by 
“I saw an Indian woman living in a car”, my friend told me. I said, “What, how can that be?” For most Indian (Asian)immigrants, it is not that easy to come to the USA. They must have a good job to come and live here. And most Indians are traditional and family-oriented. It sounded odd. After some answer searching, people said they know her name and told her story. (Let us call her ‘Diya’ which means light). They believed Diya has a mental illness, and her husband divorced her, taking her son away. She was evicted from her apartment, she took her car and left. I felt sadness and helplessness to hear about a woman half the world away from home, separated from her kid, and parents, and was left alone in the streets.
When I saw Diya at first, she was suspicious of me. Others tried to help, but she refused almost everything. Later I came to know about Johnson, a security guard, who was also trying to help her… and he was there to watch and help her for all seven years! I tried contacting behavioral health resources, social organizations, and shelters. Most people knew about her since people called on her. None was able to do anything since she was not open to any help with her mental state.
Diya lived in that car from 2015 to 2022. She was in her own world of beliefs. She didn’t accept cash or other stuff from me and most others–I guess she lived with whatever money she got from her dad when he visited her. Most people gave up on helping her, but her parents were in contact with Johnson and me, hoping someday she will come back home. Johnson kept track of her whereabouts and kept me updated about where she was parking her car, or whether he talked with her. I visited her once in a while. Sometimes she talked, and sometimes she just ignored me, but it was very depressing just to see her. In 2021, when I saw her in that car, I thought she would die soon of malnutrition and the poor condition of the car with mold and dirt.
Everything changed when she had issues with her car. Once she got into a traffic violation for driving the car without a renewed license. Then the tire needs to be changed, and she refused any help from both of us. The owner of the parking lot issued a trespassing violation on her, and her car was towed while she was put into jail. I came to know about it through Johnson. They dropped her off from the jail at the bus station in January 2022 and when I asked her to come with me, she came to my house since she didn’t have any other option. It was a hard decision for me, but I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t leave her in the streets, even though she was not so friendly to me.
Treating people with mental illness is really hard. Mostly, they are not aware of their own condition, and deny any help. Anosognosia, a lack of insight, is a symptom of severe mental illness experienced by some which impairs a person’s ability to understand and perceive his or her illness. They are not aware of their lack of hygiene too. With privacy and health regulations in our system, it is very hard to help them. In Washington state, Joel’s law passed in 2015, which is very helpful for families. This allows an initial involuntary detention of a mentally ill person if there is proof of these 3 conditions. 1. A person is a harm to themself, or gravely disabled; 2. Harmful to others; 3. Harmful to property.
I filed Joel’s law petition for the family while she was with me. When Joel’s law petition was granted, all of us who were trying to help Diya were relieved, hoping some good will happen so that she will change her mind to go back to her parents in India. I took her to the hospital, and she was transferred to a behavioral treatment center. One time, her father called me and informed me that the hospital staff told him, “There is no one in that name” while he called for her. I didn’t know what was happening, but later I knew that they sent her to the downtown homeless shelter without following up. Long story short, the mental health facility said, she is just fine, and she didn’t need any treatment. Their take was that she wanted to live in the streets for her own pursuit of happiness-to reach her lost family. Even normal people like us take anxiety/depression medicines, but a person living in the car for 7 years (or who didn’t change her clothes or took a bath) didn’t need any medication or treatment was difficult to digest. Later her sister came all the way from India, but she refused to go with them (even to the hotel the sister stayed) insisting she have to go to her husband. The crisis team from Olympia Police helped and again tried for Joel’s law, got granted, and the same story happened again. But this time, she went with the family and stayed with them at the hotel, but still refused to go to India. We all lost hope except her parents.
Diya was left in the downtown Gospel mission shelter and lived there for 6 more weeks. I contacted DSHS housing, but they couldn’t help much either with Diya’s mental state. We didn’t have much hope left, but still Johnson and I tried to pursue her to go to India. She lived there for few weeks. Later I felt she became afraid of people around there. One day she announced to Johnson that she agrees to go to India (she only knows why -maybe the experience at homeless shelter), and it was during Covid. I arranged the travel plans quickly, and after several stressful events, she reached home in India on May 2nd week of 2022.
Diya lived in a car for 7 years and lived in the homeless shelter, hoping someday she can be with her husband and son. She never agreed that she was homeless or said anything bad against her husband, regardless of him abandoning her. (Even for that she took the blame- typical woman!). She worked as a teacher with a master’s degree in English literature before coming to the USA, but became homeless. When she was ready to go to India, Johnson and I were there to help her. We didn’t think the system did much help. Our relentless effort, and the parent’s hope that she will agree to go, was what succeeded. All the services were not coordinated. Everyone was in their box, pointing out their legal limitations, even though they tried as individuals. The legal system is trying to execute procedures and forget justice. It is hard to find solutions for homelessness, but the answers are within our system itself. I wondered how the court issued a divorce without her presence. After reading the case, I realized that the ex-husband talked about her mental illness and neglect in taking care of their son. I wonder why the court didn’t make sure a mentally ill person is taken care of. Isn’t our homelessness starting from our own system’s fault? If the court made him take her to her parents, she shouldn’t have to go through 7 years of homelessness. Later, when they arrested her for trespassing, I had to intervene on her behalf to make them understand her mental illness. When they release from jail also, there was no coordination of services. And I don’t even want to talk about the coordination from the mental health facility when they released her.
To save someone from the streets was not easy, but a lot of people helped with what they can, including my husband who was with me the whole time. And it was impossible without the faith deep rooted in me. And without Johnson, I couldn’t do this either. (In the pic- Johnson and me)
I was most proud of my law degree than ever when NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) director told “So happy to know that Joel’s law works” when the petition was granted.
I am content with whatever experience I had to go through in this life to do what I was able to accomplish for Diya. And I am thankful to her for teaching me what it meant to be a human and never look down on others!