Disability Defects

So, I have been on disability for about 17 years now. I manage to get by thanks to various help from other institutions that help with finances and such, but that is not so much the problem I am talking about today. I am talking about the dilemma of getting off from disability after you have been on it for 17 years.

First of all, when you are on disability, you are usually on it because you are at a point where you can not work for one reason or another. Makes sense, right? So, from there you might recover to a point where you start thinking that you might be able to try some kind of work again. Now, depending on your disabilities, an education might help you find a job that is more suited for you. Also, an education can help you get a sense of achievement and make you more marketable in general.

Now we run into our first obstacle, you don't earn enough money on disability to pay for school. So, you go to Vocational Rehabilitation (Voc Rehab), and they help you find something that is suitable for you. Now, the first thing they do is look at your work record, and they say oh, you have not had steady work for 17 years, how can you get a job after you get out of school?

Now, I admit in these 17 years I have been in and out of Voc Rehab a few times. It is rather daunting. I ask to go to school and they set me up with a part time job and then basically ignore me and my request for school after that. Oh, another fact with disability is that you can only make a limited amount of money each month before you lose your disibility and all your support, which includes your insurance which pays for your medications which allow you to work in the first place.

So, when the part time job that I have wants to give me a few more hours that I can't afford to take, what do I do? I become stressed and my symptoms get worse and my ability to works falters. By this time, I have had very little contact with Voc Rehab. When I contact them again they set me up with work that causes a physical injury that I need surgery for. Another year passes before I am able to work again.

Patterns like this repeat for 17 years, work happens, work fails for one reason or another, shame builds, requests for education get ignored. So, here I am in the same place for 17 years, unable to get education to get out of the situation that I am in because of a system that seems that it would rather keep paying me disability for the rest of my life then help me make something with myself.

I have to wonder how many other people are stuck in similar situations to mine. How many people are trying to return to a somewhat normal life and can't get through the beaurecratic red tape to make it happen? I wish I knew a way to make this happen, and I wish I could help others find a way to get unstuck if they wanted to as well.