From the Washington Post:
... One of the most misunderstood aspects of the federal disability programs — Social Security Disability Insurance, for those who work, and Supplemental Security Insurance for the disabled poor — has to do with working. Some recipients subsist on benefits alone, unable to work at all because of their disability, and some find paid part-time work. (Both programs come with health care — Medicare with SSDI and Medicaid with SSI.)
Others work for pay up to modest income limits allowed by the programs or are seeking employment. Many others perform unpaid volunteer work. Yet whether they work for money or not, disability recipients are often stigmatized in our work-obsessed culture. ...This is rich coming from the Washington Post which has been running article after article portraying disability benefits recipients as shiftless drug-addicted hillbillies.
I'm afraid, too, that the cases it chose to illustrate are really out of the ordinary, and honestly in some ways have fact situations which tend to refute the idea that a disabled person can't work. I mean, the Uber Eats girl and the other student are going on and on about their activities and how they are planning to work and going to school, and playing sports! I haven't read the comments yet, but surely many people are picking up on that. I'd be afraid of being reviewed based on this article, if I were these people.
ReplyDeleteDisability standards in Title II and SSI are not partial disability. Why is it so hard to understand? I suppose it all comes to the Clinton standard of what is is. Or perhaps once you get a government check, it should be never taken away. Or once you cross into the USA, you should be allowed to stay forever. After all, you can never deny something to someone if they really really want it, since that is hurtful.
ReplyDeleteThe UberEats woman is not able to do the job herself--her spouse goes with her and carries everything on every job. It's more like the spouse is working and the DI beneficiary is tagging along to help out. I'm sure some knucklehead will report her to OIG for this, but to say that she's able to work based on this seems pretty farfetched.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, there is a risk....
Wow about printing stories about people who worked hard, overcoming their disabilities for years... Then, when they could no longer work, were screwed by SSA on a technicality or a judgement by ALJ that is upheld by rubber stamping AC! NO? that wouldn't fit their narrative. Journalism is dead and Washington is corrupt!
ReplyDeleteChronic health condition does not always equal disabled. Disability does not always equal inability to work.
ReplyDelete9:26 AM The inability to SUSTAIN SGA with a disability equals disabled. Being able to work a few hours a week does not equal non-disabled. So, tell us how you are an "expert" in disability. By the way, knowing the definitions of disability does not equal knowing what it means to BE disabled.
ReplyDeleteTim, this is 9:26. I do not have to qualify anything to you, but since you asked in such a rude way:
ReplyDeleteBecause I have one leg amputated above the knee and one arm with less than 30% range of motion, I think I can talk a little about disability. Chronic pain, PTSD, and a few other things as well as a job that I commute 30 miles each way and work an average of 45 hours a week, plus some weekend volunteering. I receive $0 from any government program.
That enough for you Tim? Is that disabled?
9:26 AM. Oh, I see. The Congressman Johnson argument. Well, I was able to work with my disabilities for 30 years. Sorry, but I can't do it anymore.
ReplyDeleteDid I say you? No, I did not I said "Chronic health condition does not always equal disabled. Disability does not always equal inability to work."
ReplyDeleteTo make you even madder Tim, I work at putting people with disabilities back to work. After working for SSA as a TII and TXVI CR and for a Representative Firm doing SSDI claims. Taking some of the people off Disability and back to work. Do it every day!
Well said Tim.
ReplyDelete12:03 You never said what you do, but you could qualify for benefits if you couldn't work. But hey, as long as you can, keep on keeping on!
@3:28 I am not disabled and therefore do not qualify for benefits because I make over SGA. I just happen to a disability. I work in social services helping people with disabilities with employment, assistive technology and life skills. My job is to keep people in the community with their disabilities, to work in the community and to keep them out of institutions.
ReplyDeleteFunny, when the VR posting a few days ago was on the blog everyone was in favor of such things, but then in an instant it is evil to suggest that people with a disability work.
Interesting!
I see Ms. Goody Two Shoes is back with all of her holier than thou; I am better than you; and I can put anyone back to work, no one is truly disabled, tirade.
ReplyDeleteWhy don’t you go pat yourself on the back, and congratulate yourself a billion more times, and shut up already. You are so full of yourself, it isn’t even funny.
Through all the self congratulatory praise about what you can do with your own extraordinary impairments, and everything you do each and every day for others who are similarly situated, the one constant which beams through all your posts is your remarkable ability to metaphorically stick a dagger in all those who have very severe disabling conditions which prevent them from working on any type of sustained basis, 40 hours per week, 8 hours per day, and add insult to injury to their already tragic circumstances.
In your posts, it’s as though you dance around all happy and flighty like Mary Poppins singing there’s no such thing as a disability which truly prevents anyone from working, grinning from ear to ear, and congratulating yourself about everything you do with extraordinary impairments, and for others who are similarly situated. Then with glee, and a smile on your face, you manage to demean, disrespect, and insult all those with severe disabilities who simply are unable to achieve such remarkable feats with their disabilities, e.g., you hurt the very population you claim to help just like you did above with Tim.
In the real world, you cannot put lipstick on a pig, i.e., you cannot pretty up and wrap each and every individual with severe disabling impairments which prevent them from working on a sustained basis, place a bow tie on top of them, fill them up with happy juice, and forever change their world.
Who the hell would live on disability anyway if they can work and do better. I had a great great uncle who escaped from a civil war prison camp at age 20, came out of the war blind and then went on to graduate from the University of Virgina with a law degree after the war. He conducted a legal practice, was a businessman and ran an agricultural operation inspite of his blindness. He also rode on horseback all over three states on horses he specially trained. He was one hell of an exceptional individual. But, he was highly intelligent, extremely determined and came from an affluent and very supportive family that helped him. Most of my clients have come from hard scrabble often dysfunctional backgrounds with limited eduction, sometimes limited IQs and a history of bad events. they are usually hanging on by their fingernails when their health goes south. Think of it this way, if everyone was like the person above then you would not be so damned outstanding would you? I think damn few of my people want to be where they are. I also think job rehab services are a joke in my broke, backward, terribly managed southern border red state.
ReplyDelete11:35 I put people back to work, it feels good. I work every day with a disability, it feels good. I can look myself in the eye when I shave every morning. I see the same look on the faces of the people I help. I have said before that we cannot find something for everyone, but that is not the goal. The goal is to be better today than yesterday and do the most you can with your condition!
ReplyDelete9:43 AM. I am just curious... How do you put people back to work? Full time, part time, or "make work"? I know of cases of "make work" where people were taking government money to put people "back to work" at sweatshops, then taking their "wages" for "room and board." These intellectually challenged people were held captive by those who claimed to be "helping" them in a scheme to get government money. I am not suggesting that your help is anything along these lines. However, I do want those who want people "to do something" in order to get money from the government to be aware of the pitfalls of paying "companies" to "employ" the disabled. The problem with "reasonable" accommodations is that what is reasonable to SSA might not be reasonable to a company. Having predictable limitations might lead to accommodations. Throw migraines, headaches, fatigue, dizziness, IBS, etc. on top of less than sedentary... It would be difficult for any employer to accommodate.
ReplyDeleteI miss working... I wish i could i felt so independent. I felt better about myself. I feel like such a burden now. I miss who i once was. If i could change it i would. I really really would. I have both physical and mental impairments. I suffered a trauma at the hands of an evil man... He took my dignity and self esteem but He took something from me far worse that i can never get back and that is sanity, security and faith in humanity. I can't leave the house alone without extreme anxiety from PTSD now you top that off with my physical impairments , in process of diagnosing nuerological impairment (dizziness, tremors, nausea, headache, brain fog, terrible memory etc) that may or may not be caused by the small benign brain tumor that was recently discovered on a cat scan (unfortunately already had hearing in September so it's to late to give to judge), undiagnosed autoimmune disorder that the doctors are still trying to figure out, neuropathy, carpal tunnel sometimes my hands hurt so bad that and the nueropathy trying to touch something yet alone hold it is excruciating... I am constantly dropping and breaking things from shakes and pain... and the list goes on. Any how the point i am trying to get to is that i am 31 years (i feel like i am 80) i am young (i should be able to work) so many would think i could over come these problems to work and i probably could SOME of them but not all of them... What employer wants someone who's hands always shake to the point they look like a druggy or alcoholic with DTs, someone who has to take frequent breaks due to dizziness, frequent bathroom trips to pee beca9of the retention issues in the bladder from nuerological problem or for the nausea to vomit, someone who has to call in because their body hurts to bad to get out of bed, and let's say i overcome ALL of that and have an incredibly understanding employer that lets me go to bathroom, sit, or lie down as often as needed... WHAT employer is going to hire someone that can't come to work without a "body guard/baby sitter" because their PTSD is so bad that the thought of being somewhere without my dad or room mate is horrifying. Do you know what it feels like To be a burden to others? To cry yourself to sleep at night from pain both physical and emotional? To constantly look over your shoulder? To not be able to pick up your 3 your old because you can't trust your own hands? To have your body and your mind fail you and there is nothing you can do about it besides hope the doctors figure it out and make you better? Do you know what its like to be in my body, my mind? NO and neither does the judge that gets to decide my fate from a 30 minute hearing that i couldn't remember anything i wanted to say because i was so nervous to be out of the house, my dad drove me but he waited in the car with my 3 year old so i had to walk into the building, sit in the waiting room, and go in to the hearing ALONE... I took so much medication to be able to do this of course i couldn't remember shit. Do you know how scary that is to know your future is in someone elses and you can't do ANYTHING about it? I am sorry for the rant and i just realized i went completely off topic... But what i meant by all this... Is there a job out there i can do? Can you help find me one? I am not actually being completely sarcastic i want to know if there is a job i could do.
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