Carrol Cox wrote:
> >
> I agree with what I think you mean but not quite with what you say here.
> As your subsequent remarks make clear, in so far as disabled individuals
> are segregated, there is no way (or little way) in which they can
> develop that strength. Your work in the disabled rights movement (and
> that movement as a whole) is, I take it, an attempt to develop a
> collective power in which individual disabled people can then share and
> exemplify. Correct? (Probably the wording could be worked on.)
Yes, I did not mean to imply the the individual does it alone but rather that the individual gets to the place where they would "risk" joining collective activity. Persons who have spent much of their lives in these institutions often are turned into passive and submissive creatures to survive them. It is a risk to buck any authority in a nursing home, for instance. So getting to the point that one is willing to take the next step to get beyond the fear of retribution, etc. is a big one.
snip Carol
There are a lot of
> contradictions in the delivery of mental health services to those who
> can't pay. One friend (schizophrenic) is obtaining fairly decent
> treatment from CHS, and his condition is under fair control -- but what
> he _really_ needs is at least $1000.00 more a month in personal income.
> His remaining "peculiarities" would be no disaster were he financially
> stable. As it is, he will be very lucky if he stays permanently outside
> the clutches of the law.
>
> Carrol
>
Yes, this is a major problem. Lack of appropriate services at the
onset of a mental (or really any) disability often means spending down
all of one's income and this can result in homelessness. The system
fails to provide the person with the underpinnings to make an
adjustment and get proper services and financial aid that would allow
the person to restabilize, find a job, a life, etc. The average
federal SSI benefit is about $370 per month (states often supplement
but not much) and the average SSDI benefit is $780 but these programs
take lots of time to get onto, the qualification for them is rigorous,
SSA is backlogged in claims, some people get denied and must appeal.
All this can drive one into desperate poverty at the same time they
are trying to refigure their lives. It is almost as if the system
wants people to die. I actually had a SS worker tell me that the
reason a disabled person does not get Medicare for two years after
they get disability benefits is because lots of people die during that
time and Medicare doesn't have to foot the bills.
But this is the welfare state in the USA. Horrible, punitive.
Marta