This is a thread about Social Security Disability

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > This is a thread about Social Security Disability

Lyesh: Apr 9, 2003

mugrim posted:

I'm kind of surprised with the relative absence of posts. Is SS Disability not juicy enough for people? We have a ton of Libertarians on this board who I assumed would be all too happy to debate the merits of a disability program, and a ton of lefties I assumed would be outraged by the insane wait times. Anyone have any insight on this?

I think everyone is still posted out about the topic from that discussion spurred on by the geniuses at This American Life and their hitpiece on the disabled a year or so back.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2014 04:13

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Lyesh: Apr 9, 2003

OctaviusBeaver posted:

That's what made me interested enough to click on this thread. Anyone want to tell me if/why it is wrong or right?

Here is a link for those interested: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/490/trends-with-benefits

Short answer: it's really suspicious that every single person Joffe-Walt interviews with negative connotations is black, and the single person who has a "legitimate" claim is white (the county in question is majority black). Let alone taking a retired white judge in that count at his word regarding something he's not even an expert in.

For another specific problem, taking the phrase "pulling a check" regarding a child on disability as anything other than thinly veiled racism is ridiculously credulous for a journalist.

That article is a hitpiece on the last vestiges of welfare in the US. She's concerning herself about how people aren't "incentivized" to work as though that's anywhere near as big of a problem as the long wait times or the problems that Calenth and Kwyjibo mentioned. It doesn't seem to have had much impact so far, but any that it does is more likely to result in disability benefits becoming harder to get and not being replaced with anything.

Lyesh fucked around with this message at 05:09 on Sep 5, 2014

# ¿ Sep 5, 2014 05:01

Lyesh: Apr 9, 2003

esquilax posted:

Being old and fat with diabetes, heart problems, back problems, and weight bearing joint problems typically does not permanently prevent you from performing the essential duties of your own occupation, let alone any occupation.

Sure it does. If you can't stand up for more than ten minutes at a time, for example, you can't do a lot of factory jobs. If you can't lift a hundred pounds, good luck working in construction. And if you don't have training for jobs that ARE doable with these kinds of limitations, then those jobs are not available to you.

If you're going to go full-out with weird any occupation stuff, you're essentially saying that people with ALS should just get prestigious professorships in theoretical physics. It works GREAT for Stephen Hawking, after all.

And the reason that I frame it that way is that the article is extremely slanted against the fact that without SSI or SSDI, people experience even more hardship than they already do. If you want to augment the program, sure. Go for it. But the problem isn't with SSDI or SSI, it's with the numerous factors in the US that have removed as many social safety nets as possible.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2014 22:24

Lyesh: Apr 9, 2003

wateroverfire posted:

Sure.

1) There are not a lot of libertarians on this board. There are some centrist liberals who get cast in that role and some trolls, but nobody who will say they think we shouldn't do SS Disability or gently caress THOSE POORS in a thread that isn't already terrible.

You wrote a good OP about an important topic that is fairly technical and isn't intensely partisan. Unless you get Fishmech involved it will be dead in a couple of weeks.

Well that was a wonderful dream

# ¿ Sep 5, 2014 23:28

Lyesh: Apr 9, 2003

tsa posted:

You can be a cashier with any of those problems mentioned, and as esquilax points out you the very first thing is "they have a physical or mental condition that prevents them from engaging in any "substantial gainful activity" ("SGA")" which certainly includes jobs like cashiering among many other common jobs. Your ALS example is simply not very good, and is pretty much equivalent to saying 99.999% of americans are disabled because they don't qualify for the NBA.

Basically you are arguing for increased welfare or GMI and things of that nature, which is perfectly reasonable. But you aren't disabled simply because you can't do some jobs, at least according to the stated rules.

I'm arguing that if you're going to advocate changing SSDI to make it more restrictive, you should own the fact that you're going to make people less able to support themselves and cause a shitload of human misery for no particular reason. Comparisons to private LTD aren't very relevant since those programs can pick and choose who they let in, get WAY more expensive as you get older, and generally insure groups that aren't prone to long-term disability, such as white-collar workers.

Edit: Re the ALS thing, there exists a single person with ALS who does that job, therefore it is possible to engage in SGA with that condition. The problem is that the statute is so narrowly written that if applied literally, it would disqualify anyone who could possibly hope to live on $1000/month with the level of medical assistance they need. Let alone live on less money.

Lyesh fucked around with this message at 02:59 on Sep 6, 2014

# ¿ Sep 5, 2014 23:33

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > This is a thread about Social Security Disability