It's Spreading! New Developments

I guess you've read my earlier thread in Disability Issues ( at least I hope You did) " My Reality re: Disability " thread
My wife, who I have been separated from three years (but still being married says something,I still sleep there three or more times a month)
has a 27 year old daughter who is mentally retarded and has severe obsessive disorder and more,much, much more; got the letter today.
Lisa ( her Daughter) has been classified Class A on SSI which means She has been receiving full SSI ( at $579 a month this year) for many years. She's being re-classified Class B ( which is living in a relatives house and receiving "Food and Shelter".. That means they are reducing her check to almost nothing. My wife, Trish, is losing her mind about it.
One of the reasons that we no longer live together is, having lost everything to my disability and being distraught at the time,She left me. Still believing in the American Dream, Trish didn't and won't understand, " It CAN HAPPEN HERE".
I expressed my sorrow upon her phone call, but when pressed as to what to do, proceeded to explain why I spent all summer volunteering at the Democratic Party HQ, joined up with Bernie(DU's Fly By Night)after the fraud ( same Dem HQ), which started the group that hosted the April Election Reform Conference in Nashville. And why I spend most of my time in the "2004 ER&D Forum" at DU.
Poor Trish is emotionally incapable of believing, IT CAN HAPPEN HERE AND IT FUCKIN' WELL IS"
I tried to be so gentle, But got hung up on twice and left to voice mail on the third.
I left a message that she would realize one day and I hoped it was before they came to take away Lisa as a "Defective" as they did in Germany in the late '30's. ( I did try to break the news gently, but it's been tough on me too)
No, I haven't been able to pay as much attention to the cause as people like Bernie ( or a few hundred I know ( many, by face like Andy and Brad , through the Nashville Convention 'cause I had to deal with my Mom having life-threatening surgery ( We live together) and how the SS is treating me) but, I still spend 12 hours+ a day at this machine writing LTTE's and other things that I can contribute.
People do not want to believe until it touches their own person, and even then, it takes a while. TOO FUCKIN LONG!!!
If anyone in this DU Disability Group hasn't got it yet: WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU A DEMOCRAT FOR. WHY ARE YOU HERE?
THEY ARE STEALING OUR COUNTRY AND IT TAKES EVERY ONE OF US AND EVERYONE
YOU KNOW AND NO-ONE CAN AFFORD TO LET UP NOW!!!!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!
If You think it's not about you right now,not about you and your own:
Just Wait.
It Will Be
IT IS ABOUT US ALL!

Wiley

PS- I've decided while writing this, that I will cross post in '04 ER&D Forum. For those of you there who are reading this without background on me, Please do me the favor before you criticize me, to go read my last post in "Disability Issues in the DU Issues Forum".

That is why it's called SS,Insurance, its to protect us all!

How can Trish hang on to her old point of view in the face of what has just happened to her daughter's SSI? How blind can the poor woman be?

Why don't you just make up the difference out of your own pocket?

maybe you should think about what being on disability means, and reread the post where he says "having lost everything".

gee, joe, maybe you'd like to send trish a few hundred extra bucks a month.

"gee, joe, maybe you'd like to send trish a few hundred extra bucks a month."

I'm pretty sure I can't afford to.

i'm pretty sure HE can't afford to either

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

I wrote Skinner

Help Please!

Wiley

It is much harder for those who are self-reliant to navigate the system before it crushes them than those who are chronically irresponsible. It makes me very angry that they are not giving you the SSDI that you earned.

I salute you for just surviving until now to help take the country back. I don't know about you but some days, especially after fruitless trips for medical care, it is only the anger the keeps me going, not something I am proud of but just how it is. And like me you are also a quasi caregiver to other family members even worse off.

I must be related to at least half the people in Tennessee my Grandfather was born there and my grandfather's brother and family returned there in the 1950's so I keep an eye on Tennessee. We trace back to 1783 when it was still considered North Carolina.

I have three separate total disabilities this year. Two permanent and one that has lasted over a year but may be finally being resolved.

I will add you and yours to my prayers and good thoughts and look forward to working with you.

>It is much harder for those who are self-reliant to navigate the >system before it crushes them than those who are chronically >irresponsible.

WTF???

Hah..Arrogant attitude that's gotta go right now. Chronically irresponsible..Just whom are you referring to ? Reagan's mythical poverty bigot cartoon the "welfare queen".

Some people can't play the inhuman wage game without going postal on people..this is my situation.. Part of ME being responsible is not going for a job that would get my anger going so bad I want to destroy people around me. You see for the most part I don't like humans,most of them are dangerous self absorbed bully fuck heads or enablers of bully fuck heads and too damn stupid to see what they are doing is deadly to the heart.I have a very short fuse for asshole people and a hair trigger bullshit detector.So what's up with the elitist comments? Trying to DIVIDE the Disability community? I know you feel bad on 'the dole' and your pride hurts..Well get over it.But don't let that wounded ego give you an excuse to put yourself on a pedestal while downing the other disabled people who would be out on the streets with trying to preserve their own SSI as well as YOURS.

In reality lots of people that become disabled get that way for different reasons..No reason is more justified or worthy than others..Once you start calling one kind of disability more worthy than other kinds of being worthy help you get the same kind of bullshit you are complaining of right now ..because someone else calls you a 'freeloader' and cuts your sustenance off. In a class system the hidden truth is biggest freeloaders are the least of us, who have the most who take it from the many. If your benefits are cut it's because some wealthy fuck head thinks you are not worthy of benefits as if HE pays your way..and that is bullshit..A safety net is made by all of us in society and so it is obligated to help all of us. So all people are worthy of having access to the safety net when they need it the only exclusions should be for RICH people who already are secure financially ..understand?


People of all walks of life get disabled for all sorts of conditions at different times in their lives.Some people are BORN disabled other people are made that way at different ages..What's the difference? Could it be the SYSTEM has failed us? Bootstrap pulling from the underclass does not resolve top down inequality when the wealthy will not give back to the society that made them rich..Who is worthy of the meager bucks to keep alive in this dog eat dog society? Tell me who isn't worthy of life to you..Would you count me as "irresponsible" and just who are you to tell me who is worthy of benefits or too irresponsible to get them..?..Either way life is hard for all in this fake class system and some people cannot endure the games people play to get ahead.

I have been on disability most of my days why? Because I spent most my life around fucking bullies, in the loon bin,living with abusive fuck heads who would not let me out until I was way past the years most people work on making a career.By time I got out I had no job history and a HUGE blank resume I realized with that..that no one would hire me...The idea of depending on and working with a bunch of competitive,selfish,intolerant control freak abusive snotty people who cannot understand I am not like them is too much..

I realize my limits on how much bullshit I can take and because of that I don't go there in my circumstance,with my issues taking SSI is responsible.

It makes me very angry that they are not giving you the SSDI

*that you earned..*

Don't let that *earned* word that means basically you are a good dog pat*pat* status the wage system elitists give you swell your head and make you put disabled people into a unequal class system within a unequal class system that's in your head already..Because if it hasn't dawned on you yet I might as well tell you now that all class systems are not real, they are socially engineered BELIEFS,they exist only in people's HEADS,they are conditioning created in kids to serve a master.Class is not a realityeven though it afflicts our reality with it's inequality. These class beliefs are used to hurt people and make them fight each other for crumbs from the top so they never bite the hands of the wealthy..

Look If your life circumstances were different than they are you might not have the option to 'earn' your SSDI,you might be called one of the irresponsible by someone insecure with an attitude like yourself..

Think about it.

with a chip on your shoulder. You sure read a whole lot into one sentence in response to one situation. I am not the media nor am I anyone who would deny anyone in need. But you evidently would deny some empathy to Wiley to further your own agenda.

The reality is we live in a society that has decided on two levels of help for the disabled for complex reasons, those who became disabled after adulthood and those who came disabled. Wishful thinking and all the ranting in the world is not going to change the reality.

That is also why capital gains are taxed at a higher rate than wages.
There has to be an upside to working or nobody would do it and those who cannot have to make their own peace with themselves and ignore the selfish jerks who get off on kicking people who are down or those who are compassionate to those who are.

:donut:

In case you didn't notice on other threads I offered ideas to help Wiley.
I just needed to counterpoint the creeping elitism I felt was underlying the comment.

Equality and respect DOES matter here.Solidarity is facilitated with equality respect and the right to be.Elitism or the pretense of it divides and pits us against each other. The language of elitism does not do the disabled community any good(or humanity for that matter). I know it sounded un sympathetic to Wiley on the surface , I was trying to say don't snub the people who have not worked or who who cannot "earn" SSI/SSDI for they would be your allies too. And disabled people need to help each other NOW and not discriminate.Dividing people based on who earns"It" is NOT good for solidarity. That is why I said something ,because to ME it felt like I was being assumed as second class,a lesser undeserving person of what I need to live,by that comment.
Hell yes I am sensitive I think if more people were more sensitive to each other as human beings we might not be so damn powerless,feel so helpless and use that pseudo elitism and pseudo innocence as an excuse to be crass and irresponsible to each other.

and I certainly don't feel that way.
I don't make any distinction between the step-daughter's worthiness or mine.
I was simply pointing out that even if you do pay FICA for years (13% self-employment in my case) and like me have paid in enough credits to get Social Security retirment benefits at 65; if you, like me, were too sick to work and pay in for 5 years before you file,You lose SSDI and can only get SSI.
That sucks bad enough, but then they steal your back pay with stuff like In-Kind Support And Maintenance.

i too have been through hell with the system. from worker's comp to ssd and it drove me crazy. it would take a book to explain what wc did to me and my family, but at least i got the ssd at the hearing. thankfully my wife, kids and the rest of my family stood with me. i also have ONE friend who helped me get through it. he knew what i was going through because it happened to him also. the scars do not heal, the anger does not go away and disabilities become magnified, me and my family's lives will never be the same, ever. WE HAVE NO VOICE BUT OUR OWN, we must stick together or our cause is totally lost. no one cares how much we are suffering with the execption of some who are going through it. we must not divide each other, WE MUST STICK TOGETHER, even if it's only for a little solace.:pals:

I don't know if the situation is the same in all states, but from what I've heard many times, people's disability benefits may get reduced or cut completely if they live in their own home. However if they live in some sort of group home, nursing home or other "assisted living" facility they can get their benefits back--perhaps even full benefits. I have no idea why this is; nobody has ever explained the "logic" in it to me before, but it is often the case.

and punitive attitudes.

The nursing home industry makes all kinds of big money by warehousing people, and they have successfully convinced most states to force people in need into the nursing homes. Getting states to attach funding to people and not nursing homes, so that individuals can stay at home is a real battle. Alongside the nursing homes are the social conservatives who suspect that everyone getting any sort of assistance is ripping off the system, and they want to use nursing homes as a barrier to aid: Only the "truly needy" will be willing to go into nursing homes. All the "fakers" will be weeded out. Never mind that there is a huge distance between being completely independent and completely dependent. If one person in 100,000 games the system, the social conservative is willing to use collective punishment against the 100,000. And the nursing home lobby relies on this cruel view of humanity so that it can keep rolling in the dollars--unlimited welfare for business, nothing for individuals.

I work in the care industry and even I can see how wrong that is. There are plenty of people who actually need services without forcing people to use the system just to keep their benefits. Studies have even shown that in many cases it is cheaper for people to live at home or have community based services rather than live in nursing homes or institutions.

Just more government waste brought by the party claiming to be in favor of small government :crazy: