Help Disabled Organizers Fix Accessible Van
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Updated message from Maya Scott-Chung Winter 2022-2023:
We originally raised $7,390 to be able to purchase a used 2007 Buick Terraza wheelchair accessible van in Portland. The actual cost of buying the van, registering it in California, driving it from Portland to San Leandro and ensuring it with AAA for a year was about $15,000 - and we were very grateful to also receive some of the funds from other community not on GoFundMe.
Now Dec 2022 it is the cold, rainy season in California, and we are making a fundraiser to fix our beloved wheelchair accessible van that we were able to purchase in Portland, Oregon in February 2022.
We are fundraising for about $7,500 to be able to fix it: We are dealing with broken doors, broken wheel bearings, a wheelchair ramp that won’t lift and drop electronically, transmission issues and more. We’ve brought it to four different mechanics and are hoping that the one we are working with in San Francisco works out. We will also be bringing it to Mobility works in Oakland that specializes in the repair and maintenance of wheelchair accessible vehicles. We will register it in California for another year and pay the AAA car insurance and get some prepaid gas cards as many disabled low income folks help each other out using this van.
Maya has been able to share this community care wheelchair accessible van with numerous other friends and comrades who are East Bay disability justice organizers and artists. We’ve been able to use the van get donated food to low income and marginally housed disabled folx, support a fellow low income disabled parent, organizer and artist to care for her son in the hospital and to receive In Home Support Services (IHSS) attendant care support, attend community organizing events, and transporting disabled youth and elders to demonstrations and community actions. We’ve also had fun going to the opening week of Wakanda Forever and to receive massages in a class at McKinnon Body Therapy Center on massage with disabled people:-)
This van has made it possible for Maya to attend doctors appointments, both routine and emergency, to get help to move myself, my cats and my belongings over to Emeryville (where I am in the process of moving), to take a trip to Camp It Up LGBTQI+ Family camp in July, Los Angeles for Worker’s Compensation medical examinations in March with extended families, to San Diego for a family birthday and to meet folks at Healing Waves Aquatics to learn about aquatic bodywork training for healing work with PTSD and trauma.
Maya has been in a prolonged period of very low income, marginal housing, and social emotional stress since May 2021 when she had to leave my previous home very suddenly as a 55-year-old disable power wheelchair user living on $290 a week from Worker’s Compensation permanent disability in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In the I place lived in San Leandro
I fought for months with my landlord (with the support of grassroots disability organizations and ECHO Fair Housing) to get a relatively wheelchair accessible parking spot near my previous apartment. Unfortunately, the van was broken into numerous times, and three doors have broken locks and difficulty opening and closing. I have a more secure indoor accessible parking space in Emeryville.
We all really appreciate the over 100 people who helped us to purchase, insure and register this van in Feb 2022. We welcome your continued care and solidarity as on-demand wheelchair accessible transportation has been transformational and life changing for me
And many other people!
In gratitude and community,
Maya Scott-Chung with friends, family and community comrades
♿️❤️♿️❤️♿️❤️
Original message from Cypress Bautista in Oct 2021-Feb 2022 when we bought the wheelchair accessible van:
Thanks for your support of Maya Scott-Chung, our beloved disability justice organizer. If you are here, that means that you are supporting someone who is very near and dear to our hearts, and needs immediate financial assistance. Whether you are able to financially contribute or are only able to share this page and Maya’s story with others, we very much appreciate your support!
Our friend Maya Scott-Chung (they/them/theirs) needs a wheelchair accessible van. We are fundraising for the cost of the van, insurance, taxes, registration, upgrades, and other related costs. Maya having a wheelchair accessible van will be life-changing. With a wheelchair accessible van, Maya’s care team can support them in accessing medical care and rehab, shop for food, and continue their important work as a Peer Advocate with Senior and Disability Action - East Bay.
Maya has been on Workers’ Compensation since April 2019. Foot and ankle surgery was recommended and authorized, but at the start of the pandemic, Maya delayed their medically necessary procedures to avoid potential COVID exposure when vaccines were initially unavailable.
They are now on Medi-Cal and working to get In Home Support Services (IHSS) in place so that they can get foot and ankle surgery in early 2022.
Maya is a 55-year-old non-binary white Celtic queer fat Femme who is a parent, oral historian, community organizer, public health educator, writer, artivist and disability justice advocate from the San Francisco Bay Area. Maya is going through a major life transition and is living well below the poverty level.
Though Maya lives close to a gym where they can do rehabilitation and exercise, they often are unable to leave the house due to rain damaging their power wheelchair. After a long six month search spanning the Bay area and Pacific NW, Maya and their brother Ian found a wheelchair accessible van through United Access in Portland, OR. On New Year’s Day 2022, Maya will travel overnight via Amtrak in their power wheelchair to meet their brother in Portland to purchase the van.
Maya was born with a rare heart condition which was not diagnosed until 2017 at the age of 52. This congenital heart defect (CHD) is a right-sided aortic arch with a vascular ring, what Maya calls her “unicorn zebra heart.” Maya experiences symptoms of extreme chest pain, difficulty breathing and swallowing, restricted range of motion and dizziness, nausea and disorientation when walking, bending or increasing their blood pressure in exercise or stress.
Maya was a professional massage therapist from 1993 to 2019 when they were injured at work. Since that time, they have also injured their spine, right hip, knee, foot and ankle, tailbone and hands and wrists. They began using a power mobility scooter in June 2019 but this exacerbated their heart condition and hand and wrist pains. They started using a power wheelchair in October 2019.
Since then, Maya has been looking for a wheelchair accessible vehicle, but they are low-income and have been unable to purchase one. Maya is now a disability justice organizer. They volunteered for mask/PPE and transportation justice organizing during the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic and sheltering in place in collaboration with Disability Justice Culture Club (DJCC); they are a founding and core member of Disability Justice League - Bay Area (DJL-BA), and they recently were invited to be a Peer Advocate with Senior and Disability Action- East Bay and will be doing this work throughout 2022 and beyond.
Previously, Maya was a project coordinator with FABLED ASP working on digitizing an oral visual history project by and about 40 years of arts and organizing by lesbians with disabilities. They were also a consultant at DeAnza College Office of Equity, Social Justice and Multicultural Education in 2016-2017 and coordinated their Queer and Now program including disability justice artivists India Harville and Laura Rifkin and disabled artists in a Femme Space exhibition and panel.
Please join us in sending love, prayers and support for our dear Maya, a committed disability justice organizer. Your contribution of any amount and support will help shoulder the cost of Maya’s wheelchair accessible van as they begin rehabilitation this year. Maya has been a fierce and persistent advocate for our communities and now needs our help as they enter a new, exciting, and challenging chapter in their life. .
We originally raised $7,390 to be able to purchase a used 2007 Buick Terraza wheelchair accessible van in Portland. The actual cost of buying the van, registering it in California, driving it from Portland to San Leandro and ensuring it with AAA for a year was about $15,000 - and we were very grateful to also receive some of the funds from other community not on GoFundMe.
Now Dec 2022 it is the cold, rainy season in California, and we are making a fundraiser to fix our beloved wheelchair accessible van that we were able to purchase in Portland, Oregon in February 2022.
We are fundraising for about $7,500 to be able to fix it: We are dealing with broken doors, broken wheel bearings, a wheelchair ramp that won’t lift and drop electronically, transmission issues and more. We’ve brought it to four different mechanics and are hoping that the one we are working with in San Francisco works out. We will also be bringing it to Mobility works in Oakland that specializes in the repair and maintenance of wheelchair accessible vehicles. We will register it in California for another year and pay the AAA car insurance and get some prepaid gas cards as many disabled low income folks help each other out using this van.
Maya has been able to share this community care wheelchair accessible van with numerous other friends and comrades who are East Bay disability justice organizers and artists. We’ve been able to use the van get donated food to low income and marginally housed disabled folx, support a fellow low income disabled parent, organizer and artist to care for her son in the hospital and to receive In Home Support Services (IHSS) attendant care support, attend community organizing events, and transporting disabled youth and elders to demonstrations and community actions. We’ve also had fun going to the opening week of Wakanda Forever and to receive massages in a class at McKinnon Body Therapy Center on massage with disabled people:-)
This van has made it possible for Maya to attend doctors appointments, both routine and emergency, to get help to move myself, my cats and my belongings over to Emeryville (where I am in the process of moving), to take a trip to Camp It Up LGBTQI+ Family camp in July, Los Angeles for Worker’s Compensation medical examinations in March with extended families, to San Diego for a family birthday and to meet folks at Healing Waves Aquatics to learn about aquatic bodywork training for healing work with PTSD and trauma.
Maya has been in a prolonged period of very low income, marginal housing, and social emotional stress since May 2021 when she had to leave my previous home very suddenly as a 55-year-old disable power wheelchair user living on $290 a week from Worker’s Compensation permanent disability in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In the I place lived in San Leandro
I fought for months with my landlord (with the support of grassroots disability organizations and ECHO Fair Housing) to get a relatively wheelchair accessible parking spot near my previous apartment. Unfortunately, the van was broken into numerous times, and three doors have broken locks and difficulty opening and closing. I have a more secure indoor accessible parking space in Emeryville.
We all really appreciate the over 100 people who helped us to purchase, insure and register this van in Feb 2022. We welcome your continued care and solidarity as on-demand wheelchair accessible transportation has been transformational and life changing for me
And many other people!
In gratitude and community,
Maya Scott-Chung with friends, family and community comrades
♿️❤️♿️❤️♿️❤️
Original message from Cypress Bautista in Oct 2021-Feb 2022 when we bought the wheelchair accessible van:
Thanks for your support of Maya Scott-Chung, our beloved disability justice organizer. If you are here, that means that you are supporting someone who is very near and dear to our hearts, and needs immediate financial assistance. Whether you are able to financially contribute or are only able to share this page and Maya’s story with others, we very much appreciate your support!
Our friend Maya Scott-Chung (they/them/theirs) needs a wheelchair accessible van. We are fundraising for the cost of the van, insurance, taxes, registration, upgrades, and other related costs. Maya having a wheelchair accessible van will be life-changing. With a wheelchair accessible van, Maya’s care team can support them in accessing medical care and rehab, shop for food, and continue their important work as a Peer Advocate with Senior and Disability Action - East Bay.
Maya has been on Workers’ Compensation since April 2019. Foot and ankle surgery was recommended and authorized, but at the start of the pandemic, Maya delayed their medically necessary procedures to avoid potential COVID exposure when vaccines were initially unavailable.
They are now on Medi-Cal and working to get In Home Support Services (IHSS) in place so that they can get foot and ankle surgery in early 2022.
Maya is a 55-year-old non-binary white Celtic queer fat Femme who is a parent, oral historian, community organizer, public health educator, writer, artivist and disability justice advocate from the San Francisco Bay Area. Maya is going through a major life transition and is living well below the poverty level.
Though Maya lives close to a gym where they can do rehabilitation and exercise, they often are unable to leave the house due to rain damaging their power wheelchair. After a long six month search spanning the Bay area and Pacific NW, Maya and their brother Ian found a wheelchair accessible van through United Access in Portland, OR. On New Year’s Day 2022, Maya will travel overnight via Amtrak in their power wheelchair to meet their brother in Portland to purchase the van.
Maya was born with a rare heart condition which was not diagnosed until 2017 at the age of 52. This congenital heart defect (CHD) is a right-sided aortic arch with a vascular ring, what Maya calls her “unicorn zebra heart.” Maya experiences symptoms of extreme chest pain, difficulty breathing and swallowing, restricted range of motion and dizziness, nausea and disorientation when walking, bending or increasing their blood pressure in exercise or stress.
Maya was a professional massage therapist from 1993 to 2019 when they were injured at work. Since that time, they have also injured their spine, right hip, knee, foot and ankle, tailbone and hands and wrists. They began using a power mobility scooter in June 2019 but this exacerbated their heart condition and hand and wrist pains. They started using a power wheelchair in October 2019.
Since then, Maya has been looking for a wheelchair accessible vehicle, but they are low-income and have been unable to purchase one. Maya is now a disability justice organizer. They volunteered for mask/PPE and transportation justice organizing during the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic and sheltering in place in collaboration with Disability Justice Culture Club (DJCC); they are a founding and core member of Disability Justice League - Bay Area (DJL-BA), and they recently were invited to be a Peer Advocate with Senior and Disability Action- East Bay and will be doing this work throughout 2022 and beyond.
Previously, Maya was a project coordinator with FABLED ASP working on digitizing an oral visual history project by and about 40 years of arts and organizing by lesbians with disabilities. They were also a consultant at DeAnza College Office of Equity, Social Justice and Multicultural Education in 2016-2017 and coordinated their Queer and Now program including disability justice artivists India Harville and Laura Rifkin and disabled artists in a Femme Space exhibition and panel.
Please join us in sending love, prayers and support for our dear Maya, a committed disability justice organizer. Your contribution of any amount and support will help shoulder the cost of Maya’s wheelchair accessible van as they begin rehabilitation this year. Maya has been a fierce and persistent advocate for our communities and now needs our help as they enter a new, exciting, and challenging chapter in their life. .
Co-organizers (3)
Cypress Bautista
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA
Maya Scott-Chung
Co-organizer
Caroline Baptist
Co-organizer