking me to
sacrifice my life,
and my contribution to my family,
and my, um... the twins,
the two sets of twins
that are in my care,
you're asking me to give up my life
so that somebody can make
four more dollars per share
and it's ridiculous.
My life is worth more than that.
My life is priceless.
I shouldn't be called upon
to sacrifice my life
when we have the resources        
to save as many people as we can.
[NARRATOR]: Produced by
Rooted in Rights.