We Are

posted February 16th, 2019 at 1:22 PM

We are from all races. We are from all ages. We are from all genders. We are from all sexual orientations. We are from all religions. We are from all occupations. We are from all levels of education. We are from all socioeconomic backgrounds. We are the disabled. Some of us were born this way, some due to injury, some medical causes, some violence etc. We are often ignored by our leaders and when we ask for help or just to be listened too, murdered in our home as with the disabled vet in NB or shot down in the street or tasered to death at the airport. But. We vote. We rent homes, buy groceries and tires, insure our cars if we can afford them, fill Rxs, etc. And we communicate with each other. Perhaps we just need to organize ourselves like the Indigenous Peoples or the Grey Panthers. Perhaps we just need to speak up as a group and keep speaking until we are heard. I became disabled in 2003 and have a variety of perspectives on this. My brother was severely disabled. I've worked and volunteered with the disabled before 2003 as a healthcare professional. It has been a major growth experience for me but I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

6 Comments

Disabled men...

Feb 16, 2019 at 4:33pm

... have it the worst. A disabled woman can still get knocked up, have kids. she'll get tons of social services and support.

A disabled man is never getting married, no woman is going to take on a financial liability, because even though it's probably illegal discrimination to treat "man and wife" like one person, the legislation uses the euphemism "household" and so it looks at "household income", so disabled men, if they get married to a woman who isn't also disabled or impoverished, lose their assistance.

Plus you can't go to University or College and keep your disability assistance, you're expected to take out loans---since when is education about making money, I thought education was good for people.

sounds like

Feb 16, 2019 at 4:43pm

a libtard leftist

@OP

Feb 16, 2019 at 5:50pm

God Bless, Protect, Heal and Show You The Way. i understand your perspective

For sure

Feb 16, 2019 at 6:44pm

Unless you’re born with a disability or it happens to you at a young age, most of us don’t expect that it will happen to us. We think that our usual lives will just keep going and all of our hard work and perseverance will pay off in time for us to retire in our 60’s. When something happens that completely sideswipes you, it’s totally shocking and the majority of us aren’t prepared. Even if you have a benefit plan with some long term disability coverage, don’t assume that it will cover your particular situation. Not to mention that the hell those plans put you through just so that you can get the benefits you’re paying for can make you even sicker! They will do everything in their power to make it as difficult as possible to get what you deserve. The added stress can put you right over the edge, which is exactly what they’re hoping for, because so many people just give up fighting at that point. Those companies are disgusting. So I agree with the Op; we are a big part of the society, and most of the older generation who have experienced unexpected severe issues that have resulted in us not being able to find gainful employment don’t have the resources to support ourselves without help. We are those same people who have worked for decades and paid into all of those programs that are supposed to help us, but we’re consistently denied access to. Most people don’t realize that in order to actually qualify for any CPP disability you pretty much have to be so disabled that you’re terminally ill or incapable of performing most daily self-care without help. That eliminates most people who have a disability that prevents us from doing anything that could actually support us, but we’re not so ill that we couldn’t work at some type of menial job. Try imagining having to do that after a lifetime of working hard, and being told that you should just go live on minimum wage and work at some hard menial job in your late 50’s or 60’s. Some of us have lost our homes and our life savings simply trying to survive without any income whatsoever coming in, often for years. I urge everyone who thinks that it can’t happen to you to get your heads out of the sand and start some serious “rainy day” savings, just in case. It wasn’t going to happen to me, but then it did.