Clarity Rose

Originally Posted by richlevy

Well. I just got back from the transition conference. There was a lot of talk about what is needed to get the disabled to work. In one group everyone was asked to list these items. Some people chose things like 'positive mental attitude', but almost everyone went for 'health care, housing, and transportation'.

It doesn't take a genius to figure these things out. Getting politicians to listen is much harder.

Getting politicians to listen is next to impossible. What really gets me is that Federal policies on HUD housing vouchers is not a matter of fiscal policy. The money that would be required to give housing to this country's disabled would hardly make a footnote in the red ink of the Federal budget. It's a matter of social policy. Those members of the disabled who qualify for vouchers don't make campaign contributions, and like my friend with the yellow tablet, their voices are never heard.

[dar512]

Mari, that was beautifully written.

Two things occured to me while reading this thread -

1) Politicians are not really in the business of helping the people. They are in the business of getting reelected. That's one of the reasons I favor term limits.

The result is that politicians won't do anything they think might disfavor them with voters, even if it's the right thing to do.

and

2) Many Americans have lost the will or ability for critical thought and can't distinguish between people who won't work and people who can't work.

I hope your friend gets her voucher.

Thanks for the compliment, Dar. Yeah, I think you are right about people getting confused between the disabled and welfare queens. What makes me really mad is that the people who are dishonest somehow seem to get their claws on an inordinate amount of benefits (naturally, I suppose) while the people like the ones who were standing outside the Independence Center that day go without. I know a woman who was in prison for 5 years for running a meth lab. She got out and got pregnant right away. The child's father vanished quickly. She went down and got the state of Colorado to give her a pretty nice home with all the trimmings. When it looked like she was going to have to go to work, she went out and found a second sperm donor and this time had twins! I imagine she'll just keep scamming the system. Next time they ask her to go work, she'll have triplets! People react against folks like her and the ones truely in need suffer. The ones like her don't.

[plthijinx]

Originally Posted by marichiko

.....I know a woman who was in prison for 5 years for running a meth lab. She got out and got pregnant right away. The child's father vanished quickly. She went down and got the state of Colorado to give her a pretty nice home with all the trimmings. When it looked like she was going to have to go to work, she went out and found a second sperm donor and this time had twins! I imagine she'll just keep scamming the system. Next time they ask her to go work, she'll have triplets! People react against folks like her and the ones truely in need suffer. The ones like her don't.

that's the kind of shit that just chaps my ass.

[melidasaur]

I really admire your friend's cheerful spirit and I hope that she gets her voucher as well as the other people in the line.

I happen to know some very good politicians that really actually do help people and would probably be doing there damnest to get these people their vouchers really, really quickly. Unfortunately, those individuals are the exception, not the rule.

I think this story is also a reminder to us who are not disabled to be thankful for our current situation and to realize that things can change in the blink of an eye.

Best of luck to your friend and thanks for sharing.

[dar512]

Originally Posted by melidasaur

I think this story is also a reminder to us who are not disabled to be thankful for our current situation and to realize that things can change in the blink of an eye.

Amen to that.

I knew a guy in Bellevue Washington who was a football player in high school. Popular. Says he dated one of the Wilson sisters (Heart). I don't remember which one. He was quite circumstantial, so it might be true. He did have a number of newspaper clippings to attest to his football ability.

Then a neck & head football injury caused permanent mental and physical disabilities. I met him because he was in a special needs group in the church we went to.

[jinx]

Why will it take years? What is the wait list waiting for, are there a certain number of vouchers that are available and she's waiting for one to be turned back in? Is it a percentage of the population? How does it work?
I just looked and there is low income/sliding scale and sec. 8 housing available in CO... some of it is just sitting there empty for months at a time. Why? I realize no one cares about the people who need the housing, but what about the people who own the sec. 8 properties? They can often be influential, and certainly can't be happy about paying their own mortgages.... why aren't they causing a stink?

Like this place. No voucher needed, income based rent ($72-$431/mo)... sitting there for 3 mos. I'm confused.

Originally Posted by dar512

Amen to that.

I knew a guy in Bellevue Washington who was a football player in high school. Popular. Says he dated one of the Wilson sisters (Heart). I don't remember which one. He was quite circumstantial, so it might be true. He did have a number of newspaper clippings to attest to his football ability.

Then a neck & head football injury caused permanent mental and physical disabilities. I met him because he was in a special needs group in the church we went to.

The man who could not speak had worked for an insurance company - of all things - and had a college degree. He was quite intelligent and we had an interesting conversation as we waited for the doors to open. He wrote that he had his first heart attack at 37 and this was followed by two more and massive heart by-pass surgeries. His ill health caused him to lose his job and the medical bills ran through his savings because he no longer had his company's health insurance once his COBRA ran out. He was just starting to get back on his feet when he was diagnosed with cancer of the larnyx.

Despite it all, he has retained a sense of humor, and sribbled down all sorts of jokes that had the rest of us laughing when I read them aloud to everyone. I am SO greatful that I have a condition which has proved amenable to treatment and I have been able to start back to work part time with an eye to one day being fully employed again.

Many others are not so fortunate as me. There but for the grace of God...