Being disabled does not make me immoral

October 23, 2020

“Who came up with this system of the haves and the have-nots anyway?”
“That would be the haves.”

I can’t remember where I heard that, but it feels appropriate right now. That’s because I am frustrated not only by my lack of income, but especially by the scrutiny my measly income receives.

A few weeks ago, the New York Times broke a story that revealed Trump paid almost no taxes. Despite his huge amounts of money, he found ways around his obligations. Maybe the IRS took a close look at his taxes and determined it was all legitimate. Maybe not. Either way, he got away with it. And he’s far from the only one.

Meanwhile, I am receiving Social Security, housing, food, health insurance, and other benefits which allow me to sort of almost just about but not quite cover all of my basic bills. Of course, they don’t allow for “extras” like a vacation, big car repairs, a new used car when mine eventually bites the dust, or medical treatments that aren’t covered by insurance, and even without those things the money isn’t enough. So of course the solution is to try and earn money. Yet I am under such scrutiny that this is nearly impossible. And even without earning money, just living life is far too complicated because of the scrutiny.

The benefits cliff is not a new topic. It’s counter-intuitive to helping people get off of benefits. There’s an all-or-none setup that doesn’t work because my health is not all-or-none. Some months I can do more, some months less. Why should I be punished for that? But I digress.

I am not talking about the absurd benefits cliff itself, but about the intrusiveness of the entire setup. It is invasive and insulting.

I no longer have any financial privacy. Multiple benefits offices have me fill out detailed and intrusive forms. They look not only at my taxes, but also at my bank statements, including PayPal and Venmo. They question every deposit. For some, I am required to provide proof of the purpose of each deposit. When I can not show a cancelled check because my bank no longer provides these on bank statements, I must then pay to get them from the bank. When a friend gives me money, the office expects a notarized statement as to its purpose.

Seriously? I’m supposed to ask friends and others to notarize a statement about why they paid me?!? And about about strangers who send me $50 via PayPal or Venmo for buying some random thing that I’m selling? This is completely unrealistic, not to mention embarrassing! How exactly am I supposed to ask for this?

Example: “Do you remember how seven months ago I paid for that gift for Susan? And you know how you reimbursed me for your half the next day by Venmo? Could you give me a notarized statement that you weren’t paying me for anything but were just reimbursing me? I’d rather not say why.”

Yeah, right.

Then there’s actually trying to earn money. The limits for what I can earn without losing my disability benefits are really low – lower than my actual benefits. But long before I hit that number, there’s another number that’s scary: the one that triggers greater scrutiny from the government. Technically, reaching that number every month shouldn’t be a problem. After all, I wouldn’t be earning enough to get kicked off benefits. Still, we all know that the last thing we want is more attention here, especially these days, so I want to avoid getting anywhere near that number. Why give prying eyes more reason to examine me?

I am hugely resentful. Why can’t I simply try to earn as much as possible? Chances are I wouldn’t earn enough to get kicked off benefits (every time I have tried to work in recent years, I got a lot sicker and had to give up) but I would sure like to try and earn enough to buy some new clothes! And why can’t I simply live like a normal person who lays out the money for a shared birthday gift?

I get that the government wants to avoid fraud. They don’t want me getting benefits while also receiving $5000 per month from various friends and not reporting it on my taxes. But really, what are the odds of anything like that happening? Are there really going to be so many people on benefits who find a way to get enough money that doesn’t have to be reported on their taxes that it justifies this level of scrutiny? Would it really justify the salaries of the people paid for this scrutiny? Meanwhile, they make me explain that the $50 deposit into my checking account was a Chanukah gift from my aunt and no, I don’t wan to ask her for a notarized letter confirming that.

Now, let’s say someone was being deceptive. They received benefits they shouldn’t receive. The average SSDI payment for adults in 2020 is $1258 and the average SSI payments are $783 for an individual and $1175 for a couple. Meanwhile, we watch rich people and companies avoid paying millions of dollars in taxes. One rich person’s yearly taxes, if properly paid, would probably cover the lifetime disability benefits of quite a few people.

A lot of people find it unfair that they pay more in taxes than rich people do. I feel the same. But at the moment I am pissed that they get away with it while I need to justify every penny. Where is the scrutiny? I find it hard to believe the government couldn’t catch these folks if given the resources. Wouldn’t it make more sense to devote the salaries of staff to catch someone who owes millions, instead of focusing on disabled folks, the majority of whom are just trying their best to cover their bills?

A lot of people argue that the big difference is that disabled folks are living off of government benefits, so the government has to be sure that money isn’t being misspent. Uh huh. Tell me, do rich people not use government services? I’m pretty sure they use government infrastructure, their businesses benefit from people who attended public education, many of their businesses thrive because they pay such low wages that employees must use food stamps, and so much more. Many of them attended public school and some were even on food stamps themselves in the past. They benefit, even if their line is more squiggly than my direct one.

I am not suggesting that benefits should be handed out without any follow-up but maybe, just maybe, our current system goes absurdly overboard. I think we need a system where I can be reimbursed for laying out money for a birthday gift without having to jump through hoops.

2 Comments | Expectations, Frustration, Intrusions, Politics, Rants | Permalink
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My wheelchair does not give you permission to touch me

June 13, 2018

Last weekend I marched in Boston’s Pride Parade and it was wonderful! I had a fantastic time. But it wasn’t all perfect.

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There were a few things that bothered me about being in a wheelchair, and a big one was people touching me without permission.

It works the way many other parades do: we marched, and people on both sides of the street watched us. Some waved, some cheered, some yelled, some smiled excited smiles. And some high fived the folks passing them.

I didn’t want to high-five people. There were several reasons. One is germs. It would be hours before I could wash my hands. Also, gluten. I wanted to eat the sliced apple I brought with me. With my hands. I couldn’t contaminate them with the gluten that was probably on strangers’ hands. Also, I didn’t want to eat an apple after high fiving dozens of strangers because ew. Germs again. And then there was the pain. It hurts to high five 1 or 2 people, never mind dozens.

I love to wave at folks as we walk in the parade, but I quickly learned that people used that opportunity to give me a high five, so I had to stop waving. That was sad. I picked it up again in areas where the crowds were behind barriers, but most of the streets had the crowds practically on top of us. As we went by, I tried to keep my hand in my lap. (My other hand was already holding the large 45-foot flag that our group was carrying.) Sometimes I would say, “I’ll pass” or something similar. Often that was good enough. But not always.

Too many times, the person would then touch me. They would touch my shoulder or my arm. One touched the bag in my lap. It was weird and awkward and gross.

It could have been worse. Luckily, I wasn’t in so much pain that even a tiny touch was excruciating. But I could have been. Thankfully I’m not generally adverse to touch, but I could have been.

I love Pride. I yelled “Happy Pride!” to so many people in the crowd that my voice was a bit hoarse by the end. I adore Pride. I love seeing tens of thousands of people celebrating who they are and who they love, supporting their loved ones and our community, and showing the world that who we are is not “wrong,” despite what so many people (and governments) say.

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I love Pride, but that doesn’t mean I want to be touched by strangers without permission at Pride. Or any other time.

I know I am not alone in this. So many people have similar experiences. There is something about having a visible physical difference that makes people think they have a right to your body. It’s like when strangers touch a pregnant woman’s belly without asking. WTF?! Just because you can see that someone is pregnant or in a wheelchair, doesn’t mean you “get to be part of the experience.” It doesn’t work that way.

Part of it is also that people want the “poor woman in the wheelchair” (that’s the attitude, if not the conscious acknowledgment) to be included. Here’s the thing: including me means giving me control over my own body. It means accepting my wishes for my body. Touching me without permission is not including me. It is disrespectful and gross. You don’t do that to others, so don’t do it to me.

At the end of the day, one of the women who had pushed my wheelchair for part of the parade told me that she felt bad for me. She saw what was happening but didn’t know what she could do. No one high fived her, because she didn’t have a free hand – they were both on the wheelchair. Yet, strangers didn’t touch her. Think about that for a second.

Many people looked awkward in the moment. Their hand was up, and they had to do something so instead of putting it down or high fiving another person, they touched me. Did they later realize that was an odd thing to do? I hope so. At the very least, maybe they will read this (or one of the other things I have written about this incident) and think twice next time they are tempted to touch a person in a wheelchair without permission.

Because again, if you wouldn’t touch the person pushing my chair as she passed by, then you shouldn’t touch me, either.

Maybe next time we’ll talk about all of the photographers along the route who took my photo only because I was in a wheelchair. Not cool, folks.

By the way, I want to give a huge shout out to all of the awesome folks who made it possible for me to attend Pride! The local Council on Aging loaned me a wheel for free (many do, so check your town’s Council on Again if you need to borrow a wheelchair, cane, walker, commode, etc.) Several folks volunteered to push my wheelchair during the parade. At the last minute, someone volunteered to push my wheelchair around part of the festival that follows the parade (and thankfully I was able to walk and push it the rest of the time.) Someone volunteered to take the wheelchair out of my car and get it downtown with me. A stranger in the subway station helped me get the wheelchair onto the train. And stranger on the train offered to help me get the chair off the train and then put it in my car for me. I can’t lift the wheelchair into or out of my car and I can no longer walk as much as I would need to in order to march at Pride, so without these folks, I couldn’t have attended Pride. I was exhausted afterwards and spent 2 days at home recovering, but it was totally worth it. Some folks were weird, but many others were kickass, and it’s important to remember them!

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When even medical professionals don’t get it

March 30, 2017

There are the medical people I know in my personal life: a distant cousin, an aunt’s in-laws, friends of friends. Sometimes it’s just a random person I meet to hears about my health issues and lets me know they work in the medical field.

Some of these people are awesome: understanding, supportive, helpful. And some make me want to scream by thinking they can offer me advice. People I barely know, or maybe don’t know at all, tell me what I should do for my health. Or worse, they don’t understand that I really am sick.

But then there are the worse ones: the medical folks I see for my own treatments who Just. Don’t. Get it.

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Usually I walk away. If they don’t understand, then I don’t want to waste my time. But this latest one is a tougher situation.

It’s my physical therapist. For one thing, she means well but she’s scatter-brained. She asked me if I’d tried a particular yoga pose. I said no, I was told not to do yoga. She was surprised. I pointed out that she told me not to do yoga just a few weeks ago. Things like that. When I walk in, she has no recollection of what we did last time, even though I know she writes notes after every visit.

She also does a good job overall. And there’s no one else to see. It took years for me to find her! I searched for ages for someone to do this particular type of treatment (easy) that my insurance would cover (almost impossible.) One of my insurances covers her and she’s giving me a break on the other. I really appreciate that. She’s been so kind about it. And she does a good job.

But then she wants me to exercise more, to make sure I build up a good sweat. I try and explain how adrenal fatigue works, how that could be dangerous. She wants me to talk to my other doctors to make sure I’m really not supposed to be doing it. You know, in case we hadn’t already had this conversation 80 bazillion times. In case I misunderstood. In case I don’t know my own body! So frustrating!

And then yesterday she grabbed my wrist for the millionth time. I know this is just a typical maneuver. I know she does this automatically because she’s done it so many times before with countless other patients. But she’s a physical therapist and she needs to take each patient’s needs into account and I don’t know how many more times I can tell her not to do this before I completely lose my shit.

Because I’ve been clear. I’ve said it hurts. I’ve explained that I have a long history of pain there. I’ve said that it upsets me. Yesterday I calmly talked about it after the appointment. I explained the emotional trauma a bit. She tried to say there was no need to explain, but I figured hearing it might help her to fucking remember! 

I don’t usually swear on this site, even though I do in real life. Not a lot, but enough. I can hold back when I think it will offend people. Usually. But not today, because this is SO UPSETTING to me!

I have 25 years of pain in my wrists. It was my first symptom. But that’s not the reason it upsets me so much. No, it’s because of how I was treated. Doctors did horrible things to that wrist and to me. I had to start off my explanation by saying, “I don’t have PTSD but….” Because while it’s not PTSD, I do have a panic response. I told her that there is no one in this world I trust to touch my wrist, and that’s true. There are some people I trust to touch near it, and some don’t make me panic as much, but I don’t trust anyone. Not even my mother, my best friends, my past lovers. And certainly not medical professionals!

So we’ll see if she listens. If not, I might have to take more drastic action. But for now, we’ll see.

I try to be patient but she’s a medical professional. She should know better.

4 Comments | Educating, Expectations, Frustration, Insensitive, Intrusions, Limitations, Medication, Pain, Rants, Relationships: Family & Friends & Dating & Sex, Symptoms | Permalink
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The futility of “You get what you pay for” in healthcare

May 15, 2016

It started as a normal health conversation. I was talking to someone I knew who just got her license (like a prescription) for medical marijuana. She was talking about how great her doctor was, and how I should see him.

I had just started the process to get a license myself. I pointed out that I had already seen a doctor and I wasn’t about to see another. She said I should see hers when I have to renew my license (in 6 months, per state law.) I pointed out that my doctor is cheaper. And that’s when she said it.

You get what you pay for.

I was stunned. First, that’s obviously not always true. My smartphone, for example, was one of the cheaper ones out there, but it’s been running perfectly for 2.5 years. I have plenty of friends with phones that cost twice as much that haven’t lasted as long, or with shorter battery lives. More expensive is not always better.

But more than that, she knows about my financial situation. So even if she’s right, why would she suggest that I spend an extra $100-200 per year unnecessarily? How insensitive!

To be fair, I don’t think she fully understood what she was saying. She became unable to work before she ever reached the age to work. But at a young age she also moved in with the man she later married. He has a good job that easily supports them both. Funds aren’t unlimited, but they take the occasional trip overseas, have 2 dogs, live in a nice apartment, and can afford extras that help her health-wise like massage appointments and laundry service. That’s the only adult life she’d ever known.

So she doesn’t know what it’s like to know that every penny you spend is being pulled out of limited savings. She doesn’t know the fear that if you spend too much, you will run out of money, and then what?

I shook off that comment. I was too surprised to coherently answer, and I knew it wouldn’t matter anyway. Still….

You get what you pay for.

Maybe she’s right? I’ve thought about it a lot in the last two days. Maybe I should have seen that other doctor. In theory, I got what I needed: the license. But her doctor did sound helpful. He gave her personalized advice: which strains of cannabis to buy, how much to take, etc. Then again, it’s too soon to know if his advice was accurate. Maybe it was, and maybe it wasn’t. Maybe my doctor’s more generalized advice will turn out to have been more useful.

In 6 months I will need to decide if I should see the same doctor I already saw, or try hers. I’m not sure what I’ll do. What I do know is that line rubbed me the wrong way.

People are constantly offering suggestions of things that will help my health: acupuncture, massage, Alexander Technique, etc. Many of these will and have helped – but who’s offering to pay for them? No one!

So from now on, I think that will be my response. When someone says, “You get what you pay for” or “You should try X” (and of course X isn’t covered by insurance) I’m just going to say:

Are you offering to pay? Thanks! I’d love to try that!

What about you? Have you encountered comments like these? What do you say? Please comment below! I’d love to know!

5 Comments | Frustration, Insensitive, Intrusions, Limitations, Medication, Rants, Relationships: Family & Friends & Dating & Sex, Support | Tagged: | Permalink
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