Re: anyone on disability?

I did outreach for 12 years with people who have sleep disorders and this was at a time when disability benefits for those disorders were not on the official "list".

The first misconception is that disability is *free* money. In fact, no one gets disability unless they have paid into the fund and if you have paid your "unemployment insurance" for long enough, you can qualify to apply for it if and when you become disabled and for as long as you are disabled. There are many reasons why you might want to apply for this, for example, the crane you are on falls over because it is not set up properly, and wham, your life changes in a heartbeat. My brother was painting on a high ladder and there were signs and tape blocking off the area but someone disregarded the do not open sign, opened a door out and knocked him off a twenty foot ladder. He was on disability after surgery etc. and did not stay on it, but it was needed and he did deserve it since he had paid into the fund long enough to qualify for it.

I have been to more than a few disability hearings too with people who were disabled by their sleep disorders. After extensive investigation, many doctors' tests what it comes down to is that it does not matter that the person can ambulate and COULD work, what matters is that the specialist for the state stands in front of an administrative judge and says, that no matter if there were one person or a hundred applying for a job, the person with a profound sleep disorder will NEVER get hired because of the liability issues. Period. They either lie about the disorder, or tell the truth and never get hired. And of course, if they have not begun their work career early enough in their life to have accrued enough in their disability fund, there is no chance of them getting it ever. I had a friend who was a kick-ass nurse, had just graduated and had a wonderful job. She became profoundly disabled with MS and was hospitalized and then wheelchair bound for a long period and then progressed to ambulating slowly with a cane. She had not worked long enough to qualify for disability payments so she had to go on welfare which the taxpayer does pay...

Anyway, the point being that these people do not fit into the system but it does not mean that they dont go on to do other productive things in society. Its the welfare system which needs to be overhauled and fixed. And sure, there is probably disability fraud, but nothing like welfare fraud and I think that the process of getting disability is so extensive, it weeds most out of the process fairly rapidly. Disability does have a place in society and its better to develop compassion about those who really need it than to see them sitting on corners selling pencils and being vulnerable to other crimes....

Just my experiential 2 cents. Some disability does come from BAD lifestyle choices, and others from drunk drivers, bad workplace practices, and many other reasons...

blessings,
Zoe

ps. To the person seeking to get disability, do not try to go without a lawyer. It offends the Judge and I have never seen someone be successful at that.