Can A Person Draw a Disability Check If They Cannot Speak English?

[The Great Escape]

this Sunday at a family dinner my cousin went on a major rant about his wifes' employer. His wife does transcription for a neurologist of Pakistani descent. According to him, the doctor brought his mother over several years ago. She speaks no English and gets a disability check for this (according to him). My cousin has never seemed to be a hateful person in the past and I have found him to be trustworthy. Still, this just sounds a little bit too much like a right wing email. Is he just confused?

[LiberallyInclined]

1. why would they?

english is not our "official" national language.

[Bunny]

2. Disability check from U. S. Social Security?

Simply for being unable to speak English? Not a chance.

[The Great Escape]

7. That's What He Said....

this is a new one on me. The other stories that make the rounds about the foreign doctors around here are...they go back to their native countries and stay exactly one month to avoid paying US taxes...when they do this they always stock up on samples from pharmaceutical reps and sale them in their home countries for large profits. I've always been grateful to these physicians. If these doctors did not practice in Appalachia there would be no health care.

[Bunny]

8. I've heard about the "one-month" thing too.

And there may be some truth to that, I don't know. But no way does someone get disability from Social Security simply because they don't speak English.

[MsTryska]

30. or maybe they just go home for a month, because considering the

trip length, and the amount of people to visit, and wedding season's and whatnot - a month is a more convenient timeframe than 2 weeks.



And maybe they bring medicines as gifts (because you bring a lot of gifts when you go back home)



but what the hell do i know - i'm just a kid of one of these foreign doctors. Who got his greencard, got his family citizenship, and paid his taxes every quarter.

[TahitiNut]

3. Nonsense.

"Disability check" from whom? Social security? One must first obtain an account and then must make enough payroll tax contributions into that account to become eligible. Illiteracy isn't a 'disability' and this isn't even illiteracy.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

4. No way.

They are very careful about disability and there is no way in hell they give it to people for "not speaking English". My grandma is a citizen and when she had knee surgery they told her "too bad".

[Cleita]

5. Why is speaking English a criteria? This would apply to

a lot of old people, including old Jewish people, who are holocaust survivors and only speak Yiddish. It seems to me that her legal rights to collect disability would be in question not her language. Also, your cousin seems to be not telling the truth as all Pakistanis speak English after long years of British colonialism.

[Sanity Claws]

6. Confused is a nice word to describe him

Outright liar is more like it.

[ultraist]

9. I agree with what others have said: NO WAY

There is no way someone would qualify for disability for not speaking English. You can look up the criteria at the US Dept of Human Services for disabilities.

Or here, listing of impairments:
http://www.ssa.gov/disability/professionals/bluebook/listing-impairments.htm

[The Great Escape]

10. Thanks...

I will take a look at that. I wanted to argue with him but I had nothing other than the feeling that there was no way in hell that could be true.

[demgrrrll]

13. Social Security Disability requires that you work a certain number of

quarters in a block period to qualify. Your disability payment is based on the income that your made during those quarters. SSI D is more of a means tested benefit and in most if not all states Medicaid goes along with an SSI payment. In other words if you have not worked the required number of quarters and have no visible means of support or assets and you are disabled you may qualify for SSI D. SSD and SSI are two separate programs which provide income for the disabled. I have never heard of a language barrier being a reason to receive an SSI check but who knows.

[bluedog]

11. check this story out.st pete times florida

it seems to me....people are collecting SS and are not American citizens..they speak NO English and DO NOT hold jobs.......

this doesn't seem right considering our own people who worked are getting stiffed at every turn...tell me what you think.


******************************************
Welfare law challenges war refugees

ST. PETERSBURG -.......snip


Nationwide about 45,000 people could be affected by the seven-year restriction; 7,600 live in Florida. In 2004, about 3,000 Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, recipients had their payments cut because of the welfare-reform provision. About 400 of them were Florida residents, according to the Social Security Administration. This year an estimated 6,400 people across the nation could have their payments cut. About 700 of those live in Florida.

The numbers might seem small. But these days the law is taking an unusual toll on refugees like Alijagic. She is part of a large wave of immigrants who came to the United States in the late 1990s after ethnic conflict tore apart Yugoslavia. Between 1993 and 2003, more than 143,000 Bosnian refugees resettled in the United States, according to the State Department. The Tampa Bay area is home to many of them, with nearly 4,200 Bosnian, Serbian, Albanian and Croatian refugees settling here from 1997 to 2005, according to Florida's Department of Children and Families.


more http://www.sptimes.com/2005/04/17/State/Welfare_law_challenge.shtml

[woofless]

14. SSI and Social Security Disability are separate programs.

They are administered bu the same agency but are not the same thing. One need not have a work record to qualify for SSI unlike disability. I think language is non-issue in either case.

[oneighty]

23. Hey woofless

Good point. It seems to benefit the Conservatives to promote that SSI myth. It would be good if SSI had a name change.

180

[ultraist]

22. They are NOT receiving it for NOT speaking English

snips from SPT article:

Under the welfare-reform law, refugees must become American citizens within seven years of their resettlement in the United States or lose their Supplemental Security Income, a payment for the elderly, poor and disabled.

In some cases, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services grants waivers to refugees with severe mental and/or medical disabilities that make it difficult to pass the citizenship test. But immigrant advocates say such waivers are rare. Proving that a refugee's poor mental or physical health is an outgrowth of the traumas they experienced in their home countries is difficult, said John Dubrule, director litigation at Gulf Coast Legal Services, a St. Petersburg legal group that assists refugees with the citizenship process.

[Ganja Ninja]

12. I have a friend with Hepatitis C that's on disability.

In order to get on Social Security disability he had to go to court. He was told that it was standard procedure. Basically the judge has to order them to give you the benefits your entitled to. It took him over 18 months to go through the process.

[LiberallyInclined]

15. i'm on permanent total disability-

it took me a little over a year and two attempts to get approved.
NOBODY who isn't blind or a quadriplegic gets approved on their first attempt.

[Bunny]

31. Actually, my ex-SO got SSDI on the first try, and he is neither

blind nor a quadriplegic. But I think he is the exception that proves the rule, so your point is well taken.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

16. I guess that would preclude a deaf mute from drawing disability

since they don't 'speak' English

[ultraist]

19. Hearing impairments do qualify

http://www.ssa.gov/disability/professionals/bluebook/2.00-SpecialSensesandSpeech-Adult.htm
B. Otolaryngology

1. Hearing impairment. Hearing ability should be evaluated in terms of the person's ability to hear and distinguish speech.

Loss of hearing can be quantitatively determined by an audiometer which meets the standards of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for air and bone conducted stimuli (i.e., ANSI S 3.6-1969 and ANSI S 3.13-1972, or subsequent comparable revisions) and performing all hearing measurements in an environment which meets the ANSI standard for maximal permissible background sound (ANSI S 3.1-1977).

Speech discrimination should be determined using a standardized measure of speech discrimination ability in quiet at a test presentation level sufficient to ascertain maximum discrimination ability. The speech discrimination measure (test) used, and the level at which testing was done must be reported.

Hearing tests should be preceded by an otolaryngologic examination and should be performed by or under the supervision of an otolaryngologist or audiologist qualified to perform such tests.

In order to establish an independent medical judgment as to the level of impairment in a claimant alleging deafness, the following examinations should be reported: Otolaryngologic examination, pure tone air and bone audiometry, speech reception threshold (SRT), and speech discrimination testing. A copy of reports of medical examination and audiologic evaluations must be submitted.

Cases of alleged "deaf mutism" should be documented by a hearing evaluation. Records obtained from a speech and hearing rehabilitation center or a special school for the deaf may be acceptable, but if these reports are not available, or are found to be inadequate, a current hearing evaluation should be submitted as outlined in the preceding paragraph

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

17. No. She probably HAS a physical disability

and her inability to speak English compromises her in the labor market for jobs that a person with a physical disability can do such as receptionist.

BTW....you might wish to tell your cousin that if white American males paid more attention to science than they do to being racists, we probably wouldn't need to import Pakistani neurologists to treat Americans.

[The Great Escape]

18. If There Are Many More Rants Like That...

my family dinners will be limited to my parents and brother.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

20. Just go to dinner armed with information and force him to prove his

point. He made the claim...make him back it up.

[lukasahero]

21. Bravo!

Great last line (not to mention the logic of your initial comments) - I will have to start using this - thank you!

[amazona]

24. if they worked 40 quarters and paid into Soc. Sec. they can

Otherwise no.

Sure, people commit fraud and quietly collect disability they're not entitled to. If you're aware of such, report them. I had some acquaintances who were committing fraud and collecting SSI they hadn't earned. The sister turned them in and they disappeared not to be seen again. They spoke perfectly good English, as they were from Louisiana. They just didn't care to work.

If you are sure of your facts, report the fraud. Otherwise, I'd mind my own business. A lot of times people report stories that are not really true.

It is very, very difficult for the disabled to collect in my state (Louisiana) even if they have worked sufficient quarters. Being unable to speak English is not a disability. Even having a major psychotic disorder such as paranoid schizophrenia that doesn't respond to medication...I know of two cases personally where the disabled person had to pursue her case for years to be able to get her disability checks. In the meantime, both women were forced to live off others since they were unable to work.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[Spike from MN]

25. Wait a minute here. If this were true, that would mean

Dubya would qualify because he can't speak English. Hmmm...is there any way to check to see if Dubya drew disability last year? ;)

[Lars39]

26. Is everybody forgetting that what little social net programs

we have is just a drop in the bucket compared to corporate welfare and military spending?!?!?

Instead of whining about immigrants or undocumented persons,
which btw, was a very successful tactic of Hitler, we should be ensuring that
everyone has health care, food, shelter,education,a living wage, and a retirement income.

You know, the stuff that might actually appeal to the Democratic base:
the poor and working class.

From what I can recall, the US(proportionally) doesn't even accept as many immigrants
as other industrialized nations.
And it's because of many of US policies that some of these immigrants
were forced from their homes.
Other industrialized countries also give(proportionally) more relief money than the US.

For the wealth the US has(or used to have until junior's war),
we have been stingy, which is just another rw character trait.

[Sparkle]

27. There's no way a person can get a disability check for not knowing English

Your cousin is an idiot for believing that.

[Bridget Burke]

28. Perhaps you cousin can get a disability check....

For not understanding English.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

29. Bwahahaha!

:thumbsup:

[supernova]

32. Not for not speaking English no,

but for being an impoverished immigrant who, when they came here, where too old and/or sick to work to start with. Other problems include being iliterate in their native tongue, very little education in the home country.

These folks usually get refugee status. It is very sad. I saw several of these cases in the years I taught ESL.

I don't begrudge them. They at least got out and got their families to safety. They ought to be honored for taking such a huge risk so late in life.