Not so fast on banning straws — I need them
Now, I’m all for clean air and going green to save the Earth — but did you know straws are an important part of my life? They’re an important part of life as well for others like me with disabilities. Without a straw, I can’t drink anything independently.
All the recent discussion and news headlines about banning plastic straws at restaurants is really starting to stress me out.
Some big cities, such as Seattle and San Francisco, have already done it, and some companies are thinking of following suit. The issue that started this push to get rid of plastic straws is that they are thought to have a serious impact on the environment, including polluting the ocean.
Now, I’m all for clean air and going green to save the Earth — but did you know straws are an important part of my life? They’re an important part of life as well for others like me with disabilities. Without a straw, I can’t drink anything independently.
At a restaurant, one of the first things I ask the server for after he or she brings me my drink to the table is a straw. It’s an even bigger plus if they have a bendable straw so I don’t have to stretch my neck as if I’m a chicken to reach it.
I heard that some stores like coffee guru Starbucks use paper straws instead of plastic ones. When I was a little girl growing up in the late 1970s, a popular candy was paper bubble-gum cigarettes. Now that I think about it today, they should not have even been allowed to have these on the market because they were influencing children to smoke. But I loved them — even though I was never able to blow the powdered sugar out of them because I drooled too much because of my disability. Although I learned how to control my drooling, many of my friends still cannot. Point being, if you give them a paper straw, it’s going to get all wadded up inside, which is going to make it impossible to use.
If the world decides to go to metal straws instead of plastic ones, what about the people with disabilities who suffer with spasms or have involuntary movements? Can you imagine jumping only to be stuck in the roof of your mouth by a metal straw? I know I’m being very graphic here — but the banning of plastic straws is an issue that is real.
Now, I’ve been known to roll with straws. Straws are a huge part of life, so I treat them as you would treat your American Express card: “I never leave home without it.”
Over the years there have been many things on the radar posing a negative effect on the environment. Remember when all cars in our area had to have E Check to make sure they weren’t giving off a lot of fumes?. Now, it’s straws. Will it ever stop?
Straws are my life. I am sure that somehow, this whole ban initiative contradicts the spirit of what the Americans with Disabilities Act stands for. If I pay with my hard-earned money to eat at a restaurant, then the least they can do is give me a straw to enjoy my drink. If straws are banned, what will it be next? Grab bars in restrooms?