Disability Benefits Are Not ‘Hand Outs’

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Let’s be honest. Folks without disabilities who don’t understand why we need benefits will call it a ‘handout.’ If you have an invisible illness or disorder and you speak about using disability benefits or any other benefits, you will be shamed, exploited, belittled. It’s sad that people think the only disabilities are if you’re in a wheelchair or need a walker. Just because YOU can’t see their struggles doesn’t give you the right to judge them like you know everything.

There is more to the story than you think.

I had my disability hearing and I shared the news that I won the case in an autism group. I may not be the best at explaining some things. Nor understand if you are able to work part-time how many hours can you do without it hurting your benefits. In all fairness when you file for disability you are proving you are unable to work a full-time job. When you work full-time you’re working 40 hrs a week. 8-hour shifts. For someone who constantly needs doctor’s appointments could not take off so many times.

This is why I publish a blog post. At least on my blog, I can provide more info. I can explain myself better.

Lateral ableism sparked this blog post. Lateral ableism is ableism from your own people

So this jerk judges me when he doesn’t know me personally or my limitations and claims I am just taking ‘handouts.’ For the record, accusing someone with legit limitations of taking handouts is ableist. There are people who truly need assistance and their limitations really do make working a job hard. I wish people would learn to keep their noses out of other folks’ grills.

Although SSI claims you can work part-time, if the job schedules you past what you can work, you will lose your benefits. Think about it. NO SSI benefits, then you got no job because they fired you for needing too many days off for appointments. So because disabled people can’t lose their benefits, they don’t want to take any chances and don’t get a job to be safe. In a society that doesn’t want to help you in the first place, you can’t let your guard down.

If that judgemental prick is reading this, I don’t want to just take ‘a handout’ as you like to call it. if I get a job and they schedule me beyond the hours I can work, I can kiss my benefits goodbye. 

Firstly, getting disability benefits is a long and hard battle. I started applying in 2016. So it took me 4 YEARS to get this. It takes some people longer than that. My mom has been trying since 2012/2013. I didn’t know handouts were so hard to get. I didn’t’ know you had to fight for a handout. I didn’t know you needed medical proof backing your condition for a handout. 

You get denied like 2 or 3 times and in between each the appeal takes 90 days or even longer.

I have explained in my blog post my limitations and struggles. If that person’s doctor doesn’t think the person needs benefits, he/she would not side with it. Don’t stick with this. In some cases the person needs help but their doc won’t help them. Remember that POS therapist who downplayed my struggles. Don’t just listen to this phrase. Some doctors are arrogant hence the one I got after my old therapist left.

This isn’t the first time I’ve run into ableists

It’s like that judgemental girl back in 2016 all over again. I told her I couldn’t work and she judged and shammed me like she’s all that and like she knows everything and like she’s better than everyone.

The reason I say this is because who are you to judge someone you do not know personally? Sometimes there is more to the story. I could have been paralyzed for all she knows and she thinks I can find steady work in a wheelchair. Employers do not like hiring disabled people. 

Employers don’t outright admit it but pay attention. If a disabled person has fewer hours than an able-body person that will tell you right there. 

Why can’t people understand that everyone is different? She also failed to understand most employers do not want to hire people with disabilities, especially autistic people.

She compared me to her friends with disabilities. And assumed my skills are poor. Plenty of disabled people have skills out of this world but remember, employers do not like hiring disabled people. Therefore they can’t prove themselves. Also, companies won’t put in the effort to make the front door accessible. 

Mental Illnesses fall under the belt to claim SSI

Also in some states/countries autism, ADHD, mental illnesses, etc do fall under the belt for disability benefits. You can get disability benefits for your autistic child! The parent most likely gets the money since a child can’t have a bank account w/o a parent co-signing. Proving your condition limits your workability is the hard part.

You just need some sort of indication regarding your issues because people can lie. I had reports from teachers and social workers since 4th-grade making notes of my struggles in class and my struggles with my peers.

People can game the system and get benefits that they don’t need. Which is understandable.

This paints a bad picture of folks who really need benefits. I wouldn’t cheat to get something like that. That’s perjury/fraud. I’m not a criminal.  Does this guy think I’d lie UNDER OATH? When judgemental people don’t know how the law works. Some people lied in the past which is why it’s hard now.

I am speculating the guy assumed I cheated the system. 

However, you cannot assume everyone on the planet just wants handouts. People who are able to work, are able to seek employment/have the means to create their own job but choose not to paint a bad picture for this generation.

It’s a ‘handout’ to YOU because YOU don’t need it. You don’t need help. YOU don’t understand the process to get it.

Instead of being grateful that you’re able to work and get a check every 2 weeks, you belittle someone who needs assistance. Do you really think they want to ration 700 bucks a MONTH? Sometimes it’s better than no money at all.

Some girl who cried over her Instagram getting terminated back in April of last year when she violated their rules, making a meltdown video basically acting like she’s better than 9-5 workers. She outright said she is in LA to not work 9-5. 

People like her probably gave this guy the impression I just want handouts and don’t wanna work. Since she didn’t want to do anything to get money. Still, he had no excuse for how he acted. I don’t even know if he knows who she is.

In a blog post explaining the disability hearing I said I will take the time to invest in my blog and help me pay for hosting.  Also, I will take the time to invest in YouTube equipment so I can start my own business.

If something happens to SSI working from home is my only lifeline. This is why I still need to build a stable backup source.

If you don’t know the person, shut up. If you don’t know them personally, again, can it.

If you don’t know their struggles, shut it. There is more to the story than what they tell you.

The world will be better if people judged less and helped more.

Disabled people want to work. They want to have a check coming in every 2 weeks. Do you really think they want to stretch 700 dollars a month?

Some people need it while they get back on their feet, others have disorders they will have for life. I will have mental illness and autism for life. I am just saying someone with a physical disorder vs a mental disorder.

I am also saying some people have temporary issues and need disability while they get back on their feet others have said disorder permanently.

Do not take this and lessen one’s issue.  I am showing you the difference between someone with a temporary problem that they can possibly fix vs someone who has something that cannot be fixed. 

My friend who has IBS, she will have that for life. All she can do is stabilize her symptoms and do the treatments her doctor told her to. 

I will use this as help while I get on my feet to become a freelancer.

Think before you judge. Take time to understand the person, not draw your own conclusions over a Facebook post.

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