Hello,
I could use your prayers with this one. I was praying as I wrote this to HUD, I was praying. I hope my points are understood. Please pray for God's will to be done. I'm really hoping that my letter gets advocacy done and not get me evicted from my home.
I just feel that it is time for us disabled people to be understood and treated appropriately.
Thank you.
Hugs,
Sean
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 5:38 PM
Subject: Landlord and maintenance people issues. Need advocacy help
Sean Ray
Beaverton Oregon in Washington County.
To whom it may concern:
My husband and I are both blind and rent from a landlord who wasn't necessarily on the section 8 list. This company doesn't know anything about how to work with people who are blind. At first, when we would call about a problem, the landlord would then call my sighted sister to talk to her. He will now deal with us, but I can tell that he talks much more easily to both my sister and caregiver. When something has broken, the land lord has said, "well, let's see how long this lasts." That made me feel like Todd and I were going around being careless and thoughtlessly destructive. I've never had these issues living anywhere else before. I've always had good relations with the landlords or apartment managers and maintenance people.
This last incident has finally moved me to write, ask questions, speak up, and advocate for both Todd and I. We like where we live, because of the convenience of the grocery store and restaurants, etc. My goal, instead, is to take other kinds of action dealing with putting laws into place for the educating of landlords renting to disabled people. Continue to read further, and you will see why I feel such a mandate is necessary.
when the maintenance man came over, to us, it was unexpected, as he didn't give us 24 hours notice in a format that we could read. He clamed that he called us at home, but instead, he called my husband's cell phone an hour before coming. I was still bathing and preparing for the day, so his visit was quite a shock already.
the maintenance man was very arrogant in the way he pointed out things like a dusty baseboard, a dirty cold air return vent, some dog hair on the floor, and a couple of other little things. I personally pride myself in keeping a clean house. So, by the time he left, I felt belittled and about ready to cry.
as a result, I now have a couple of questions. First, are new section 8 housing landlords required to take a sensitivity training to learn about how to deal with people who have disabilities? If not, How can I/we get the ball rolling. I have promised myself that I will never go through that humiliation again, and I mean it!
The last question I have pertains to the housing inspection rules for this year's inspection. Is there a heavier emphasis on cleanliness for housing inspections? The maintenance man said, repeatedly, that the inspectors were leaning heavily on cleanliness. He said that the inspectors were doing this so that none of the units got bugs and rodents. He said that there were 3 spiders that were real bad. I can't remember all their names, but one was supposed to get in and rot your meat, another one was supposed to have a poisonous bite which would make anyone bitten have to be treated with a medicine, and a person could end up with a staff infection for the rest of their life. I don't remember what that third spider was supposed to do, but the man was using scare tactics, and it wasn't called for at all. His whole demeanor was critical and grumpy.
We had really cleaned the house the night before, including wiping down walls, cupboards, refrigerator, etc. Everyone cleaning tried their best to make sure that all was clean, as we originally were preparing for our case manager from Senior and disabled services to come over and do a reassessment concerning our need for a caregiver, food stamps, etc. We wanted to make sure that everything was spick and span for her visit.
However, the maintenance man indicated and made comments saying that our house was not clean. We've never had bugs, and I absolutely detest a messy house. We have some clutter corners because of the need to get ourselves some bookshelves. We will get them when we can afford them. However, I felt belittled and picked on during the maintenance housing inspection. It's one thing when someone says, "were you aware that you have dust on the baseboards?" What I got instead was, "does your caregiver ever do any cleaning? When did your caregiver last do some cleaning around here? You should have your caregiver clean the heating vent!" The first year that we lived there and we asked about our home being clean enough, because he was doing some griping, he said, "you have a clean house, for a blind person." I feel that, despite our efforts to change his ignorant thinking, I still feel that what we've said doesn't matter, and he doesn't care to change his views of blind people. I feel he discriminates against us by insisting on keeping his ignorant attitude about blindness. I very much care about my house and feel very insulted by the treatment I received. No matter where I live, I don't think I should be treated like a second class citizen just because I can't see. I was really upset, because he was saying that I needed to go out and buy Grease lightening, a commercial cleaner that I had to use gloves and a painter's mask. that was more indication, to me, that he thought my house was atrociously dirty. The cleaners we use are ones where we can feel what we are doing on the days when our caregiver doesn't come. All I can say is that something with positive results needs to happen so no one has to go through things like that again.
Our Case manager for Aging and disability services came to do her evaluation, and told us that our house was in fact much cleaner than last year. She agreed with me that the maintenance man was being critical. If our house is messy, we're more than willing to change it. What I'm really objecting to is the treatment my husband and I received on September 14, 2007 from about 9:30AM to 12:00PM. So, I'd like to know my rights concerning this issue. What can be done to prevent this kind of incident in the future? I know that this is long, but it's important. I don't want to go through that kind of company housing inspection again. I don't want to be evicted, as we like the duplex we live in. However, I want to make sure this isn't going to happen to us again. If we need to pass some more laws mandating that landlords and their companyworkers go through a disability sensitivity training, then let's do it.
thank you for reading this long letter. I'm hoping to get something heading in a positive direction. I really don't want anyone else to have this negative experience, and this is mostly why I've written this email. I eagerly await your response. thank you again.
Sincerely,
Sean Ray
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