California
Related: About this forumOakland Social Services "Kettling" the Poor
This is XPosted from GD.
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While participating in the Berkeley/Oakland protests, I learned the term "kettling" - this is when the police herd a mass of protesters into a hidden area and sit on them for some period of hours to keep them from making any trouble. The protesters may be handcuffed with ziplocks and denied water. Press and cameras are kept out of the area so the kettled protesters are effectively subtracted from the visual record of the movement.
Yesterday I went to Social Services to submit a huge McJesus package of paperwork for "general assistance" and food stamps qualification. General Assistance is that piddling $336/month *loan* you can get for three months out of the year if you're able to work (whether you have a job or not) in an area where gentrification has pushed rent for a studio up into the $1500 ballpark--if you can find one. If you have never been embroiled in this system (one way is to become disabled but be caught in the eternal backlog of applying for SSI), this is the equivalent of signing on to eternal paperwork absurdist hell, where you get spammed with letters that mean nothing but you are unnable to reach a person to clarify that, where you have 3 day deadlines but the State takes forever to fix things if they screw up, where half your time is spent appealing because of the State's own errors - because their default is to shut everything off in case of a problem.
So...just the fact you're going to Social Services means you've been caught in the trap: you're in the part of society that's fed busywork, and kept on a hamster wheel of appointments, and monitored for compliance, and sent to "behaviorial" sessions instead of a psychological therapy, and surveilled by fraud investigators in case you try to pad that $336/month with money for basic necessities like toilet paper. Your pinned into poverty like an insect in order to keep all those other State employees pushing paper, earning a salary, and safely holding on to their pension plans.
My experience on Tuesday was so typical, I thought I should write about it here and hope that the message sinks in somehow.
First, there is a huge line around the room to take a number to wait to get called to a window. Normally I'd have to wait in that line. That's an ADA violation in itself, since I'm mobility impaired. Social Services is stubbornly defying the ADA on that point by insisting I need to bring a friend or relative with me as an escort to get any accommodation for disability. Ironically, when I'm in that line, I'm usually holding some paperwork where I've checked a box and otherwise indicated that I need accommodation for disability. I've just never gotten it.
This time I was in a special situation where I supposedly had an appointment for an "interview". I needed this interview because I wanted my caseworker (a new one - the third one I've had) to go over it and make sure I filled out everything right. The last thing either you or your caseworker need is for some mistake to gum up their procedures! Since I had the interview appointment, I was able to sit down in a chair and wait for the P.A. system to summon me. Or so I thought.
Finally the P.A. system summoned everyone waiting for G.A. Qualification to Room 131. I moved with the herd to room 131. When the caseworker in charge there took attendance, she couldn't find my name on the list. Luckily I thought to bring my interview letter with me as well as all my paperwork and documentation. The caseworker glanced at it and told me to go back out to the main lobby to "Window 8".
At "Window 8" there were 2 other people in line in front of me. I had to wait for them to get through their issues. When I was finally able to speak to the person at Window 8, she told me she had nothing to do with anything - try Window 12. There was no one at Window 12 (perhaps because so much time had passed at that point). I went back to Window 8. Luckily, someone at Window 7 heard the confusion and said I should be in room 130, not room 131. So I went to room 130. There I was scolded for being late and almost turned away. But I explained I had been in room 131, and I wasn't exhibiting the poor behavior of being late for a Social Services appointment. So they handed me a xerox of my Rights and Responsibilities and let me take my seat.
At that point I found out that my new caseworker wasn't going to interview me: in fact she didn't even know about the people who had come to submit their paperwork that day. But the caseworker in the room would take my McJesus packet ONLY if it was COMPLETELY and CORRECTLY filled out. So I could turn the packet in but I couldn't go over it with anyone. I vaguely remembered something like that happening last year.
Then the caseworker tried to issue a few warnings and answer a few general questions. She warned people to return paperwork by deadline or they wouldn't receive their check. Someone noted that the deadline is usually 2-3 days (and the paperwork usually demands documentation like copies of checks, etc.). Someone complained about delays in the mail and other problems. The caseworker then invoked the Supremacy of the Needs of the Bureaucracy: caseworkers had over 900 cases each - there was nothing they could do about the 2-3 day deadlines, the best thing people could do for themselves is comply and follow up and try to make up themselves for errors in the system if the caseworker didn't get their documents.
The caseworker then warned everyone that the State was currently investigating EVERYONE for possible welfare fraud. This surveillance involved interviewing friends and neighbors. And the best way to protect ourselves is to self-report any changes. (See my sig about what can happen if you self-report changes and your casework fraks up.)
It occurred to me at that moment that those investigators probably make a pretty decent salary. Say, 50k/yr for a start? And their job is to keep people being doled out $366/month pinned down into helplessness. And possibly to drive them into paranoia, lol.
Anyway, at the end of the session I remembered I had intended to ask my caseworker for a particular form I couldn't get online. I was told to get the form from the lobby.
The form was not available in the spinning kiosk of forms in the library. I then tried to sidle up to a free window to see if someone there would just slip me the form. No dice - she told me to stand in the line that winds around the room! (This is the line to take a number to go to a window - 2 to 3 hour process!!!). Being disabled and knowing already that Social Services in Oakland thumbs its nose at the ADA, I was now pissed.
First I attempted to go to the room with the Client Advocate. The Client Advocate's door was closed. There was no sign on the door: no way to tell if she was gone for a few minutes or gone for the day. There was no sign-up list. There was no chair right beside her door where you could wait and simultaneously hold your place in line to see her. I stood there for a while, not knowing if the Client Advocate would come or not (she is often just not there that day). After a while I gave up.
Then I went to the in-house phone banks. Social Services also tries to avoid making these a tool of empowerment. There are no numbers posted for general services - only specific names of caseworkers. Also there are no chairs to sit in, and you aren't even allowed to lean on the phones: so, again, mobility-impaired people are expected to suffer to make their call and keep their phone call short.
Except if you call the Operator the phone call won't be short. I discovered that the Social Services Call Center is apparently handled by one guy. He repeatedly had to put me on hold and answer all the other calls as we spoke. Every time we got disconnected, and I called again, I got this poor sap. He wanted to connect me to the Civil Rights Officer because by that time I had multiple ADA complaints: but he couldn't connect me to an inside line. However, I didn't have a cellphone so I would have to go out somewhere to call the Civil Rights Officer: that would defeat the purpose of getting my form and me being on site to point out the half a dozen ADA violations I had experienced right there. I needed something like the capacity to "call a manager". But Social Services Oakland deliberately does not offer that. What they do offer is a lot of security guards roaming around, snickering at various freak outs.
What kind of freak outs?
- The ONE copy machine didn't work. People needed copies to submit their documentation.
- A homeless woman was given an outside line number to call to find the name of her caseworker, which didn't work on the internal phones. When she went back to get help, she was given the same number again. I was the one who had to help her.
- "Customer Service Survey" kiosk which claimed it wanted client input had no forms/cards.
- missing/disorganized forms in the large form kiosk
- people being trained/disciplined to use some bar code machine system to turn in their forms - WTH!
I never did get to issue my ADA complaints to anyone there. The poor besieged phone guy agreed to just mail me the forms, and I agreed to call the Civil Rights Officer from home, though that wouldn't be nearly as satisfying as pointing out the ADA issues in situ.
Since I had to stand at the phones, I was now in a lot of pain. It was only then I realized that not seeing the caseworker meant that I didn't get to ask for bus tickets to cover the expense of getting to and from Social Services.
I repeat - this is not an abnormal situation. This is NORMAL. Social Services is a Rube Goldberg machine that is used to kettle the poor in Oakland. After everyone is done reading the Torture Report as performed by the CIA, they should check out some of the torture that goes on right here on American soil.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)your kind of freaking me out.
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)buckle up it's gonna be a bumpy ride.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)daredtowork
(3,732 posts)Hope you're not in Oakland!
And if you are, I hope you have savings you can live on for a while.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)I should, but we'll see. I'm nervous about it until I get it in my hands. I 'should' be fine for 2 or 3 years, it's 5 years and beyond that really worry me.
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)the more is expected of you. Poor people pay more for everything and they are punished more. It's like people think that if you are poor you must have done something criminal or very irresponsible. It doesn't really matter if rich people do the same or worse.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)I'm trying to "jailbreak" and get back into the mainstream world right now, and it's really hard to allocate time between the things I have to do for my "poverty life" and the things I have to do to get into a "mainstream life".
By the way, the Department of Rehab has it almost as bad as Social Services. My understanding is each counselor there has hundreds of clients, and those clients have deadlines for what they need. The counselors use old green screen IBM mainframe emulator systems that are very difficult to navigate. When the counselor tries to get something done for a client there are something like 7 layers of misdirection it has to go through before it gets approved.
When all the lifeforce is sucked out of the caseworkers like this, what do they have left over to help their clients?
By the way, I found out that DoR furniture is made by prison (slave) labor.
Prophet 451
(9,796 posts)The situation here (UK) is similar. Both our societies still think in Dicke3nsian terms, that teh poor are poor through some fault of theirs and just need to be whipped a bit more to force them to take the jobs that anyone can get if they try.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)The problem with that philosophy is by the time people reach this condition, they are probably suffering from multiple mental, if not physical, disabilities, because of the toxic stress that dragged them down that far. And the nature of the system just makes it worse. Only a few will be officially documented as "disabled" because the system only recognizes certain diseases/disorders as disabling, and if you fall into the neat category, your doctor still has to make the judgment call you are in a state in which you can no longer work (with the possibility of prosecuted for fraud hanging over his/her head if he/she makes a wrong call). And frankly, it's hard to even start that conversation with your doctor: at what point can you "not work anymore" and at what point are you a lazy, whining malingerer? You have both the patient's internal psychological barrier's and the doctor's attitudes/prejudices to deal with. So many hoops to jump through!
I'm not sure what the alternative should be. Perhaps everyone should get "paid time off", and that way people who are disabled can just choose to use that time when they are dealing with disability. Then they wouldn't have to go through all this indignifying crap.
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)a couple of other things. I struggle with the concept of not being able to work. I am going to be going back to school soon if I can get some paperwork problems fixed. I have to go raise some hell to do that and right now I am so sore I can barely move. It is very difficult when your physical problems are invisible. And on top of it a lot of people think it's a mental disorder. Well when you are sick it does affect your mind no doubt, but my mental state is not the reason I am tired all the time.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)I have chronic fatigue, too, but it's sourced from a lot of other stuff, not epstein-barr. I just feel like that's the one thing I should be able to tough out. But frankly I often can't, so I end up just dragging myself around and doing things half-way and looking for places I can rest half the day. Since my major disabilities are being handled, thanks to the ACA, I just need to get a handle on stuff like this, and I will officially be on the other side - healthwise, at least.
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)pain I can handle. If it was "just" pain I would soldier on. In fact I did when I had kidney stones, I just held onto whatever I could for dear life while I worked. I nod off a lot. When I am in school I am terrified I am going to fall asleep in class. I am going to have to talk to my professors about having a tape recorder in class, because it's really hard to take notes when you are asleep. I know because I have tried it. It's equally hard to read that way.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)After all I've been through, it would kill me to finally get back into the mainstream workforce and then get fired after a week because I was falling asleep at my desk.
Prophet 451
(9,796 posts)I have a collection of mental disorders (MDD, GAD, "visions" and voices) to go along with a near-complete inability to walk due to knee and back deterioration. My own GP will happily classify me as unfit for work but the ESA system assumes from teh start that your own doctor is a liar so you have to fill in a huge form and go to an appointment where they (a private company called Atos that are incentivising to fail everyone) try numrous tricks to classify you fit for work. There was a case a couple of years ago where Atos fired someone for being too sick to work and then, when they tested her, found her fit for work. They'#ve found fit people so suicidal that they still had stitches in their wrists and the form is so harsh that having no hands doesn't get you classified as unfit because you can still lift things with your stumps.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)My initial SSI application wasn't forwarded from Social Services because of a 10 minute doctor's appointment, that was based on a questionnaire I filled out. There was no attempt to get my medical records, and the focus was on my physical range of motion rather than any pain I might be feeling. Totally bogus. The delays it creates just drags people through an unbelievable state of stress and poverty for several years as they cannot work (or else they would show they are "fit to work" while trying to survive until they get SSI. I think the intent is to drive people to the state of institutionalization (be it because they are homeless, too disabled to take care of themselves, or mentally ill) because once you are a ward of the State that proves you should be on SSI.
By the way, what county are you in?
Prophet 451
(9,796 posts)I've taken to getting my doctor to write a letter for me and physically staple it to my form because the system here just ignores medical records.
mackerel
(4,412 posts)Apply in person. Schedule an appointment. They close at noon pm Wednesdays (im California)
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)They didn't forward my original application, and they didn't bother to tell me that. I didn't check on it until months later because they had told me it would take a long time to process. When I did try to check on it, I got a lot of run-around and claims that Social Services doesn't handle "Federal" programs!!! I had to go in person, where I could only get verbal confirmation that the application had not been forwarded. When I pointed out that I could have filed the application myself if I had been notified, and not forwarding the application would cost me months of "effective date" SSI money, I was told that would create more work for Social Services.
Do not trust them to handle the SSI application.
mackerel
(4,412 posts)bhikkhu
(10,724 posts)its been many years since I had to go through that myself, but it sounds about like I remember. Every time I hear about long waits, I just think about how much better it would be if social services were staffed as well as banks and department stores and so forth. The government needs to employ enough people to handle the workloads efficiently.
And then I think of how many people are at social services to begin with because they can't find employment...
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)All these people are heaped on an assembly line, but the assembly line has snags, loops, knots, and sudden drop-offs!
mfcorey1
(11,001 posts)daredtowork
(3,732 posts)And if it's like this in the "progressive" Bay Area of California, imagine what it's like in, say, Georgia.
mfcorey1
(11,001 posts)KamaAina
(78,249 posts)(the original independent living center, founded in Berkeley in 1972 by disabled student Ed Roberts and others who had become radicalized by being at Cal in the '60s.)
Sounds you might have to come down here to SJ to find an advocate! (or better still, I'm coming up to the East Bay around New Year's. )
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)I did tell CIL about the first time Social Services told me I needed a relative to escort me in order to get accommodation. I believe they did confirm that's illegal and encouraged me to pursue my own ADA complaint about it. But, besides that, they don't do much themselves. I think they are careful not to get political because of their donor situation...?
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)What about Disability Rights California, the state's protection and advocacy agency?
http://www.disabilityrightsca.org
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)I have too much other stuff going on to focus on this fight, too.