I hear Sen. Tom Coburn site the statistic that 1 in 17 Americans is a recipient of SSI or SSDI. 

He and the American popular culture paints it like this:

Able-bodied people who don't want to work for a living game the system by rigging up disability cases for themeselves, get on Social Security, and leech off the  taxpayers for 30 years.

However, this is what I see:

Millions of SSI/SSDI might appear able-bodied and sound-minded, but BUSINESSES don't want to hire anybody who has been disabled.  American culture is very conformist and business culture is outright fascist.  In millions of service sector jobs where people on disability try to transition, you stand no chance of ever making a living.  Furthermore, if you are not the happy productive elf they demanded you to be day in and day it, you're fired.  That magic work-a-day dopeslap called "employment at will."

In order to resolve this problem and get able people off of the disability rolls is to invest in people who are on disability.  It won't do to pay for a class at a community college like the state rehab programs do.  There has to be a secure job that pays a living wage and will allow the differently abled person to work at his own pace and in the scope of his abilities.  Tell any American business man he must follow such a government scheme and he'll scream like you just stole autumn harvest and popped his daughter's cherry.  American businesses want replaceable widgets, not human beings. 

It pains me to say so because I put up with so much ridicule from people who find out, but I am a recipient of SSDI.  I receive it because my depression and PTSD make it impossible for me to work.  The truth is, they don't at all make it impossible for me to work.  I can work quite diligently on complicated tasks and see the through to completion.  What I cannot do is successfully work for that corporate boss who demands royal homage and robotic obedience. 

I and millions like me with partially limiting physical or psychiatric issues are not "disabled."  The problem is American business is unable to deal with human beings, only with money and smiling automatons.  Unless the psychology of American business changes the rolls of Social Security Disability will swell until the system collapses.  When it does collapse and people like me wind up in the street without cash, credit, or a hot meal, the insolent businessmen will do nothing but spit on us from their limousines.

When that happens, I may or may not be armed, and I will go down as a psychopath postmortem. 

If you want to see how disabled people are really unwanted, travel to China.  They are treated slightly better than the lepers were in the film "Ben Hur".

My mom receives SSI assistance for her disability. She is not lazy; she has severe scoliosis. In her own words, "My spine looks like a sharp curved country road."

Some people do look down on others who receive government help and it aggravates me.

I wouldn't say lazy.  I know plenty of people on SSDI and it isn't easy to get on.  I know of one man who took three tries even though he had severe rheumatoid arthritis.  It was so bad some days he couldn't use his hands at all, and he was a fry cook.  Makes it hard to do your job.

Also, not all businesses are that way.  My company doesn't care about disabilities as long as you can type and are reliable.  One of my best employees is fully deaf and on SSDI. She can only work so many hours for fear of losing her benefits, but she is a great worker for the few she can.  We have had other employees with disabilities as well.  Just because some businesses are that way doesn't mean they all are.

How can I be lazy?  I'm a brain tumor survivor that had been denied help all my live on top of that.  unwanted  yes 

Calling disabled people "lazy" is like telling a mute person to speak more clearly and louder. Not gonna happen.
You can be lazy & disabled, you can be lazy and abled, but you can't be lazy because you are disabled.

Calling disabled people "lazy" is like telling a mute person to speak more clearly and louder. Not gonna happen.
You can be lazy & disabled, you can be lazy and abled, but you can't be lazy because you are disabled.


thanks for saying this.  The first thing that came to my mind was what the L is really being asked.  Mabye someone ought to try re wording what there asking.  No I'm not lazy so forget that.

I actually just got rejected from visiting Canada, partly because I have Asperger's syndrome and need to be on SSI because nobody will hire me.  >:(

I actually just got rejected from visiting Canada, partly because I have Asperger's syndrome and need to be on SSI because nobody will hire me.  >:(


Holy crap!  They wouldn't even let you visit the country?
???

Holy crap!  They wouldn't even let you visit the country?
???


Yeah, had my reservations booked up there and everything. They made me go back to the US even though I had no way to get home, nowhere to stay, etc. They were upset because I didn't bring as much spending cash as they would have liked as well. I had to walk nearly 20 miles to get to the nearest city with a train station. All because the customs agent assigned to me was a tool.

if you are not the happy productive elf they demanded you to be day in and day it, you're fired.  That magic work-a-day dopeslap called "employment at will."


Dude, you don't have to be on SSDI for that to be true. 

Ph9I-qPQ6FU

"Oh, you hate your job?  OMG, why won't you say so?  No, there's a support group for that, it's called "Everybody", they meet at the bar..."
  - Drew Carey, 1995


The truth is, they don't at all make it impossible for me to work.  I can work quite diligently on complicated tasks and see the through to completion.  What I cannot do is successfully work for that corporate boss who demands royal homage and robotic obedience. 


So be the boss.  Find something you're awesome at and do that instead.

Or find a boss who isn't an asshat.  (If you pick wrong, quit.  Getting a job is like getting a mate - it's a lot easier to get hired when you have a job, just as it's a lot easier to find people willing to flirt with you if you show up with a date.)

Or just learn stuff and see what happens.  The MOOC is not a panacea (and the linked article emphasizes this very strongly), but I still think it's awesome that you can get the bulk of the knowledge that makes an undergrad-level education, even if you don't get the piece of paper that confers a degree, for free.

FWIW, I'm in the "do as I say, not as I do" segment of the population, for instead of upgrading my skills, I choose to spend my free time watching marshmallow ponies.  Maybe that'll change when/if I retire, but for now, that's about all the brainpower I have left at the end of the day.  Looking forward to a 10-20-year time horizon, the side effects of excessive pony consumption are probably less deleterious than spending every night at the bar.


Millions of SSI/SSDI might appear able-bodied and sound-minded, but BUSINESSES don't want to hire anybody who has been disabled.


But on this - which is the core issue of your post - you've got a hugely valid point:  Not only are most bosses asshats, but many employers won't hire if they can somehow figure out that the resume/CV holder isn't in the SSDI segment, regardless of how smart the candidate. 

The root cause of that problem is that health insurance is still linked to employment in the US.  Employers, at hire time, try to assess potential employees on the basis of their own estimates of the employee's future health care costs - and thus, the future costs to the group plan.  The individual hiring manager often doesn't give a damn as long as they can get the right person for the job, but for jobs where the people really are interchangeable, would you rather hire the 21-year-old fresh out of college, the 24-year-old visibly pregnant woman, or the 63-year-old guy with three postgraduate degrees, but he walks with a limp because he had a partial stroke last year?  Discriminating against the latter two is not only wrong, it's blatantly illegal, but it happens all the time.

Yeah, had my reservations booked up there and everything. They made me go back to the US even though I had no way to get home, nowhere to stay, etc. They were upset because I didn't bring as much spending cash as they would have liked as well.


That's similar to us Europeans when we want to visit the USA. You'll get asked if you can afford your travel. A good answer is always a 'credit card'. How long did you want to stay in Canada?

I have never known that Canadians are that strict about that, too. Especially when it comes to their neighbors to the south.

That's similar to us Europeans when we want to visit the USA. You'll get asked if you can afford your travel. A good answer is always a 'credit card'. How long did you want to stay in Canada?

I have never known that Canadians are that strict about that, too. Especially when it comes to their neighbors to the south.


TBH I should have just lied and said I had "about $200" or something. They're very strict. It's pretty much impossible for an American to move to Canada permanently without a degree, unless maybe if you happen to marry one of their women. I don't really get it, it's not like very many Americans want to move to Canada anyways.

TBH I should have just lied and said I had "about $200" or something.


And how much did you say - and how long did you plan to stay?

200 USD already seem not that much for even a weekend to be honest.

And how much did you say - and how long did you plan to stay?

200 USD already seem not that much for even a weekend to be honest.


I had $160 but my hostel was only $60 for 2 nights so really I had $50 a day to spend up there on food and stuff to do, which is plenty.

Calling disabled people "lazy" is like telling a mute person to speak more clearly and louder. Not gonna happen.
You can be lazy & disabled, you can be lazy and abled, but you can't be lazy because you are disabled.


True statement. I live with two disabled people. Neither one are lazy; one has physical limitations and the other is autistic. I know that neither would choose to be so, if they had their druthers.

I hear Sen. Tom Coburn site the statistic that 1 in 17 Americans is a recipient of SSI or SSDI. 

Sen. Coburn and others like him thinking that everyone on SSI and SSDI are lazy is is just another example of people seeing what they want to see because they want to be able to make the decisions that suit their needs without feeling guilty about others who may suffer.

They de-humanize and therefore it makes it easier for them to behave in inhumane ways.

I just though I I might bring up the fact that I have to make a change in SSI and None of the doctors in my area can treat me and theres either a law or bullsh-- going around that I cant go to anywhere else and pay cash because it;s against the law for doctors to take it.  Seems everyone in Modesto is unwanted.

Calling disabled people "lazy" is like telling a mute person to speak more clearly and louder. Not gonna happen.
You can be lazy & disabled, you can be lazy and abled, but you can't be lazy because you are disabled.


treat others the way you want to be treated.

Probably the best ever music was written by a person who was completely deaf, just listen to Beethoven's 9th Symphony to see my point.

Colburn is using a similar arguement used for welfare.  It's the Republican all out war on "entitlements".  Never considering that people pay into Social Security therefore it should be theirs.  As for welfare.  What does it say about a country when it's citizen don't help those who are having a rough time.  Lazy and unwanted are cop-outs for we don't want to spend a cent!!!

As for welfare.  What does it say about a country when it's citizen don't help those who are having a rough time.  Lazy and unwanted are cop-outs for we don't want to spend a cent!!!


Even worse, there should never, ever be a classification "working poor"

Even worse, there should never, ever be a classification "working poor"



Couldn't agree more. We really need a livable wage in this country-in this world! 


Cat

Couldn't agree more. We really need a livable wage in this country-in this world! 


Cat


exactly, some people just can't live on the wage that they're on.

My mom receives SSI assistance for her disability. She is not lazy; she has severe scoliosis. In her own words, "My spine looks like a sharp curved country road."

Some people do look down on others who receive government help and it aggravates me.



Me My Father and My Mother, we all recieve Social Security.