if i'm being 100% honest I don't think anyone who isn't disabled tries to get disability i legitimately do not believe it. "x amount of people make false claims" no, x amount of people who make claims are declared not disabled by the government, an institution that doesn't give a shit about disabled people and wants to find any reason to deny us assistance. if somebody goes through the effort of applying for ssi, which isn't a simple process, just for the CHANCE to get a max of $794 a month (but likely less.) and not even be able to save that money up. they are genuinely struggling with something. nobody would choose this if they had other reasonable options

plus the fact every once in a while the government will make you prove you are still disabled and if you aren't disabled enough they'll stop paying you

I applied for SSI, got denied twice, appealed both denials, and was finally approved for SSI by a judge.

Fun Fact! SSI will give you back pay for the time between your first denial and eventual approval (which for me was OVER A YEAR) and that seemed really cool until they told me they would be paying be in chunks.

$2,349 dollars every 6 months until they had paid the full back pay amount. Some of you might already see the problem here, but for those who don’t, let me explain.

SSI has this fun rule that if you ever have more the $2000 dollars in any account, you are immediately disqualified for SSI benefits.

And $2,349 dollars is, in fact, more than two grand.

So every six months for a year and a half, I would get my back payment and the same day get a call from SSI asking me why I have more than two thousand dollars in an account, when they literally gave me that money themselves.

TL:DR- SSI tried to kick me off disability benifits because I received those disability benefits.

Which indicates the true stupidity of that particular rule.

Casual fun reminder that disabled people are legally second class citizens here in the US. We aren't allowed to have money, get married, and companies don't have to pay us minimum wage. And you have to deal with it in order to get treatment much of the time, because your other choice is going without. So fun!

Can you imagine how much better everything could be if the government gave even 10% as much of a shit about taxing billionaires as they do trying to deny disabled people support?

Lockdown gave abled people the opportunity to experience some of the things disabled people have been experiencing their whole lives. This resulted in a lot of contradictory statements...

Disabled people were often scolded for spending so much time on social media / on our phones, yet when lockdown came, everyone realised the value of technology to keep in touch,

Disabled people were told they were lucky that they could spend so much time in bed, yet when lockdown came, mental health illness cases rose because people had to do just that.

Disabled people were laughed at for suggesting socialisation virtually with friends and family, yet when lockdown came, group calls and virtual family quiz nights held relationships together.

Disabled people were rejected when asking for the flexibility and accomodations to work from home, yet when lockdown came, these accomodations were easily made.

Disabled people asked for virtual doctors appointments and were told it wasn't possible, yet when lockdown came, it was the only option.

Disabled people were crammed into crowded places causing accessibility issues, yet when lockdown came, social distancing improved access.

Disabled people requested more online shopping and deliveries for essentials, yet when lockdown came, this was seen as a necessity.

Disabled people who wore masks before Covid were mocked, yet when lockdown came, wearing a mask was enforced.

Disabled people were met with jealousy when they stated they were unemployed, yet when lockdown came, many realised the true struggle of not having anything to occupy their time.

The hypocrisy of the abled people who would mock, deny and minimise the disabled experience who were then forced to live in a similar way needs attention. I hope that there is more compassion now. I hope that knowing the changes and accomodations disabled needed are possible results in more accomodations being made. I hope that companies choose to continue to support those with disabilities, even if that was never their intention. I hope that something good could come out of this devastation.

Comment below any more Covid contradictions you can think of!

ID: green background with cream text reads "covid contradictions" brown text reads "disabled people often asked for requirements that were rejected, yet during the pandemic, these became essential." Below is an image of a white woman wearing a yellow coat and brown mask.

Disabled people are always forced to accommodate themselves to a hostile environment or suffer/die; when faced with suffering/dying, abled society accommodated the environment to themselves.

Covid medicine/treatment (i.e. vaccines)? Free.
Job loss? Unemployment benefits (sometimes, at least, which is more than the chronically unable to work can say). 
Failure to adjust perfectly? Widespread sympathy.

On a very basic level, it’s the eyeglasses v. every other disability aid thing again: one is treated by society and its institutions as reasonable and dealt with accordingly; the other is an individual responsibility and lacking resources to meet that responsibility is treated as antisocial (at best).

Though the jokes that "since gay pride month is over, july is now gay wrath month" are funny and all, it's important to remember that July is ACTUALLY Disability Pride Month and ya'll should really be focused on boosting disabled voices and issues this month! For instance, the fact that marriage equality doesn't actually truly exist in the United States for disabled people, or the fact that disabled people are forced to live in poverty or lose their disability benefits, or the fact that 1 in 5 people with chronic pain end up sufferring from alcoholism or other addictions, or how accessibility is still a daily battle for all of us, or how there are active hate groups on places like reddit who try to "call out" those they see as "faking" their disabilities.

This July, boost disabled voices. Talk about the issues that our community faces. Call out ableism.

Just wanted to put a plug in for one of my new fav websites, Can I Play That?, which focuses on accessbility reviews of video games by disabled gamers. As someone with a dexterity/mobility disability in my hands (carpal tunnel) I NEED games that allow easy and convenient ways to push buttons to do stuff and let me rebind keys at will. I’m now checking Can I Play That? before buying games since their reviews are ++. They include accessibility reviews for deaf/hard of hearing and cognitive disabiliies too.