So recently PA is starting to crack down on people that have over $2000 in savings and taking their benefits from them. That's great, because it cracks down on potential fraud of the disability system. What happened after the article was posted were comments that were aimed mostly at people who they figure can work, but don't. Which is right. They should be happy. The people committing these frauds shouldn't be getting disability. Some of them pointed to signs that they aren't disabled such as them having a Wii or a Playstation 3 and new furnature and shopping for things all the time. I suppose those are obvious signs if they're getting them all the time, but as far as the gaming systems go, disabled people need to have something to do besides read (which some have an aversion to. Me for instance, but I do like to read non-fiction that pertains to me.) and listening to music all the time doesn't quite cut it either. TV? Why would someone want to do that all the time. It's passive entertainment. What I'm saying is that they need to have SOMETHING to do, if they can't work.
So why can't they work and they can do that? Here's the thing. First of all when a person is disabled and someone complains that "Oh, they can work," or like "They're getting free money, just lazing around doing things for fun." Well, yeah, some of them should at least do something like volunteer. But some people can't even do that. People where masks. That's the biggest thing. They try to pretend to be normal, because they don't want you to know that you have a mental disability and that you don't feel ok or perhaps that there are other things that employers see that keep you from getting a job. Why can't you see it and an employer can? Employers are trained to see your weaknesses and they do not hire you because you are weak in areas they want you to be strong in. That's the big problem. We can't get a job, because we are turned down, because they see right through us. They think "OK, you aren't good for this job, but you probably are capable at some other job." And then we get a job somewhere and days later, they ask us to quit or be fired. I've been through ALL of this.
So, that's an invisible disability. It's a disability that people who are not doctors, nor are employers looking critically at you, can not see. If you are neither of these people, you can should not judge nor can you make the call that a person is "getting a free ride."
The ones with disabilities need to do what I do and what others I know with disabilities do. They go to a group or seek counseling.
Some of us even want to work. I have a college degree in computers. You'd think I could find something. In my experience, I can't. I've been doing this for years. I've been holding on to an idea of going into work for myself, but I don't have the know how to do all the tax and accounting work for myself. I also don't have the money to invest in such a thing. My resources are limited.
So as you can see, I understand the frustration of the worker, but people need to see our side of things and walk in our shoes for a bit. It's not as easy as it looks.
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