Only Endless Memory

Sunday, July 13, 2008

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.

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Posted by Badger :: 4:21 PM :: 2 Comments:

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Saturday, July 12, 2008

Humanity

We live in an age where teen pregnancies are a normal occurrence, violent crimes have increased, and education in America is highly questionable. School systems have programs to teach teens abstinence instead of actually teaching them the dangers and responsibilities of having sex when they are young, as well as safe sex practices. Statistics show that teens that sign these abstinence agreements are more likely to catch STDs and also have teen pregnancies.

My niece was actually in one of these programs, and she had a child when she was seventeen. So, the issue is one that hits close to home for me. There is more to it then just the education system though. There are parents who do not teach their children, or trust the schools to teach them. There is society, in general, which uses sexuality in everyday advertising and promotes sex.

I think that morals have changed over the years. Which is not all a bad thing, and I think it is a natural progression as society progresses. It cannot help but change as science, technology and communication changes. Oh, and we can't forget population growth also. Population growth by itself can be part of the reason for increases in violence. I simply think that we have too many people in the world; not that I want wars or to kill people off or condone violence, but with so many people in such close quarters, I can easily see how they would clash. I don't think humans were meant to live like this.

Back to morals. Morals do shift as times change, and not all of those changes are bad. Like deciding that keeping other people as slaves, or killing people because they have different religious beliefs (oh wait, that is still happening). Deciding that women should have equal rights. These were all decisions that were based on changing morals, and I think were changes for the better.

Some people feel that morals have changed in ways that are in negative ways. Children having sex at young ages and getting pregnant is a good example of this. Now, I do agree that my niece having a child when she was seventeen is pretty lousy for her because it means that she is missing out on many things that she could be doing, like continuing her education, enjoying her youth, or many other things. Instead, she has a child that relies on her care. Things could also be better for her child, as well, I am sure. In the medieval times, a woman having a child at seventeen would not have gotten second looks, but she would already be married also. Again, this is a change of time and morals.

So, I think what I am saying is the actual changes in morals can be somewhat scary, but mostly do not bothers me too much. What does scare me is the education and people getting stupid. There is a movie called Idiocracy about future where the world is basically full of stupid people. The scary thing with it for me is I am not sure how far off base it is. Intelligent people in many cases make choices not to have children, while those that are less then brilliant have several children. Things like this makes me wish that there was population control in the US.

It bothers me that to get a car you need a license, to buy alcohol or cigarettes or even a lottery ticket (yes, I have been carded, when I was 37 no less, to buy lottery tickets), but to have a child all you have to do is insert tab a into slot b and repeat as necessary. Sex is something that can effect the rest of your life.

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Posted by Badger :: 2:14 PM :: 0 Comments:

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