As a disabled person who has also benefitted immensely from Uber, I hear this a lot, and it is really frustrating.
No one will help me, especially progressive leaning people. You don't get political or social brownie points for helping disabled people the way you would for other minority groups who are struggling. We are constantly ignored and forgotten.
I was in a situation where I needed money for healthcare that will never be covered by insurance, especially government sponsored universal insurance (EDIT: it will be covered eventually, maybe in 10 years). Gig jobs played a key role in my ability to purchase that healthcare and survive.
Regular employers will never hire me. Unions will never let me join them, because I can't meet their requirements and make life harder for their able bodied employees. Gig work is the only option.
Healthy people aren't nearly as caring as they'd like to believe, especially progressives.
>I was in a situation where I needed money for healthcare
By your account, the problem is a for-profit healthcare system. Gig work might have helped you purchase a highly inflated healthcare plan, but it doesn't address the underlying issue: that people shouldn't be forced into that situation in the first place.
You mentioned you are disabled, did you not qualify for disability insurance/SSI?
I did not purchase a health care plan with the money. I purchased effective treatments. To be frank, the healthcare system is worse than useless for many when it comes to debilitating chronic illness.
I do qualify for disability, but I can't afford the legal fees to convince a judge. My illness is very controversial and would require paying a very expensive doctor to support my case. It's cheaper for me to just pay for healthcare out of pocket. Fortunately my condition is reversible.
Why "especially progressives"? Surely people who advocate for your healthcare to be free, and for universal worker protections are doing more to help you than others? Gig work is a poor replacement for a proper "safety net". Imagine how fucked you would be if you were not able to do that gig work. Universal healthcare would have you covered.
For people with 'untreatable' or 'psychogenic' chronic illnesses, universal healthcare would just mean a different institution denies your claim for treatment.
Progressives, especially in 2020, don't look kindly on people who lack faith in medical institutions. A lot of people with chronic illness have found themselves in this category after being failed by these institutions.
The 'anti-progressive' viewpoint is about people using their varied abilities in the free market to make it themselves. It assumes that everyone is at least a little abled in something and that something is enough to pay the bills. It's pure ideology. The reality is that if you are injured and suddenly can't do you're job then you likely have 0 bread-winning ability until you learn a new skill or set yourself up in a new career if that is even possible.
I don't see the relevance of this comment. If you can't get approval from the authorities for your disability, then you end up in the same place. One path just involves more paperwork, paternalism, and shame.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure that there are more ideologies out there than just 'progressive' and 'anti-progressive'.
I'm confused by the "needed money for healthcare that would never be covered by universal insurance", are you sure such costs wouldn't be covered by NHS or similar had you lived in another country?
No, the treatments I need are experimental, and there is a tremendous amount of hostility from healthcare workers directed at people with my illness. It is very controversial.
Europeans are just as fucked as Americans when they have this illness.
I imagine it was also good for your mental state of well-being. You didn't have to sign up for a handout or even get a "goodwill" job like a greeter or something at a big box store.
Uber and Airbnb didn't have to take a loss to employ you. You got paid because you provided value to people willing to pay for it, just like the rest of us.
That's not to say we don't need social safety nets, or that it'd work for any disability (obviously). But there is something to be said when it becomes outlawed "for your own good."
Social safety nets only work for people who are believed to be oppressed. So what happens is the oppressed groups just end up being the people no one believes are actually suffering.
>No one will help me, especially progressive leaning people. You don't get political or social brownie points for helping disabled people the way you would for other minority groups who are struggling. We are constantly ignored and forgotten.
I have no idea what this is about but there was very strong activist push to get the ADA in 1990 and similarly the ACA in 2011 but I guess that doesn't count
> I was in a situation where I needed money for healthcare that will never be covered by insurance, especially government sponsored universal insurance
No clue what this means or how you could possibly even know that.
>You healthy people aren't nearly as caring as you'd like to believe.
Bold of you to assume that I'm healthy and don't have a vested interest in universal healthcare getting passed
No one will help me, especially progressive leaning people. You don't get political or social brownie points for helping disabled people the way you would for other minority groups who are struggling. We are constantly ignored and forgotten.
I was in a situation where I needed money for healthcare that will never be covered by insurance, especially government sponsored universal insurance (EDIT: it will be covered eventually, maybe in 10 years). Gig jobs played a key role in my ability to purchase that healthcare and survive.
Regular employers will never hire me. Unions will never let me join them, because I can't meet their requirements and make life harder for their able bodied employees. Gig work is the only option.
Healthy people aren't nearly as caring as they'd like to believe, especially progressives.