If you’re not fighting against mask bans because you think they “only” apply to those committing crimes… consider the following:

Who decides who’s committing a crime? The police. POC who mask will be disproportionately targeted.

Who decides if your medical exemption is “good enough”? Police

The police aren’t doctors. It shouldn’t be up to them to determine who has a valid reason for masking.

Many disabilities are invisible. We struggle to convince healthcare workers that we’re sick. What chance do we have with law enforcement?

Non disabled people also need the right to mask.

Finally, anti mask sentiment is at an all time high.

Before COVID, no one cared if you wore a mask in public. The worst that would happen is you might get a strange look.

Now there’s an entire segment of the population who see it as political virtue signalling.

There’s others with unresolved pandemic trauma who get irrationally angry when they see someone wearing a mask.

It’s (sadly) no longer a non event. Now it’s controversial. Adversarial. Political.

As a result, criminalizing masks will only further embolden those who seek to harm maskers

We need to normalize masks as a public health tool before it’s too late.

If you care about social justice, disability rights, fighting fascism or your health… you should be wearing a mask. Ideally an N95 or better.

The more of us wearing them, the harder they will be to ban.

Don’t make the mistake of assuming these bans are “no big deal”.

They are a very big deal. They will cost lives. Both due to Covid spread and also violence at the hands of law enforcement or vigilante anti-maskers.

Call and email your elected officials. Tell them no mask bans.

#maskbans #uspoli #noNYmaskban #uglylaws #ableism #discrimination #covidisnotover #covidisairborne #disability #wearamask

Panda Express walked back their employee mask ban in response to public outcry.

Starbucks is also attempting to prohibit their employees from masking unless they have a doctors note.

Get loud. Call, email & boycott. These ableist decisions are reversible, we just need to keep up the fight!

#nomaskbans #ableism #discrimination #fascism #uglylaws #eugenics #starbucks #pandaexpress #disability #covidisnotover

Panda Express becomes the latest business to ban masks for employees, insisting that being able to see facial expressions is necessary for team building.

This is ableist & discriminatory. Employees have to apply to be allowed to mask, putting an undue burden on disabled staff.

Not to mention these are minimum wage paying jobs and many staff may not be able to afford a doctors note or whatever arbitrary “proof” the company will require to allow staff to mask.

#uglylaws #capitalism #ableism #fascism #eugenics #disability #disabilityjustice #maskbans

Mask bans are ableist, discriminatory ugly laws.

Disabled advocates have been warning for years that if people didn’t help normalize masking, bans would follow

Please call legislators in New York and tell them No mask bans!

Medical exemptions aren’t enough, everyone needs the legal right to mask

The police are not doctors. They can’t determine who’s “sick enough” to wear a mask.

Many people with invisible illnesses struggle to get healthcare workers to take us seriously. We don’t want to be questioned by police.

Everyone should be allowed to mask up to prevent covid.

#nomaskban #noNYmaskban #CovidIsNotOver #covidisairborne #sarscov2 #uglylaws #fascism #ableism #eugenics #disability

Time is running out to fight the New York mask ban!

They’re to sneak it into the budget, and once again folks are claiming it’s “fine” because there’s a medical exemption

These bans criminalize masks, Including medical masks like N95s

Medical exemptions are NOT the answer

https://www.disabledginger.com/p/nassau-county-ny-makes-masking-illegal

#noNYmaskban #maskbans #uspoli #fascism #uglylaws #ableism #eugenics #disability

New York Governor Hochul is trying to sneak a mask ban into the budget, despite the opposition of many disabled & high risk people who NEED masks to safely access public spaces.

Criminalizing masks during an airborne pandemic, while measles is on the rise, is dangerous, ableist & eugenicist.

Call and email elected officials and tell them you oppose mask bans and that medical exemptions are NOT sufficient

https://gothamist.com/news/gov-hochul-is-pushing-a-last-minute-subway-mask-ban-in-state-budget-talks

#maskban #noNYmaskban #ableism #eugenics #uglylaws #newyork #uspoli #covidisairborne #covidisnotover

Mask bans already exist in certain States and counties.

Vance spearheaded a federal ban on mask mandates.

Organizing to codify the right to wear medical masks and respirators is (sadly) needed.

Masking is community care and resistance.

Illinois attempting to codify right to mask into law:

https://pmefa.org/

#uspoli #nomaskbans #ableism #eugenics #uglylaws #disability #longcovid #covidisairborne

If you think mask bans are “no big deal” because there’s medical exemptions, please consider the following:

😷 Police are not doctors
😷 Many disabilities are invisible
😷 Disabled people don’t live in a bubble. I need my friends and caregivers to mask to protect me
😷 Everyone should have the right to protect their health, you shouldn’t have to already be sick to be permitted to mask
😷 Criminalizing masks sends a message that maskers are “bad”. It emboldens anti-maskers and increases odds of aggression

The reality is that mask bans are discriminatory, ableist and eugenicist. They push disabled people out of public spaces. They put marginalized and POC at increased risk of police profiling.

There’s no official policy for a medical exemption either, it’s at police discretion.

If you’re stopped and questioned, you will have to prove you’re masking for the “right reasons”

I’m more than willing to admit that if I were stopped by a cop for masking, I would appear nervous, shaky, tachycardic and probably “suspicious”.

Not because I’m doing anything wrong, but because my illnesses do not respond well to stress and the police are stressful.

It’s not right to put the onus on the masker to defend their right to mask. We’re still in a global pandemic. Texas has a measles outbreak. There’s tuberculosis in Kansas. Bird flu is spreading and it’s the worst year for influenza A in over a decade.

Masks are a public health tool. They’re a disability accommodation. They should NOT be criminalized.

For more on mask bans and medical exemptions, I wrote an article on the Nassau County ban here:

https://www.disabledginger.com/p/nassau-county-ny-makes-masking-illegal

#nomaskban #uspoli #texas #northcarolina #maskban #disability #uglylaws #publichealth #ableism #eugenics #h5n1 #measles #longcovid #covidisairborne

Texas becomes the latest State to propose a mask ban (while in the midst of a measles outbreak that’s currently over 100 cases).

These are ugly laws. They’re discriminatory & push disabled people further out of society. They increase the likelihood of police harassment. They paint maskers as “bad”.

There’s an excellent document with scripts for how to call & fight back! 🧵 1/2

https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1704ui-FIcCqF97SX5uVnjP-Xi4A6m4WUXjce2ZonKEI/mobilebasic

#uspoli #maskbans #nomaskbans #uglylaws #infectioncontrol #publichealth #texas #measles #covidisairborne #covidisnotover #ableism #eugenics #disability