I'm not saying you're wrong in that these people are working the system, but perhaps you're seeing a much smaller impact than what is the actual situation
The question is not "how do we keep only the people who need to be on SSDI on SSDI", but it is to ask "What is the function of SSDI and who is it supposed to support?"
SSDI is a disability insurance plan people pay into. Disability doesn't pertain to just the obvious physical and mental limitations. There's all sorts of personal impediments to working that aren't obvious to the average observer that impact the ability for a person to earn a wage.
When looking at the types of SSDI recipients who appear to be scamming the system because they don't seem to be disabled, one should consider what to do with those who are pretty much either emotionally or mentally incapable of doing much more than occasional handiwork, and are otherwise sitting around and wasting the hours in "an offhand way".
America has always been really hung up on the concept that people are only as important as their ability to produce for society in general.
When I've met people in (or from) other countries, after family or social status ("tribe" ) is established they typically ask "what you are interested in?" or "Do you like <FITB>?" to see if there are interests in common. In America, it's pretty much always "What do you do?" or "Where do you work?".
So, when looking at most of the people I know who have problems with jobs or attitudes, tough love and a kick in the butt won't really help those who, while not exactly recognizably on a mental spectrum enough to be considered disabled, are not the types that anyone would want to hire for more than a couple days because they're going to have to ride herd on that person once their "sorryness" kicks in.
These people do have mental health problems that cause them to be dysfunctional. Chronic sullen resentment, stubborn laziness, slow reactions, wandering attention spans, defensive immaturity, "habitual attitude problems" - whatever sane, functional people want to call such marginal personalities.
They have as much of a condition of a f***d up mind - instead of a f***d up body as a schizophrenic does. Something happened to them whether it was nature or nurture. Whether it's PTSD, just being spoiled rotten when they were kids, or genetically being a borderline neurotic or serotonin-deprived depressive personality who is chronically tired, whatever they're "capable" of doing or whatever they can't hold down any sort of long-term employment.
They may just be slow to mature, or actually dealing with a physical or mental issue that will eventually be manageable - and in time, they can reach the condition of being relatively functional in terms of work. (I've got a near family member in a "slow to mature" attitude situation - 10 years into legal adulthood, but only maybe during that time, only three years of emotional maturity gained beyond that which would be expected of a 12-year old)
Or they may only ever be capable of living and working in an agrarian or hunter-gatherer lifestyle, when there's a lot of downtime for someone who is emotionally immature to be able to process and cope with the otherwise simple effort to survive.
And all of that's really much harder to fix - if it can be fixed.
When there's no support structure or flexibility to work when they are capable of work, these adults usually end up homeless or in jail.
Especially since most people around them are far more functional than they are and understandably take the simplistic view that "all they need is a swift kick and some tough love, and they'll straighten out quick...".
Which they don't. It too often takes years, and too often fails as substance abuse and "altering reality" seems to be the only coping mechanism that the minimally functional have left.
While it's easy to call lazy, shiftless scammers, what do we do with people who can't seem to cope with the real world in the meantime?
Let them just drift into an underground/transient/homeless/criminal lifestyle? We're going to pay for their inability to function one way or another.
And honestly, it costs far more to deal with them in the criminal system than it does to leave them and any minor dependents on SSDI.
Haele
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