Part of the reason lockdown policy has been so utterly shitty for so many people is that in most countries it is founded on the expectations of white, heteronormative, nuclear-family, patriarchal, able-bodied bureaucrats and policy makers

It fails to take into account the differential needs of nearly anyone who isn’t anything other than the most white-bread, upper-middle class person with a safety-net

Occasionally covid-19 policies address one element of differential needs, but almost never does it take into account complex needs, multiple risks and comorbidities

So many of the grey spaces that helped ppl survive are gone, crumpled in upon themselves: weekly food hand-outs at community spaces; the cheap market veg “bargains” where grocers used to sell boxes for $5 and $15 boxes. Op shops for second-hand clothes are closed too

And these new policies don’t acknowledge any of those changes and their impact upon so many ppl

Beyond even money... there’s all the little things that help people cope that disappeared

There’s a guy in our local area with an acquired brain injury & every day he says hello to every shop keeper like they’re his best friend and the staff at this library all know him too, have his pencils and drawing pad set aside. I haven’t seen him once since covid-19 began

And I wonder what happened to him, whether he’s ok, whether he understands why he can’t go outside and when his care givers will let him roam again

And so many ppl have these little things that are important to them. Sitting on a park bench or visiting the same places every single day or doing things in a certain order. The things that helped ppl cope...

The stuff that helps ppl cope with pain, with loneliness, with anxiety, OCD, with stress, with trauma. And again, many of those liminal things crumpled in on themselves at the start of covid-19. There was no acknowledgement of the necessity of those things for public health

If, for a year or maybe two or even three, we are to stare down the spectre of covid-19, far more policy - both official and unofficial - needs to consider differential needs within the populace

And no, I’m not arguing to open every thing up for everyone. I’m arguing for tolerance and empathy. For less policing of each other and more compassion for people who are trapped in shitty situations

I’m not saying “tell everyone it’s ok to quit social distancing.” I’m saying maybe we should let the guy with the ABI do his daily shuffle up the street to say hello to the shop keepers without calling the goddamn cops on him when he sits down on a bench in the street