Coping With Welfare Equals Losing 13 IQ Points

[daredtowork]

46. Food Stamps are attached to work?

What State are you in? That's horrific if food stamps are linked to work but they can't automatically provide you with work you can do.

Also, social services should have a form that can be signed by a doctor or a psychologist (I'm assuming this "unemployable" stamp from the crisis center would relate to this) that you can bring in to clear the work requirement for food stamps. Again, since I know nothing about the rules in your State or county, I'm just guessing in regard to what would be logical. The system isn't known for its logic, though!

Do not trust any medical doctor or psychologist they send you to - that's just to deny you aid! And it will take a while to get that appointment, and for them to process it! If you are in a state with the Affordable Care Act, use that to enroll in a medical clinic, and get your own doctor and/or mental health care worker to fill out the paperwork. Even if it's embarrassing, this is better than going without food! Medical clinics also often have social workers on site that are real social workers, unlike the hacks that work for Social Services.

I'm very glad to hear your housing situation is resolving. It's best for adults to be living independently. The situation with your brother is adding stress for both of you. It's hard to get SSI just from having diabetes, though. Just think of how many people in the US now have diabetes! Many of the problems of diabetes count as "vague symptoms" in the eyes of doctors - and these are some of the hardest to prove in the eyes of SSI analysts: especially when you've mainly done "knowledge" work like programming in the past. This is the part that is really depressing: you need a doctor to "go to bat for you". But because the way the rules are written, I'd think most doctors are wary about "going to bat" unless the case is really clear cut, and most patients are sending mixed signals because of cultural prohibitions against being overly dramatic and attention-seeking. There is nothing more demoralizing than sitting in a doctor's office toughing out your legitimate pain and wondering how the doctor who holds your SSI fate in his/her hands will evaluate you, when the 10 patients before you are doing academy award winning performances complete with tears, convulsions, frothing at the mouth, etc.

The system now seems to be based on a lot of filtering and screening, and it's willing to filter out those who need help along with those who don't in the name of saving money. The priorities seem to be wrong there. Shouldn't we be okay with accidentally helping the wrong people as long as we make sure all the people who do need help get food first - then we can clean up any mistakes later?