The Uber/Lyft strike that happened recently had all the takes out of the woodwork. The one that struck me the most was that suddenly people were using the disabled as props with regards to not crossing the picket line. Many a phrase was used, many a term came up. The ones to my immediate memory were that “not being a scab takes emotional labor”, and “what if they have chronic pain?” (I’m not bothering to dig those tweets up. Fun as it might be to potentially sick some people on those tweets, I’m not gonna be that guy).

Let’s be clear, first and foremost: Uber and Lyft are just logical conclusions to the concept of chauffeurs in the first place. That is, the commodification of travel, itself a necessity that has no right being commodified in the first damn place. Of course some people with disabilities will be affected. That said, at the risk of sounding a tad cruel, this amount of people is marginal. Not to say that people with disabilities are a marginal group who ought to be disregarded in economic struggle (in fact it wouldn’t surprise me if some of the strikers were themselves disabled) but that the amount of folks who were both…

A) Chronically disabled to the point of having difficulty traveling and/or making food for themselves

B) Whose only means of transportation or getting food was essentially a premium taxi service

…is next to nothing in the grand scheme of probability. This is made into nothing proper when you realize that not only are their alternatives to Lyft and Uber, such as carpooling, asking your friend/family/neighbor/coworker/comrade for a ride, calling a cab, public transit, and so on, there are also alternatives to using services like Uber Eats (Doordash, for instance).

Speaking as a disabled man – Being disabled does not give you the right to be a lousy, apathetic, scab. You do not get to cross the picket line free of consequence because of your disability. If you have some ultra-specific conditions that force you to do otherwise, fine, go about your business and be quiet. If you feel the need to be an apologist for the scabs, just admit you hate poor people and move on.