Ep. 5 – Izzy Hernandez: Environmental Racism, Mutual Aid, and Disability Justice

Ep. 5 – Izzy Hernandez: Environmental Racism, Mutual Aid, and Disability Justice

In this episode of The Future is Sick, Charlie talks with Izzy Hernandez, a two-spirit indigenous sailor and mutual aid organizer with Houston Food Not Bombs, about environmental racism, disability justice, and what it means to care for community at the margins of the state. Izzy shares how growing up along the Gulf Coast near petrochemical infrastructure shaped their understanding of how industrial pollution, policy neglect, and systemic inequality produce disability and harm – disproportionately in Black and brown communities. Together, they explore how environmental racism and industrial zoning quietly shape who becomes sick and who doesn't, and why disabled people – especially those who are Black, brown, and indigenous – are so often the first to bear the consequences. They also discuss anarchism as a framework for care, the criminalization of feeding unhoused people, the co-optation of mutual aid, and why the sick and disabled community is – whether it opts in or not – a fugitive community existing beyond the state. The conversation moves through pollution, survival, solidarity, and what it looks like to build collective futures from the ground up. Topics we discuss: * Environmental racism and industrial zoning * Disability as a product of systemic harm * The Gulf Coast as a sacrifice zone * Mutual aid vs. the nonprofit industrial complex * Anarchism and community care * The criminalization of feeding unhoused people * Capitalism, hyper-individualism, and the nuclear family * Disability, the state, and fugitive community * Liberatory disabled futures Find the full episode transcript on our podcast webpage: www.sickfuturescollective.org/podcast⁠ [http://www.sickfuturescollective.org/podcast%E2%81%A0] Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/xNyUgKFeA0w [https://youtu.be/xNyUgKFeA0w]  The Future is Sick is a podcast by Sick Futures Collective — made by and for sick and disabled people, and for anyone imagining more supportive, creative, and liberatory futures. Learn more about Sick Futures Collective: ⁠www.sickfuturescollective.org [http://www.sickfuturescollective.org]⁠ To share your art, writing, or creative work with the Crip Commons Hub, visit the Sick Futures website or email ⁠stories@sickfuturescollective.org⁠ The future is sick.

Ep. 4 – Cat Polston: Housing Justice, Chronic Illness, and Community Care

In this episode of The Future is Sick, Charlie talks with Cat Polston, a disabled public servant and former social worker, about housing, policy, and what it means to survive long enough to imagine stability. Cat shares her journey from experiencing housing instability and navigating chronic illness to working inside government systems to make programs more accessible, humane, and grounded in real community needs. Together, they explore how policy quietly shapes everyday life – from sidewalks and schools to who gets housing and who is exposed to environmental harm, and why disabled people are often the first to feel the consequences of poor policy decisions. They also discuss the tension between public systems and mutual aid, the myth of independence under capitalism, and why interdependence is not a fallback but a foundation. The conversation moves through survival, stability, and what it looks like to care for community both within and beyond institutional systems. Topics we discuss: * Housing as a human right * Chronic illness and survival mode * How policy shapes daily life * Disability and public service * Mutual aid vs. public systems * Interdependence and community care * Burnout, self-care, and labor under capitalism * Liberatory disabled futures Find the full episode transcript on our website:⁠ www.sickfuturescollective.org/podcast⁠ The Future is Sick is a podcast by Sick Futures Collective — made by and for sick and disabled people, and for anyone imagining more supportive, creative, and liberatory futures. Learn more about Sick Futures Collective: Website: ⁠www.sickfuturescollective.org⁠ Podcast page: ⁠www.sickfuturescollective.org/podcast⁠ To share your art, writing, or creative work with the Crip Commons Hub, visit the Sick Futures website or email ⁠stories@sickfuturescollective.org⁠ The future is sick.

Ep. 3 – Atlas Feigel: Queer Disabled Spaces, Access, and Community

In this episode of The Future is Sick, Charlie talks with Atlas Feigel, a disabled PhD student in Critical Medical Anthropology and co-director of Degenerates Collective, about navigating the U.S. health insurance system, medical gaslighting, and the politics of mobility aids. Atlas shares about his work with the queer and disabled DIY arts and mutual aid collective on Chicago’s South Side, and why building accessible community spaces outside capitalist institutions is so important. The conversation bridges scholarship, lived experience, and organizing, pointing toward a crip future where care isn’t gatekept by institutions and mobility is normalized as a human right. Topics we discuss: * Navigating the U.S. health insurance system * Medical gaslighting and disability * Mobility aids and access politics * Queer and disabled community spaces * DIY care, mutual aid, and creativity * From genocide studies to Critical Medical Anthropology * Degenerates Collective and South Side Chicago * Imagining liberatory crip futures Learn more about Atlas & Degenerates Collective: Instagram: @degenerates.collective  Find the full episode transcript on our website: www.sickfuturescollective.org/podcast [http://www.sickfuturescollective.org/podcast] The Future is Sick is a podcast by Sick Futures Collective — made by and for sick and disabled people, and for anyone imagining more supportive, creative, and liberatory futures. Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/UU1OWWqg4Os Learn more about Sick Futures Collective: Website: www.sickfuturescollective.org [http://www.sickfuturescollective.org] Podcast page: www.sickfuturescollective.org/podcast [http://www.sickfuturescollective.org/podcast] To share your art, writing, or creative work with the Crip Commons Hub, visit the Sick Futures website or email stories@sickfuturescollective.org [stories@sickfuturescollective.org] The future is sick.

Ep. 2 – Austin Puca: Trust, Community Care, and Living with Lupus

In this episode, Charlie talks with health equity advocate and systems strategist Austin Puca about living with lupus, chronic illness, and the everyday negotiations of being in a body you’re constantly learning how to live in. From avoiding the sun and navigating flares, to food, fatigue, trust, and care, this is a generous, funny, and free-flowing conversation between two friends. Austin also shares what it means to show up for one another through diagnosis and uncertainty — including being a steady source of care and knowledge when Charlie was first diagnosed with lupus — as together they explore community care, interdependence, and what futures shaped by sick and disabled wisdom can look, sound, and feel like. Topics we discuss: - Living with lupus and chronic illness - Trust, communication, and being believed - Community care and interdependence - Food, cooking, and nourishment during flares - Bodies, time, and change - Imagining sick-led futures Learn more about Austin: Instagram: @likethecityintexas Find the full episode transcript on our website: www.sickfuturescollective.org/podcast Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Yk_RtjFWQAA The Future is Sick is a podcast by Sick Futures Collective — made by and for sick and disabled people, and for anyone imagining more supportive, creative, and liberatory futures. Topics we discuss: - Chronic illness and diagnosis stories - Art as language, survival, and care - Narrative Medicine - Grief, identity, and crip time - Community-building and collective imagination Learn more about Sick Futures Collective: Website: www.sickfuturescollective.org Podcast page: www.sickfuturescollective.org/podcast To share your art, writing, or creative work with the Crip Commons Hub, visit the Sick Futures website or email stories@sickfuturescollective.org The future is sick.

Ep. 1 – Sal Marx: Illness, Art, and Imagining Crip Futures

In our first episode, Charlie talks with artist and narrative medicine professional Sal Marx about creative survival, illness stories, and futures where sick and disabled people lead the work of rebuilding care systems. This conversation explores art, care, grief, and the everyday realities disabled people move through. Learn more about Sal: Website: salmarx.myportfolio.com Instagram: @salmarx11 Find the full episode transcript on our website: www.sickfuturescollective.org/podcast Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/d-1PRzPtPZw?si=De__sh1oXdE6MKTU The Future is Sick is a podcast by Sick Futures Collective — made by and for sick and disabled people, and for anyone imagining more supportive, creative, and liberatory futures. Topics we discuss: - Chronic illness and diagnosis stories - Art as language, survival, and care - Narrative Medicine - Grief, identity, and crip time - Community-building and collective imagination Learn more about Sick Futures Collective: Website: www.sickfuturescollective.org Podcast page: www.sickfuturescollective.org/podcast To share your art, writing, or creative work with the Crip Commons Hub, visit the Sick Futures website or email stories@sickfuturescollective.org The future is sick.