Yet another of my online forum rantings... Some bozo made the claim on Slashdot that what is needed for social programs is less money and a lot more "loving people" that can build a "relationship" with those in need. To put it mildly, I didn't agree, not by a long shot. The comment, while a bit late, still earned my first extra "Insightful" points on the site, bringing my rantlet up to the maximum score of 5, which makes me quite happy! :) I note now that there's a huge error in the first line (I was tired and pissed-off when I wrote it) -- the monthly income isn't $300 but is a couple hundred higher, though I'm not sure exactly how high as California also factors in the cost of food, whereas other states do not.
As usual, I am including my rant in the extended form because zog knows I'll lose track of it otherwise. I'm going to fix the error in my version below, scaling up to what I believe the state standard income is.
Re:well... (Score:5, Insightful)
by MoggyMania (688839) on Sun August 10, 12:04 AM (#6658403)
If you were the one disabled and thus stuck trying to live on the $550/month the government offers to "support" a disabled adult; if you were the one trying to help desperate disabled friends figure out the convoluted application process so they won't become homeless or kill themselves...you would not be talking about needing more parent-type caregivers and less money.
The disabled have a rate of physical, sexual, and verbal abuse that is (statistically speaking) 150% higher than that of the non-disabled. Interviews with a large number of Deaf children in particular showed that virtually all of them had been the victim of sexual or physical assault by a caregiver. What we *don't* want is more caregivers -- we don't want more average-bodied folk assuming they know what is best for other intellectually-capable adults. No matter how nice they may start out or seem, for every 1 wonderful person doing it there are 99 monsters.
What we need are reasonable amounts -- at *least* at the national poverty level or preferably above -- of financial support for those disabled who have been too screwed up by the system to ever work. We need support programs in the educational system (K-university) and employment systems set up so physical anomalies won't make it impossible for somebody with intellectual ability to succeed.
We want to support ourselves, or at least live a financially tolerable life volunteering in the community to make our contributions. Adding more abusive caregivers that hide their need for dominance in sweet lovey language will only pull power away from the disabled, not help us compete. Adding money to the amount given out so it is reasonable, adding money to SSI coffers so people in need aren't constantly turned away as they are now, and adding money to set up a proper support system WILL help, and will prevent more people from needing SSI in the future.
Posted by moggy at August 10, 2003 05:51 PM | TrackBack
