A working quadriplegic talks with the Washington Post about Social Security's work incentives. By the way, it's naive to think that if a quadriplegic can work, anybody can work regardless of their impairments. Pain and mental illness are different ball games. Age reduces the ability to make vocational adjustments. People with lowered intellectual capacity have diminished ability to make vocational adjustments. The biggest factors, though, are pain and mental illness. I'd rather be a quad than a schizophrenic or to suffer from chronic, severe pain. Most Social Security disability claims involve mental illness or chronic pain.
5 comments:
Interesting article. He doesn't say, but I bet he's had some struggles getting whoever handles his SSI 1619b entitlement in the local FO to even begin to know what he's talking about regarding the individualized threshold. In my FO, I doubt more than 1 or 2 employees know about it, or care to know. Easier to just say "you're over the limit".
Charles I found your comments about the article to be shallow and thoughtless. We should celebrate any disabled individual who successfully navigates the myriad work incentives of SSA.
It may lead some to question your own intellectual capacity with statements such as " I would rather be a quad " !!!!
Agree with 8:58, though I wouldn't be as snarky as to say I doubt CH's intellectual capacity. We should never, as practitioners, get into the comparison trap. We can legitimately say that it is easier to accommodate a worker in a wheelchair than one with schizophrenia, but no able-bodied person or one without a chronic severe mental illness should make these kind of statements. Walk a mile, and all of that.
If government was 100% behind beneficiaries,more and more people would attempt,although likely fail,re-entry into the workforce.
signed former claimant.
CTH: I too found the tone of this post rather offensive. Rethink before you type something like "I'd rather be a quad than a schizophrenic."
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