Ugueth Will Shiv You wrote:
Recently, This American Life covered a topic that is about as controversial as one could hope: Americans on disability. It’s a subject on the tip of every politician’s tongue and lawmaker’s pen. Are people cheating the system? Why do so many people go on disability?
In listening to the podcast, I was prepared to hear stories of how people applied for disability despite being fully capable of holding a job. I was prepared to become angry. I was prepared to write my congressman.
When I started hearing the numbers associated with the small Alabama town profiled in the podcast, my expectations appeared to be justified:
-150,000 new jobs are created each year in the United States since 2009
- 250,000 people apply for disability each year during that span
“People are just getting lazy,” I thought as my 30-year old self drove to work in Corporate America. “You offer someone a handout and they will take advantage!” As fair and balanced as I try to be in my thinking, I am just as prone to jumping to conclusions as anyone else.
A doctor known for approving disability claims was profiled. During typical office visit and following a full physical exam, this doctor would ask the government-funding-hopeful a question you’ve probably never been asked by a medical professional: “What grade in school did you finish?”
The doctor’s rationale for asking this question was astounding: If the patient did not finish high school, what kind of job — in a world saturated by college graduates and younger applicants — would hire him or her? Because of this hiring struggle, the doctor would recommend his patient receive disability payments. At the very least the patient would receive some kind of money. This enraged me.
As the podcast continued and more interviews with people from the small town poured through my car stereo, a different picture began to form in my mind. One interview in particular sticks out.
An elderly woman was asked by the podcast reporter why she was on disability. The woman reported that she had suffered a legitimate back injury as the result of a car accident years before. After numerous attempts at doing various jobs that involved lifting or moving heavy objects, she applied for and was granted disability benefits.
Since the woman said she would prefer to still be working, the podcast reporter asked what job — considering her physical limitations — would be her “dream job”. The woman replied that she would love to be the “lady who sat at the Disability Office desk to weed out those people who are cheating the system.”
An honest answer, right? Not because of why you are thinking.
This woman wanted to work at the Disability Office not because of the noble cause she reported, but simply because she would be able to sit down all day. She later told the reporter that she had never heard of a job where you can sit.
This blew my mind. Was it possible that someone in the year 2013, regardless of where they lived, could never see a single job that required employees to sit during their shift? The podcast reporter asked the same question. She also reviewed the town’s current job openings:
McDonald’s cashier
McDonald’s janitor
Occupational therapist
Factory worker
Well wouldn’t you know it? Turns out that depending on where you live, there is a very good chance that the majority of available jobs require workers to be on their feet most of the day. Many of these jobs only pay minimum wage, as well.
So many Americans who are deemed “disabled” (legitimately or not) have a choice that opened my eyes to a whole different reality:
Work a minimum-wage job and make approximately $15,000 a year (no benefits)
Go on disability and receive $13,000 a year from the government (including full health insurance)
Is this really even a choice?
Here is a link to the NPR report, or something that expounds upon the interview.
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