Disabled Are New Target for Charges of Cheating
Disabled Are New Target for Charges of Cheating
NYT, NPR lead campaign to cut SSI
By Neil deMause
May 30 2013
It was a story that, if true, was certainly alarming: New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof (12/9/12) reported that poor families in Appalachian Kentucky were pulling their kids out of literacy classes. The reason: They feared that if their kids learned to read, it would disqualify them from receiving monthly $698 disability checks from the federal government’s Supplemental Security Income program.
“Our poverty programs do rescue many people, but other times they backfire,” wrote Kristof. “Most wrenching of all are the parents who think it’s best if a child stays illiterate, because then the family may be able to claim a disability check each month.” And, he worried:
"Those kids may never recover: A 2009 study found that nearly two-thirds of these children make the transition at age 18 into SSI for the adult disabled. They may never hold a job in their entire lives and are condemned to a life of poverty on the dole—and that’s the outcome of a program intended to fight poverty."
It was a new twist on an old argument in American politics: Programs that help the poor, from welfare to public housing to food stamps, have created perverse incentives for low-income families to stay on the dole rather than seeking to improve their own condition. “This is painful for a liberal to admit,” wrote Kristof, “but conservatives have a point when they suggest that America’s safety net can sometimes entangle people in a soul-crushing dependency.”
Kristof’s article was notable for another reason, however. According to numerous disability experts, it was almost entirely wrong or unsupported:
• Children can’t earn SSI payments simply by being illiterate. Rather, they need to receive a medical diagnosis that shows their family could use additional cash to offset the wages lost from staying home with a disabled child or taking them to doctor’s appointments. And SSI eligibility standards are relatively strict; the Social Security Administration rejects about 60 percent of all applications for children’s benefits, and reviews each case every three years to determine whether to cut off aid (TheNation.com, 12/14/12).
More:
http://fair.org/extra-online-articles/disabled-are-new-target-for-charges-of-cheating/
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was a grueling process. I had 4 doctors assesments, psychologists etc. Then it took a while to be accepted, then 3 months before you see a dime. It is DESPICABLE to think they hand this out like candy or something. We are the new "welfare queens".
