Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Episode Transcript

Transcript edited by Hannah “Asher” Sham

Welcome to Let’s Talk!

Kylo: You are listening to Let’s Talk!. Let’s Talk!, is a digital space for students at PCC experiencing disabilities to share their perspectives, ideas, and worldviews in an inclusive and accessible environment. The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of Portland Community College PCC Foundation, or our community partners. We broadcast on our home website, pcc.edu/dca, on Spotify, on XRAY, 91.1 FM and 107.1 FM, and KBOO Community Radio, 90.7 FM.

Meet the Hosts & Today’s Topic: Surviving Societal Instability with Disability

Asher: Hello, everybody! My name is Asher, and we also have Asher DeHart with us. And, today we are gonna be talking about surviving societal instability as a person with disability. Do you wanna introduce yourself first, Asher, so we can get started?

Ash: Yeah. Hi, my name’s Asher DeHart. Folks call me “Ash”. I work for PCC AEDR and and PSU, although I took a break this semester because of all the crazy going on in the world. I have done mutual aid and disaster relief for decades, not only in Oregon, but other western states and across the entire United States. I’m a musician and an artist as well and I’m here to share some insight to help people cope with the changing times.

Asher: Sure! Thank you so much for joining me, Ash. And, once again, my name is Asher. I am working as a assistant podcast producer here with the Let’s Talk! Podcast Collective. With how stressful life has been recently, we want to talk a bit about how to survive societal instability, especially for people with disabilities, physical and mental. 

Emotional Survival: What Self-Care Really Means

Asher: The first topic is we’re looking at emotional survival and mental survival, which I feel like is pretty important. So, what is self-care to you in your life, Ash?

Ash: Well, self-care to me is how I take care of myself. I think many of us, that are disabled or in other marginalized communities, are oftentimes caretakers and we do a lot of caring for everyone else around us; especially in troubling times like this. Because, we want everyone to be okay. But, in order to do that work, I have to take care of myself first. It’s been a process for me to learn how to practice self-care. But, self-care means doing the things that I need to do so I can be productive, reasonably happy, and effective.

Asher: Yeah, I feel like that’s very important for sure. I think it’s the same way for me; just self care in general. Whenever I’m having a difficult day, or I just need a step back, so I’m not mad at other people. To just do the things I love; at least that’s my definition of self-care.

Ash: No, I definitely agree with you there. It is really important to find positive things that we enjoy doing. To help maintain that status of self-care so we can be effective students, effective community members, effective activists, whatever our task in life is that we’re facing, is important that we can suit up and show up and be our best, even under extremely different difficult circumstances.

Asher: I definitely agree with you on that. Especially, those of us who have disabilities, whether it’s mental or physical disabilities, we need more self-care than anything else. Just to be very gracious with ourselves. I feel like we would struggle a lot more just with daily tasks in general and we just need to be kind to ourselves in that.

Ash: Yes, we do. And something I wanna add is we could have an ideal for self care, but we may not be able to meet that ideal every day or every week or every month. Sometimes we are only able to get part of the ideal met and that’s okay too. We shouldn’t judge ourselves, beat ourselves up, feel negative feelings towards ourself like we’re a failure, becasue we didn’t hit the mark fully on the self-care ideal. Any positive steps that we take to caring for ourselves so we can in turn care for our communities, our friends, our family is very important and very positive, and folks should be commended for that.

Asher: Definitely. 

Mental Health Supports: Therapy, Nature, Meditation & Community

Asher: You probably know this better than I do, but what are some mental health treatments? Only recently have I been diagnosed with ADHD and I’ve been to see counselors, therapist, and talking to my doctor of getting medication and all that. But, what are some mental health treatments that’s worked for you, Ash?

Ash: Well, I have ADHD, I have autism spectrum disorder, formerly known as Asperger’s Syndrome, and I also have complex PTSD, and anxiety, and a traumatic brain injury. Um. I have been to therapy for many years and I’m still in therapy. The standard pharma medication does not work for me, because I’m sensitive to medication. So, I have sought out naturopathic treatments for these conditions under the care of a doctor and I also use hemp-based CBD products that are free from THC. But, other things that I’ve done to help with mental health treatment, that are a little more outside the box than standard western medicine, yoga, meditation, I do a lot of time in nature. I spend a lot of time hiking in the forest and Forest Park and other parks. Because, it has been clinically proven that spending time in nature raises all the brain hormones and things up there that we need to feel healthy and good about ourselves. So, there’s a lot of different options as far as mental health besides the standard Westernized model. Support groups are also very good to participate in. Some people rely on 12 Step programmings, church, or other religious organizations to help cope with the things that they have going on. It’s a very wide spectrum of choice, as to what you can, do to increase your mental health capacity and to feel better. Especially, during these precarious times. I think one of the biggest is just community.

Asher: Yeah, I definitely agree with you on that, other than therapy sessions. I also have my own Christian community support group that I go to on a weekly basis, as well, just to help verbally, process things and to, get support from people and in turn help other people. I feel like is also very important with these trying times. It’s a give and take of helping other people and also receiving help at the same time, especially in community support situations.

Ash: Exactly, and oftentimes people who are disabled, or from marginalized communities, don’t know how to receive. We know how to give, and we know how to give, and we know how to give. But, sometimes we don’t know how to receive and I suffered with that for a really long time. ‘Cause with complex PTSD and being traumatized at a young age I became very self-reliant on me, and me alone, because I had a hard time trusting people. Over the years, I’ve had to work through that and I had to learn how to trust people to help me. In doing so, it’s made my life so much better and I just celebrated 12 years clean in November, which is just a really wonderful thing. Because, I was able to allow people to help me.

Asher: Congratulations! That’s definitely something to celebrate, for sure! I hope you’re taking yourself out to celebrate, or at least celebrating with some friends that have helped you along the way in that!

Ash: Definitely! There was birthday cake!

Asher: Yes! Let’s go! That’s always the best thing! 

Healthy vs. Harmful Coping: How to Reach Out and Build Connection

Asher: I think you touched on a very great topic, as far as healthy co coping mechanisms in that of reaching out versus being afraid to reach out. What would you say is a healthy coping mechanism of reaching out to people?

Ash: So, here’s a healthy coping mechanism. You might decide to volunteer at the local animal shelter, or you might decide to volunteer serving meals down at Blanche House, or you might go on Meetup and find a hiking group or a book club or another group that shares a common interest that you may have. A detrimental coping mechanism could be; you might go to the bar every night hoping to make friends. And, for some people that’s okay but, for a lot of people, that could lead to excess drinking and putting oneself in situations that could be hurtful or dangerous. So, I learned a long time ago that the bar was not the place for me to make healthy connections. I learned how to make healthy connections with people at school, with people at work, with people that were doing mutual aid in the community, helping other houseless people, things like that. It took me a while to have the courage to be able to do that; it took years. Because, my first few years back in Portland, my trauma was so strong. I had a hard time making friends. I had a hard time reaching out. It took a long time, but I did it one step at a time. And, some days it was baby steps, other days it was bigger steps. Then there were some days where I had a few steps back and isolated more. So, there is a spectrum to developing healthy coping mechanisms. Everyone’s timeline is a little different, but there’s many options out there, especially here in Portland, for finding ways to build community and healthy ways.

Asher: Yeah, for sure. 

Finding Community in Portland: The ‘Portland Freeze’ & Giving People Grace

Asher: I relate to your story, and I’m sorry that you had to go through all that too. It’s difficult right now, especially in this day and age, where I feel like a lot of things are online and trying to meet with people in person; it’s difficult. Especially if it’s like a really big community group. You sometimes get lost, or, if it’s a smaller community group, it’s pretty tight knit and it’s difficult to get in and meet people and make potential lifelong friends. But, I’m also glad that you managed to find the support you needed.

Ash: And, I’m glad that you found it too. Portland does have a freeze. Their whole Reddit page is devoted to the Portland Freeze. People are friendly and nice here, but when it comes to really making friends, it can be difficult. I think a lot of that ties into the neurodivergency in this town. There are so many neurodivergent people in this town. Folks want to be friends, folks want to reach out, folks want to do things; and yet, sometimes, when it comes to taking that step, they don’t know what to do. So, you don’t get that phone call from the person you gave your number to, or that person that you were going to have coffee with might have canceled. But, it isn’t for us to take that personally. I’ve chosen to look at it from the standpoint of perhaps this person too feels nervous or scared, or may be neurodivergent, or have other mental health issues that are preventing them from stepping fully into the arena of friendship and community. I try to allow people the space to do that, because it was definitely given to me when I wasn’t able.

Asher: I definitely agree with that. 

Resource Roundup: Support Groups, Street Roots & Disability Master Lists

Asher: What are some resources for families and individuals? Support groups or communities, people that we can reach out to whenever we’re having a difficult time? 

Ash: There’s a lot of groups. Particularly for the autism folks, Oregon has a number of autism self-help groups. There’s a number of community groups centered around neurodivergent people. I think we’re gonna list those all at the bottom of the podcast page, so people can take a look through there. Also, one that I like to stop by is downtown. It’s the Maybelle Center for Community, it’s right in Chinatown, and it’s a place for community. It’s a lovely spot and anyone can go there. Housed, unhoused, everyone is welcome. It’s a place for folks to sit and talk and find community. Also, too, I’ve met a lot of really great people volunteering for the Blanche House. Because, there’s all kinds of people that spend time, volunteering there. I’ve met a lot of great folks that way as well. Again, there’s lots of stuff on Meetup too. All kinds of different organizations and groups. If you’re a student at PCC, there’s all kinds of things on campus where you can make community. The Women’s Resource Center, the Queer Resource Center, the Veterans Resource Center, and all kinds of clubs and activities. Community is there so, whenever you’re ready, reach out and find what matters to you and meet people that share those interests.

Asher: Definitely! Thank you so much for sharing all those different resources. We’ll definitely place them at the very bottom of the podcast in our resource list. If you want even just reach out to a local church or a local religious group, as well. I’ve only found out about this recently, but there’s something called, “Portland Street Roots“, and correct me if I’m wrong, Ash…

Ash: Oh, yeah! “Portland Street Roots”. “The Street Roots” are the folks that put out the newspaper and, the formerly houseless people, write for and sell. Some people, still houseless, are involved in that project and they also put out the little books with all the resources that you see around town. There’s also a lot of resources there that are available; anywhere from housing, to community, to medical, to groceries, all kinds of stuff. There’s also the Oregon Disability Resources master list. That was compiled by the University of Oregon and it’s called “Able Find”. That has everything that you could ever need for disability resources across the entire state. We will post that at the bottom of the podcast.

Asher: That’s so cool! Yeah, I didn’t know about that little booklet until a friend of mine shared it with me, because she was in need. She was like, “oh yeah, I found this really cute little booklet that a community member gave me!”. I took a look at it and, man, it’s a hefty read! But, it’s also encouraging to see how many resources are available in Portland. All you need to do is just look it up and just ask, really.

Ash: Yes, and it covers not only Multnomah County, but also Clackamas and Washington.

Asher: Yeah, for sure. 

Physical Survival: Food Help, SNAP Gaps, Pantries & Meal Delivery

Asher: With that, that is a great segue into our next topic, which is about physical survival. Recently there was that whole government shutdown and SNAP Benefits being delayed and all that. It was very heartening to see local coffee shops come together to provide food for those who have missed their SNAP Benefit Payments, and are unable to provide for themselves.

Ash: I haven’t had some experience on this recently helping others to locate food who had lost their food stamps. Again, the street roots guide has every food bank in the city listed. So, that’s an excellent source of information on where to get box meals, meals to go. I’m a big fan of “Neighborhood House” up in Southwest Portland. They serve the Southwest side of town and parts of the Northwest side of town, but anyone can go there and they have lots of fresh produce and they’re open several days a week. There’s a plethora of food pantries around the city. Again, Blanche House has meals to go and sit down breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You can find times on their website. All your social service organizations like Milk Crate Kitchen“, and they use salvaged items that are donated from restaurants and other organizations, and they cook both a meat based meal and a vegan meal once a week. You can sign up on Wednesdays and that meal is delivered to your door on Saturdays. No questions asked. It’s really great and it’s super helpful to be able to get a hot meal to folks if they’re hungry. Also if we have any students or listeners today that are seniors, Meals on Wheels is still servicing the Portland area, despite cuts from the Federal Government. So, if you are disabled or 60, I believe it’s either 60 or 65 or older, and you need food service; please get ahold of them and they would deliver hand cooked healthy meals to you. Rose Haven and others give out meals, snacks. There’s lots of ways to get food in the city if you need to eat. Another really great organization is the “

Asher: I’ve heard a lot about Meals on Wheels. I heard that their meals are pretty good too.

Ash: We also have heaps of Free Food Markets and Farmer’s Markets in the city. They have the PSU farmers’ market, they have Farmer’s Markets available in all different neighborhoods. PSU and PCC both are doing free food markets. I think that’s really wonderful for students and faculty alike. Both have the food pantry, so that no one is going hungry on campus.

Asher: Oh, yeah. For sure. I heard about the Free Food Market only recently; running through hard times myself and needing to find a couple things to fill the pantry. The Free Food Market, especially at PCC, is a great resource, that you could find on the Panther Hub and also on the PCC home webpage.

Ash: Definitely.

Shelter 101: Overnight vs. Transitional Shelters (and Housing Barriers)

Asher: What are different kinds of shelters available? And once again, Ash, you’re the most knowledgeable out of the two of us. Tell us a little bit about all these different shelters that we talked about initially. First, “overnight shelters”. What are those?

Ash: Okay. So, overnight shelters, also known as emergency shelters, are short term overnight beds for folks who are in need of shelter. What that translates to is you go to the shelter, we’ll take the one over up in Northwest Portland, on 14th, you line up, you get a bed, you get a nice meal, you get to sleep, and then they wake you up the next morning and you are on your way. It is not a reserved bed situation. So, you’re not gonna come back to the same bed every night. You could be in a different bed, or you might have to go to a different shelter. Basically, that’s what an overnight shelter is, or also known as an emergency shelter.

Asher: Oh, interesting. Wow. What about transitional shelters?

Ash: Transitional shelters are a little bit different than overnight shelters. A transitional shelter is a shelter where you come in and you maintain the same bed and you are able to store your stuff there in a locker. You come in every night at a certain time, check in, et cetera. Most of them have a curfew. But, you come home to the same bed every night. That provides a bit more stability, especially for students and working folks, because you’re not running pillar to post trying to figure out where you’re gonna stay. If Overnight Shelter A is full and Overnight Shelter B is full where am I going to go? A transitional shelter is a guaranteed bed. Some have no exit date like the TPI Couple Shelter, and other shelters run by TPI. They do not have an exit date and you can stay as long as you need to, as long as you abide by the program rules. And, some have exit dates of six months to a year, two years. It just depends on the organization that’s running it.

Asher: I bet. Correct me if I’m wrong transitional shelters, in this sense, is for people who are looking for housing? Or is that a different kind of shelter where they stay there, but they’re also in like a queue for low income housing?

Ash: Many folks who are at Transitional Shelters are in queue. They have a voucher or they’re waiting on a voucher. They’re either looking for an apartment or waiting for that voucher to come through, so they can get the apartment and move out of the shelter into long-term housing. But, you also have people at transitional shelters who do not have a voucher, who are working, or going to school, and they are utilizing services their until they can, maybe, get the savings up. Because, landlords require so much now to rent in Portland and the surrounding areas in Oregon. You have to make three times the rent. You have to have a certain amount of money in savings. You have to have been at your job at least six months. And, that’s for all parties involved in a housing situation, in a standardized apartment, or house rental. So, not everyone has that, so they’re able to utilize the transitional shelter until they can get that job that’s going to help them move into better housing situation, or they have the job and are waiting to get the savings up, so that the landlord will approve. There are transitional shelters for families as well. So, that is the difference between an overnight shelter and a transitional shelter.

Asher: That’s very cool. Yeah, I have a couple of friends who were in transitional shelters, at one point, and then they transitioned out into more permanent housing, or into roommate situations too. I totally agree with you, with the idea of rental stuff; it’s so difficult that there are so many different kinds of conditions. Even when you move into a rental agreement there are some things that you’re not allowed to do. Especially, in my situation where I’m living at, I’m not allowed to have guests in the home, unless clearly specified during the day and no overnight guests as well that makes sense too. But, it’s also just very difficult to plan around get together with friends from outside of the home and you always just need to meet outside and stuff, which is very difficult.

Ash: We’ve seen since the pandemic that landlords have just become tighter and stricter, and stricter, and stricter. I can understand why landlords want good tenants. I’m not really here to discuss that. What I’m here to discuss is that some of the landlords have become so stringent that it’s just denying people housing. Especially, disabled, persons, and persons from other marginalized communities. So, at what point does an overzealous landlord, become discrimination? That’s perhaps a topic we can discuss on another podcast. But, people wonder, they’re like, “why are there so many houseless people in Portland?”. Well, because the landlords want things that most of the general public just don’t have. You have to be in a certain income bracket to even begin to qualify for housing unless you’re getting subsidized housing. Then there’s a wait for that too.

Asher: Oh yeah, for sure. Definitely. 

Safety & Specialized Housing: DV Shelters, Youth Shelters, and Sober Housing

Asher: The next shelter is “Domestic Violence Shelters”. Tell me a bit about those. It’s also very self-explanatory itself, right?

Ash: So, domestic violence shelters are shelters that accommodate folks who have faced domestic violence in the home, sexual violence, human trafficking, child abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, stalking. The spectrum of what is entailed under the title of “Domestic Violence” is quite wide. So, if you have been a victim of any of those that I just listed, you would qualify to be housed at a DV shelter. DV shelters are normally very confidential, they’re in confidential locations. There are certain sets of protocols that, participants and staff abide by for the safety of all those who live and work there. It is a safe place for individuals; male, female, trans, non-binary, other marginalized genders, children, and their pets can come and seek shelter, seek safety, and rebuild their lives after a devastating incident of violence in the home or other DV related incidents.

Asher: With Domestic Violence shelters, is there a period of time for people to be in those shelters, or are they able to stay like indefinitely, or is it like a case by case kind of basis?

Ash: It is a case by case basis. It also varies from state to state and program to program. If we have any listeners today, who are being abused, I just wanna say that has happened to me in my life when I was younger. There is help out there and I came through it, and you will come through it too. If you are in the Portland Metro area, you can call the “Gateway Center“. You can also call, “Call To Safety“, and you do not have to call the police to receive services if you do not want to call the police. YWCA also has a domestic violence program and there are countless organizations in the city; such as “Rafael House” and others that you can get referred to. They also have the “Address Confidentiality Program” in Oregon and that is a safe mailing address so you can receive your mail without fear of interference from a batterer, or trying to find out where you might be.

Asher: Oh, wow. That’s a lot of moving pieces. You’re right to say that it’s definitely like by a case by case basis. Maybe some people need to stay a little bit longer, or some people are just looking to get out of the country or state. I’m sure there are services that help in that.

Ash: Yes, there are. There are relocation services here in Oregon for persons who are being abused of all genders. So, if someone needs that, “A Call To Safety” or “Gateway” can help with that too. Because, a call to safety and gateway are the two. Big organizations that place people and they are 24/ 7. There’s also the “National Domestic Violence Hotline“, which we can list at the end when we do the resources list. We’ll make sure to have all that in too.

Asher: Oh, yeah. Definitely. The next kind of shelter is a Youth Shelter. What’s a Youth Shelter?

Ash: So, Youth Shelters are for young people who are not with their parents or legal guardians for whatever reason. Youth Shelters, generally, take children and, I think it’s up to 23, here in Portland, from six to 21, 22, 23. These are shelters for children or unaccompanied minors who’ve been abused and they have various confidential locations throughout the city for Portland’s youth who have been abused. They tend to house children within their own age group. So, the older kids will be in the older kids’ house, and the younger kids will be in the younger kids’ house. They help children who do not have the option of going back home, children or teenagers who may have been kicked out for being trans, or non-binary, or another marginalized gender, children who may have been kicked out for being gay, kids whose parents just chose to abuse them, for whatever reason. These are safe places, that young people can go to receive help. And Portland, again, has several agencies for, youth that are in need. One of the main ones is right downtown near Powell’s, and it’s called “New Avenues for Youth“. So, if we have anyone listening today who’s being abused in that age group, stop by “New Avenues for Youth” or try to give them a call and get some help. Because, you deserve to be safe, you deserve to be heard, and you deserve to be accepted just how you are and for who you are.

Asher: Oh, definitely. Yeah, I totally agree with that. Is there also a transitional period or like you said, that they house up to 25, or was it 23?

Ash: I think it’s 23 in Oregon. It varies from state to state, but I’ll have to double check that one. There are short term programs, there are longer term programs and there are programs to help get kids get into housing. I know that “Outside In“, also in the southwest region of downtown, outside in does a lot of work with the youth that are on the streets too. So, if you can’t make it over to “New Avenues For Youth”, you can stop by “Outside In” and request services there or give them a call. Again, if you are a young person who is being abused at home, or in whatever situation you are living in, you can seek help without having to call the police if you don’t want to.

Asher: Oh, yeah. Definitely. Next is Sober Housing. I can sort of guess just by the name itself; Sober Housing basically is for those who are getting out of drug use and alcohol use, probably.

Ash: Sober housing is for folks that are in recovery from substance or alcohol. Most sober housing requires complete abstinence from all drugs and substances, including THC, even though it’s legal. You have privately run sober housing, that’s run by individuals in the community. You can also have sober housing that’s run by the “Oxford House“, which is a long time group that’s been around for decades that provides sober housing for folks. A lot of organizations that we’ve already discussed in our discussion of shelters; domestic violence, they too have options for sober housing. TPI just opened a sober shelter for folks who are houseless, but that are trying to maintain recovery, or who just choose not to drink, or take any kind of drugs or smoke weed and would like to be in an environment where, they’re not going to have a bunk mate, in the next row over, that might be drinking or using.

Asher: Are there also, once again, long-term programs and short-term programs for sober housing situations?

Ash: There are. And, there’s sober living where you can just go for a couple of months. There’s sober living that’s more intensive to where it could be a year to two years. It just depends basically on what you need as an individual. The rents tend to be quite less than what you would pay for a room in a house, or in an apartment.

Asher: So, for sober housing, different from shelters of course, you would need to pay like a fee to have a place 

Ash: yes, but there are agencies that help cover sober living costs, especially when someone’s first getting outta treatment and needing to go to sober living. There are organizations that help cover that. If you’re a musician who has published anything, “Music Cares” actually pays for treatment, sober living, and therapy. So, they’re a great resource if we have any listeners today that are published, musicians in need of help. Get a hold of “Music Cares” in Los Angeles. They’re a subsidiary of the Grammy Corporation.

Asher: Oh, wow. All the way in LA. Wow!

Ash: Yeah, and they helped people all over the United States. They helped me.

Asher: Oh, sweet! All these shelters, we’ll put all the different resources definitely down in the, resource links below. 

Rental Help, PCC Care Team, and Eviction Defense Resources

Asher: Are there any other housing and rental assistance, or eviction defense and other PCC Housing Resources that you can think of, Ash?

Ash: Sure! Housing and rental assistance is a big one. “Catholic Charities” does a lot of work in that area. I know that TPI provides rental assistance to their clients; when they find a place they help them get things paid for. Again, Street Roots, your number one go-to guide for everything you might need. As far as social services, they have a whole section that lists rental assistance in all three counties; Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas. Local churches oftentimes will do housing and rental assistance too for both people that visit their church and also for folks that don’t, as charitable contributions. I think “Rose Haven” does some rental assistance. I’m not sure how much. But, again, we’re so lucky here in Portland that even though you may have difficulty finding housing; once you do find housing there are folks there that can step up and help you get that first month’s rent, that last month’s rent, and that deposit together. “St. Vincent DePaul” does a lot of work in that area, “

Asher: Are there any PCC housing resources that you know of, Ash? 

Ash: I know that The Care Team, Haley and them in that office, they do great work when a student becomes houseless or needs stable housing. I know that PCC just opened an apartment building that’s low income for students. I recall reading about that. But, if you’re in need of housing resources and you’re a PCC student. You can go to the Queer Resource center, you can go to the Women’s Resource Center, you can go to the Veterans Resource Center, you can talk to a professor, or someone in student services, and they will write a referral to The Care Team. You can meet with a care representative who can discuss your situation with you privately and get you the help that you need. They’re great folks in that office. They work really hard to help PCC students and their families. If anyone’s listening and needs assistance, don’t be afraid to reach out for help ’cause the help is there.

Asher: I wish I would’ve been able to reach out to, PCC Housing Resources back when I first started with PCC. I didn’t really make a very good choice with my first living situation. I looked for a place to live in on Craigslist of all places! I was very young and uneducated during that time. So, that was… But, you live and you learn and I’m glad to hear that there are all these different housing resources in case I ever do come into rough times and all that. So, yeah. Highly appreciate that. 

Ash: You also mentioned eviction defense. Clear Clinic is the stalwart in eviction defense here in Portland. Their office used to be located at PCC Cascade, and I would come and work for them on Fridays. I still, hand out flyers for them and stuff. But, they have moved to the East Bank Loss, on Ash Street. They still have the same website, but they are no longer tied to PCC. I think that the work that they were doing, just became so widespread in the community that they needed to spread their wings and grow, and I commend them for what they were doing. So, the Clear Clinic, they do eviction defense, they do expungement for misdemeanors and other expungable offenses in the State of Oregon, they also handle DACA and name and gender changes, and they’re doing wonderful work in this scenario, that we’re currently facing, with immigration law. If you need any of these services go to the website, give them a call, they’re wonderful people and they have wonderful folks that work on the eviction defense team. I’ve seen many success stories come out of the work that they do there for folks who are being faced with losing their housing.

Asher: Yeah, that’s a very important resource, especially just with how expensive everything is getting, just with how the rents are not matching up with the living rates.

Ash: I definitely understand what you mean and there is a need for folks who can do eviction defense in the State of Oregon. Here’s the wonderful thing that a lot of people don’t know; in the State of Oregon you can be a paralegal and do eviction defense. You can only do eviction defense, but you can still do eviction defense without having to be an attorney. So, if we have any paralegals out there that are retired, or someone considering maybe a career in the law, eviction defense is a growing field and it’s wide open for paralegals in Oregon. Take a moment to investigate and see if it’s right for you.

Asher: I love that! I had no idea that was a thing! Legal stuff wise, I thought that would just be like a lawyer’s job. I didn’t know that there was a specific role, as far as, eviction defense and all that.

Ash: Yes, there is in Oregon and we’re really lucky to live in a state that allows that.

Rebuilding Community: Starting Conversations & Coping with Loss

Asher: Community, as far as physical survival. We as humans, we’re not meant to be by ourselves. We’re meant to be with other people, whether you’re introverted or you’re very extroverted, you wanna be around people. The first question, for me is it’s been difficult also just over the years, is how do you reach out to people when you don’t know how to? When I first came here to the States, I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t know anybody at all. The only people I really knew were the family that I, pretty much, couch surfed with and even then it was difficult to just reach out to a community that I met for the first time. What’s your experience in that, Ash?

Ash: It can be very hard to reach out to people when you don’t know how to. Coming from the environment that I was raised in, I really wasn’t shown how to do any of that. So, I had to learn on my own through trial and error. But, for me it’s just always been about going, “Hi! I’m Ash! What’s your name?”. Just a simple act of kindness is saying, “Hi, how are you today?”. You never know, it could open up the doorway to conversation and friendship. So, I just really strive to live my life by just reaching out to people with kindness, reaching out to people with care, even if it’s just a, “Hi! How are you?”, or “have a good evening!”. Just acknowledging other human beings that are in my immediate sphere, in my day-to-day life that I pass, or that I see at work, or the grocery store, or here or there. I’ve made friends through playing music, and I’ve made friends through work, and I’ve made friends through making art; I met my partner at a concert after a protest. So, I had to overcome my fear of humans by learning how to just say, “Hi, I’m Ash! How are you?”. When I got comfortable doing that, over a period of time, then I learned that I could talk more with people beyond that.

Asher: Just taking the initiative and just like reaching out and be like, “Hi! My name is this…”.

Ash: Nine times outta ten, I think other people are afraid to take the initiative now. Just pinging back to the whole technology thing; we love technology, as long as it’s used responsibly. Technology is a good thing. But, it has also trained people not to be forthcoming, in person. Because, everyone’s staring at a laptop, or a screen, or got a phone in their hand, or this, that and the other. So, in-person communication skills are not what they used to be, and I realized that if I wanted to make friends, I needed to take the initiative.

Asher: I’m definitely guilty of that. Of having difficulty, as far as communication wise in person, it’s so much easier just to text people. You’re able to formulate what you wanna say without tripping over your own words and you’re able to delete stuff, you’re able to add things like later on down the line. But, yeah. I totally understand what you’re saying; reaching out and taking the initiative first to reach out to people. 

Ash: In person communication requires the ability to be vulnerable; and for those of us that are marginalized, for those of us that have PTSD, for those of us that are autistic, or with other disabilities, it can be very, very hard to have that vulnerability. So, hard!

Asher: It’s so hard! 

Ash: But, It can be fun!

Asher: Yeah, it can be fun once you like get over the jitters, get over the awkwardness of getting into a conversation, and really start rolling. Then probably, yeah, you would be able to have a very fun time and meeting new people and discovering stories and all that. It’s what I love.

Ash: Yeah, I mean. You helped me so much, Asher. Because, remember when we first met? I was kind of shy and I was nervous and didn’t know if I would fit in working at PCC. But, you and several others, that we all worked together, it’s made such a difference in my life. Like my job with PCC has made such a difference in my life as a human being, as an activist, as an artist, as a musician, as a human. And, it came from the friendliness, and compassion, and acceptance that was shown to me by everybody in the AEDR office. So, hats off to you Asher! ‘Cause, you really helped me!

Asher: Aw! It’s okay! It’s what we at Let’s Talk! Podcast Collective do! We want to spread awareness and we also just wanna make it an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds, and all nationalities, and all different disabilities. Last question, what can we do if we lose our community? Over the years, just with myself, I’ve gone through so many different communities and a lot of communities that I had to be like, “this is not helping me anymore”, and to step back and other communities that pretty much just “left me on read” or “ghosted”, if I were to put it in like a dating sense, if that makes sense? 

Ash: Yes. There’s a lot of different reasons why someone could lose their community. They might move, they might change schools, they might have had a falling out with someone in the community. There’s a lot of different ways people can lose community, and losing community can absolutely gut a human being. It’s a very hard thing to go through and I’ve been through it once before and it was devastating to me and it contributed a lot to my complex PTSD. It took time to heal from losing the community; working with the therapist, talking that through, becoming okay with myself and realizing that. What happened really wasn’t my fault. That the best thing I could have done for my own self was to just walk away, because my ideals didn’t match up with the ideals of the community that I was with at the time. So, there’s a grieving process, yes, and once you heal you come back to yourself and then you have the ability to go out and make new community. But, there is a grieving process there, and a healing process, and it is different for everyone. So, if you do lose your community, don’t be afraid to take the walk through the process to heal from what you just lost, so you can go make more friends and more community. Because, it’s really important to honor yourself in doing so.

Asher: Thank you so much for sharing that, Ash! That’s very, very encouraging and I totally agree with continuing to still just being open to finding new friends and finding another community even after if you lose your other community. 

Ash: Yeah, like when I used to drink and party, I had heaps of friends and this and that, and I had lot of friends here, friends there everywhere I went; friends, friends, friends. But, once I stopped drinking and I stopped getting high and doing the things that I was doing. Those people didn’t wanna be my friends anymore. That kind of made me sad because I certainly didn’t judge them for what they were doing. But, it was just a fork in the road for me. I had to heal from the fact that those folks couldn’t be in my life anymore and I couldn’t be in theirs. But, I had enough dignity and self-respect for myself to know that, I’m gonna allow myself to feel these feelings, which kind of suck, but then, on the other side, I’m going to continue on with my life and I’m gonna make new community wherever I go.

Asher: For sure. 

Closing Thoughts, How to Reach the Podcast, and Final Credits

Asher: And, for those of us, who are listening in, if you ever need community and you wanna reach out to us, go on pcc.edu/dca and look for us on Let’s Talk Podcast collective or even reach out to us through the Panther Hub. Also, Let’s Talk! Podcast Collective. Thank you so much, Ash, for speaking to me on all these different topics and I’m sure we’ll look forward to our next episode together to talk about more topics. As far as, how to help others with disabilities during these trying times. Thank you so much!

Ash: Thank you so much for having me, Asher. It’s always a pleasure to come on the podcast and be a part of this community and I’ll have Asher post my public email at the bottom. So, if anyone wants to reach out, you can totally email me and I will respond. Thanks so much and have a great day, wherever you may be.

Asher: Thank you so much.

Asher: Thank you for listening to Let’s Talk Portland Community College’s broadcast about disability culture. Find more information and resources concerning this episode and others at pcc.edu/dca. This episode was produced by the Let’s Talk Podcast collective as a collaborative effort between students, the Assessable Education and Disability Resource Department, and the PCC multimedia department.

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