With all the talk of A Social Security Reform Bill or Act I think what we are missing is the side of the person on Social Security Disability and what they go through and how they feel. It is not at all easy to get on disability . You can not just walk in to a Social Security office and say “Give me the money”. Notes from doctors and schools no longer are sources of proof enough to getting a check handed over to you. You are forced into getting a lawyer and being put through a series of Psychologists and Doctors. Batted back and forth like a ping pong ball each side trying to prove their side. And not everyone wins the battle. But what I’m sick and tired , Darn sick and tired of our these people who on social media and everywhere else complaining about people living off their tax dollars and their hard work. For those of you who think we on disability can just jump up and get a job ,let me tell you my story. I did not get diagnosed till I was 36 with Asperger’s Syndrome, a developmental disorder that affects the ability to communicate and socialize with others with others and two learning disabilities. Dysgraphia , which causes difficulty with spelling and writing expression, and Dyscalculia, which causes difficulty in understanding math concepts. I went through my school years completely not knowing what was wrong with me and why I was alienated from everyone. Though I graduated with straights A’s, something I worked my tail off to get to prove I was as smart as everyone else , it still did not prepare me for going out into the working world. From the time I graduated high school in 1995 until I was diagnosed in 2011 I had applied for a job at over 500 places to find a job and many employment agencies only to be told I had no skills, there is nothing they can do for me and what’s wrong with you and you have no experience. Also to be let go rather quickly from the two jobs I did get, for not being fast enough or being looked at as weird and unusual. “ The Americans with Disabilities act”, mint to shield those of us from discrimination in getting work, also fails us by those business who choose to ignore it. Getting on Social Security is not a matter of being lazy and siting on ones ass . It is a matter of financial security from a relentless society which has many who have judge mental and in different , and unaccepting of anyone deemed not normal in their eyes. To those who complain about your hard earned tax dollars and think those with disabilities should be institutionalized , and the next time you turn someone down for a job for what you perceive as slow, strange or weird , just remember they maybe struggling with Asperger’s Syndrome, Autism, Down Syndrome, ADD.ADHD ,Etc. You may be passing on the best employees you will ever have. And really all we want is to be excepted, and understood and be out in the world making our way like everyone else!
Originally published at medium.com