The Dangling Carrot...

Hello my 2 readers! Sorry it's been so long. It's really been difficult to find something to write about. Actually, it's hard to pick. Sometimes, my life seems so damn crazy between work, home and the kid, I feel like I am twirling in the vortex of a tornado. I hope I land soon. For now, I will discuss my favorite topic: The Government. More specifically, SOCIAL SECURITY and DISABILITY.

Now I have my own issues because I cannot get Brittany on disability because even at an IQ of 73, she is not "severe enough" according to their standards. I want her to have a little assistance because she is in no way able to care for herself and have the responsibilities that a regular 19 year old has. That aside, the following rant has to do with one of my clients.

Mike is 38 years old and his IQ is probably in the 60s. He has a form of Autism along with being MR(mental retardation). I just adore him. He makes me smile even when I am tired and having a rotten day. I see him and he smiles that big smile and says, "Oh Julie, there you are! Do you see me smiling at you? It's cuz I'm happy to see you!" I recently heard him tell a clerk, "I always smile when I'm with Julie." Now how can I feel bad?

In an earlier post, I relayed the story of how Soc Security, 3 years ago sent Mike a back payment of at least $1500. His worker at the time set it aside, knowing they would be asking for it back. Sure enough, that's what happened, so she sent the money back. Then last year, they wrote Mike saying he had never paid it back. We found the receipt that said "keep this for your receipt". The woman who does payee services argued with Soc Security because even though they had cashed his check, they didn't care if he had a receipt. Finally it was resolved. Turns out the federal office and the local office did not communicate with each other. Gee, imagine that.
NOW here it is, 2008. Suddenly, I get a letter for Mike stating that he is owed a back payment since 1997 for cost of living increase. By the time I got the letter, over $4700 was deposited into his checking account. A bit leary of this, I have made several calls to soc security and 4 calls later, it is being investigated and is being thought to be a mistake. While I was secretly hoping this money was his, I had a bad feeling. This was because the letter stated that soc sec had stopped paying someone on this record. Mike is the only one on his record. Even Soc Sec did not know what it was about.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Then I started thinking. This is not the first time it's happened to Mike and not the first time it's happened to one of our clients. These are the people who are the most vulnerable and cannot advocate for themselves most often. If I had allowed him to spend the money and then a few months later, they came back to say, 'oh WE made a mistake, so now YOU owe US', he could not pay that back. Then what happens is that they start taking the repayment out of his current disability. This is a total trap of the worst kind. If I had not made a nuisance out of myself, as I almost always do, no one would know it was a mistake. It makes me so angry. Mike will never be able to work in a job to support himself due to his disabilities, yet he has to be as independent as he is capable of being.

When will our government take responsibility for its own mistakes? Maybe do some extra work so you DON'T make the mistake in the first place and don't make the very people you say you are helping pay the price for your inability to do your job.

I'm telling you, Mike has a helluva lot more brains than those people.

I reserve the right to climb back on my soapbox at a later ranting.

Peace and Common Sense
J