From an op ed piece by Marc Whitehead in the
Houston Chronicle:
Naysayers try to correlate the rising unemployment rate with the rising rate of disability claimants and come to the erroneous conclusion that people are using the SSDI system instead of looking for work. The reality is that many elderly workers have received special accommodations from their employers that allow them to work with their disabilities because they have been loyal, hardworking employees for decades. But when the economy turns down and these workers are laid off, they are not capable of working in a competitive job market. Americans with disabilities already face growing challenges in their efforts to gain disability benefits. Filing a claim can prove to be a daunting, complex bureaucratic struggle that can sometimes take months and even years to navigate....
It is not fair to attempt to balance our federal budget on the backs of the disabled. We all have a stake in seeing deserving people with disabilities get the benefits they need and have earned.