Washington Post Article - Disability

[Anonymous]

I think taking that cell phone bill would improve their budget substantially - isn't there a free cell phone govt program?

[Anonymous]

I thought the article was great - loved how in depth the journalist went.

This is such a tragedy, happening in slow motion right in front of us. What kind of life are these kids doomed to? Those taking "care" of them want them to be diagnosed with something (anything!) worthy of disability payments and will keep doctor and diagnosis shopping till they find it! It's hard to imagine something more tragic.

Blame here falls all around. Not least the pharma industry (these people had 27 prescriptions at home!!). The "system" which provides support only via disability (having done away with welfare). And yes, the parents. The daughter with mosaic/low IQ I think cannot be expected to act maturely (not to blame) but what about her mother?!! Where are any of the fathers in this? What is this family doing with a $300 cell phone bill?!!

Other countries have face this disability issue (including in liberal, wealthy northern Europe). There's an underclass that has been brought up to milk the system and prefers not to work. Yes, there are enormous economic challenges in this area but that doesn't equal zero jobs. Why else would migrant workers be there to pick crops, etc? Notice that there are Spanish-speaking businesses all over WV, Kentucky, Ohio - these rural, economically depressed places. Some people are working at the jobs that many choose not to do (of course there are also people who are truly disabled and can't do this work, but sadly in these areas, I suspect that's less than half the people).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think taking that cell phone bill would improve their budget substantially - isn't there a free cell phone govt program?

It's a lot of people living in that house (I lost track of how many). If you divide up the disability income by the number of people living in that house - it is a paltry amount.

These folks are shooting themselves in the foot left and right. It's sad but they must feel pretty hopeless or they wouldn't be living like that in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looks like they have multiple generations of family members living in that little house. Between all of them they bring in $2005 in disability and only have $167 left after bills paid. If bills are paid.

$600 for overdue electric, $300 for cell phones, $315 for store bought furniture charge. Plus all the pets.

It sounds like a lack of education combined with some real health issues, a limited ability to work (injury on the grandmother's part, IQ/possible trainability issues on the mother's part, having young kids to care for...

These folks have real obstacles, I guess the frustrating thing is how they seem to be compounding their own problems and then kicking the can down the road for their kids...it would be difficult for a kid to grow up like that and expect or want anything different in life. Not sure what the solution is.

Agree.

You have to make it so that it is "worth it" to NOT have kids. Any time kids bring in "extra" money, this is what you end up with with some families, especially the families that have been on disability (or welfare) for several generations.

That's a nice idea -- but I honestly don't think the mom of four in this article gave it that much thought when she got pregnant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read the rest of this thread -- but I didn't realize children could get disability payments. I looked it up - and I guess they can if their HHI is below a certain level. But I don't really understand it because its not like a child can contribute to the HHI. Interesting and eyeopening article. And people complain about folks on TANF!

I think the idea is that the disability money for the children covers costs associated with severe disabilities-therapy, medication, medical equipment and also compensates for parents not able to work b/c they have to care for the child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am I crazy for reading this and thinking there should just be a universal basic income? Give this poor family twenty grand a year. Give all the poor families twenty grand. Ridiculous that this woman prays to god for the "right" diagnoses, but she's desperate, uneducated, and broke.

Tax the rich.

Yeah, I mean...the Post does a great job of finding these cases where your first reaction might be "cut 'em off!" but then if you think about...what are they going to do without any government assistance at all? Live in homeless shelters, camp out in free clinics and hospital ERs for pills, maybe turn to dealing drugs, go to jail or die of an OD, lose custody of the children to the state...there is no magic bootstrap-pulling ability that will be unearthed by stopping disability benefits. If anything, families like this will cost government (and thus society) even MORE without a regulated handout. Not saying the handouts are administered properly. But if your reaction to these stories is to get rid of social services, you're not thinking far enough ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read the rest of this thread -- but I didn't realize children could get disability payments. I looked it up - and I guess they can if their HHI is below a certain level. But I don't really understand it because its not like a child can contribute to the HHI. Interesting and eyeopening article. And people complain about folks on TANF!

I think the idea is that the disability money for the children covers costs associated with severe disabilities-therapy, medication, medical equipment and also compensates for parents not able to work b/c they have to care for the child.

Okay - that makes sense. That is not how it was portrayed in this article so I didn't realize it. This family seemed to be adding it into HHI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read the rest of this thread -- but I didn't realize children could get disability payments. I looked it up - and I guess they can if their HHI is below a certain level. But I don't really understand it because its not like a child can contribute to the HHI. Interesting and eyeopening article. And people complain about folks on TANF!

I think the idea is that the disability money for the children covers costs associated with severe disabilities-therapy, medication, medical equipment and also compensates for parents not able to work b/c they have to care for the child.

Okay - that makes sense. That is not how it was portrayed in this article so I didn't realize it. This family seemed to be adding it into HHI.

When the twins were born premature, they apparently qualified for disability payments. As they got older, they no longer qualified for the benefit and those payments stopped.

As far as I can tell, the disability payments that they are receiving is their HHI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I crazy for reading this and thinking there should just be a universal basic income? Give this poor family twenty grand a year. Give all the poor families twenty grand. Ridiculous that this woman prays to god for the "right" diagnoses, but she's desperate, uneducated, and broke.

Tax the rich.

Yeah, I mean...the Post does a great job of finding these cases where your first reaction might be "cut 'em off!" but then if you think about...what are they going to do without any government assistance at all? Live in homeless shelters, camp out in free clinics and hospital ERs for pills, maybe turn to dealing drugs, go to jail or die of an OD, lose custody of the children to the state...there is no magic bootstrap-pulling ability that will be unearthed by stopping disability benefits. If anything, families like this will cost government (and thus society) even MORE without a regulated handout. Not saying the handouts are administered properly. But if your reaction to these stories is to get rid of social services, you're not thinking far enough ahead.

I think the concern is that some folks might be actively trying to get themselves and their children diagnosed with something (anything) that will get them a disability payment.

As others have pointed out in this thread, disability payments aren't that easy to get (they can be stopped) and the ones that do get the payments probably do have legit health issues. You can't just run out and sign up for a disability check.

[Anonymous]

I would really be interested in knowing how many posters on this thread have an actual disability, or a child or partner with one. I have one that is permanent, it qualifies me for things like medical marijuana, a permanent handicap parking permit, sometimes I am in a wheelchair, etc. I have no problem with the article (so whoever the poster is that says all handicap people are mad about it, who are you?). I am very disappointed with the family in the article and am stunned that they have been able to get disability for the reasons listed in the article. Disability is very hard to get approved. Who is approving these people????

What upset me the most is the treatment of Franny, the young mother with mosaic downs. While I don't doubt her family loves her, from what is described it seems that no one, not her family, her peers, her teachers, etc., supported or encouraged her to take steps to live an independent life. It says she had a dream of going to college, having downs (esp mosaic) doesn't automatically mean you can't get a higher education. What were her ambitions? It says she loves to sing, what else does she like to do? Does anyone ask? Does anyone care? It's perfectly acceptable to allow her to have children at such a young age, thereby making it even more difficult to get an education or life skills or a job (just ask any teenage mom, downs or not). There are programs to teach her life skills (how to manage money, how to make food, how to grocery shop, how to take the bus, etc.) and how to learn a trade, and how to live her own independent life (whether in her own apartment or a group home). Why wasn't she in any! Doesn't she deserve to be allowed to try, she probably is capable! Her mother says she has the mental capacity of a 13 year old, according to who, her mom (who loves to diagnose everyone with autism?! 99.9% of handicap people want what everyone else wants, because we just like everyone else: to be happy, to feel worthy, to be loved, to be independent. Who was fighting for Franny?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would really be interested in knowing how many posters on this thread have an actual disability, or a child or partner with one. I have one that is permanent, it qualifies me for things like medical marijuana, a permanent handicap parking permit, sometimes I am in a wheelchair, etc. I have no problem with the article (so whoever the poster is that says all handicap people are mad about it, who are you?). I am very disappointed with the family in the article and am stunned that they have been able to get disability for the reasons listed in the article. Disability is very hard to get approved. Who is approving these people????

What upset me the most is the treatment of Franny, the young mother with mosaic downs. While I don't doubt her family loves her, from what is described it seems that no one, not her family, her peers, her teachers, etc., supported or encouraged her to take steps to live an independent life. It says she had a dream of going to college, having downs (esp mosaic) doesn't automatically mean you can't get a higher education. What were her ambitions? It says she loves to sing, what else does she like to do? Does anyone ask? Does anyone care? It's perfectly acceptable to allow her to have children at such a young age, thereby making it even more difficult to get an education or life skills or a job (just ask any teenage mom, downs or not). There are programs to teach her life skills (how to manage money, how to make food, how to grocery shop, how to take the bus, etc.) and how to learn a trade, and how to live her own independent life (whether in her own apartment or a group home). Why wasn't she in any! Doesn't she deserve to be allowed to try, she probably is capable! Her mother says she has the mental capacity of a 13 year old, according to who, her mom (who loves to diagnose everyone with autism?! 99.9% of handicap people want what everyone else wants, because we just like everyone else: to be happy, to feel worthy, to be loved, to be independent. Who was fighting for Franny?

That is a good question - I have a friend with one of the disabilities in the article and she certainly was never approved....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would really be interested in knowing how many posters on this thread have an actual disability, or a child or partner with one. I have one that is permanent, it qualifies me for things like medical marijuana, a permanent handicap parking permit, sometimes I am in a wheelchair, etc. I have no problem with the article (so whoever the poster is that says all handicap people are mad about it, who are you?). I am very disappointed with the family in the article and am stunned that they have been able to get disability for the reasons listed in the article. Disability is very hard to get approved. Who is approving these people????

What upset me the most is the treatment of Franny, the young mother with mosaic downs. While I don't doubt her family loves her, from what is described it seems that no one, not her family, her peers, her teachers, etc., supported or encouraged her to take steps to live an independent life. It says she had a dream of going to college, having downs (esp mosaic) doesn't automatically mean you can't get a higher education. What were her ambitions? It says she loves to sing, what else does she like to do? Does anyone ask? Does anyone care? It's perfectly acceptable to allow her to have children at such a young age, thereby making it even more difficult to get an education or life skills or a job (just ask any teenage mom, downs or not). There are programs to teach her life skills (how to manage money, how to make food, how to grocery shop, how to take the bus, etc.) and how to learn a trade, and how to live her own independent life (whether in her own apartment or a group home). Why wasn't she in any! Doesn't she deserve to be allowed to try, she probably is capable! Her mother says she has the mental capacity of a 13 year old, according to who, her mom (who loves to diagnose everyone with autism?! 99.9% of handicap people want what everyone else wants, because we just like everyone else: to be happy, to feel worthy, to be loved, to be independent. Who was fighting for Franny?

It doesn't seem like this family has the skills to help Franny (or themselves really). I just don't know... Its very sad. And there are so many families like this one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would really be interested in knowing how many posters on this thread have an actual disability, or a child or partner with one. I have one that is permanent, it qualifies me for things like medical marijuana, a permanent handicap parking permit, sometimes I am in a wheelchair, etc. I have no problem with the article (so whoever the poster is that says all handicap people are mad about it, who are you?). I am very disappointed with the family in the article and am stunned that they have been able to get disability for the reasons listed in the article. Disability is very hard to get approved. Who is approving these people????

What upset me the most is the treatment of Franny, the young mother with mosaic downs. While I don't doubt her family loves her, from what is described it seems that no one, not her family, her peers, her teachers, etc., supported or encouraged her to take steps to live an independent life. It says she had a dream of going to college, having downs (esp mosaic) doesn't automatically mean you can't get a higher education. What were her ambitions? It says she loves to sing, what else does she like to do? Does anyone ask? Does anyone care? It's perfectly acceptable to allow her to have children at such a young age, thereby making it even more difficult to get an education or life skills or a job (just ask any teenage mom, downs or not). There are programs to teach her life skills (how to manage money, how to make food, how to grocery shop, how to take the bus, etc.) and how to learn a trade, and how to live her own independent life (whether in her own apartment or a group home). Why wasn't she in any! Doesn't she deserve to be allowed to try, she probably is capable! Her mother says she has the mental capacity of a 13 year old, according to who, her mom (who loves to diagnose everyone with autism?! 99.9% of handicap people want what everyone else wants, because we just like everyone else: to be happy, to feel worthy, to be loved, to be independent. Who was fighting for Franny?

It doesn't seem like this family has the skills to help Franny (or themselves really). I just don't know... Its very sad. And there are so many families like this one.

Now Franny's children are falling into the same trap. What will become of them?

[Anonymous]

Looks like Franny is now 32 and on meds for bipolar and pain. So she's got more than mosaic DS going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looks like Franny is now 32 and on meds for bipolar and pain. So she's got more than mosaic DS going on.

Neither none nor all of which means her life is over. People just cast disabled people aside, and don't allow them to try or preserve. It makes me so angry when disabled people are told there are too many limitations , or we don't want her to be disappointed. Plenty of people with bipolar and pain meds lead productive and rewarding lives. granny is just treated like a maid "because that's all she can do". How would anyone really know? Her disability could help pay for great programs, therapies, an apartment.... but that would mean her mother couldn't get her hands on it. Her mom thought it was ok for Franny to have kids, but she can't go to college? F that.