why cutting Social Security Disability Income matters to everyone

Last week, Congress passed legislation that will make changes in how the Social Security program is managed, resulting in as much as a 20 per cent reduction in income for people with disabilities who receive payments through the Social Security Disability Insurance program by the end of 2016. In case you are still thinking the changes in the Social Security are far off, 2016 is next year. It is time to discuss why this matters and what a 20 per cent cut in income would mean for some of these people.

News articles over the past week have in some places made mention of how the actions of Congress with regard to Social Security will pit retirees against people with disabilities as retirees view Congress’ actions beneficial and people with disabilities view them as harmful. What none of the articles has mentioned yet is how the disability community is divided, and this is truly sad to me. I have read comments from other blind people who feel that those of us who receive SSDI are taking advantage of handouts and should be working because there is no good reason why we can’t. One person pointed out to me that people without disabilities don’t have a safety net when they aren’t employed. So, the implied question says, why should we?

There are myriad things tied up in what I want to say in response to these things. First, in today’s society, blindness often does not exist alone. It exists alongside other medical conditions that must be treated in order to keep a person medically able to work. These include but are not limited to diabetes, seizure disorders, asthma, and mental health issues. Some of these conditions might be classified as disabilities in their own right, and that leads to the next point.

When a person applies for assistance through a social program, it is often not provided holistically. Blind people have supported this “blindness-only approach” because in a holistic approach blindness-related needs tend to go unmet. However, in a blindness-only approach, other needs go unmet. There is no happy medium, and people who are blind and who do not have these additional challenges have not done well at becoming aware of or understanding and advocating for the needs of people with multiple disabilities. They get lumped into a “them” category, a minority. In the SSDI discussion, it becomes ok for “them” to get SSDI (because they need it) but not for the rest of us. It may never occur to the commentor that they are reading a comment from a person with multiple health conditions who also is looking for work, who does not prefer to stay on SSDI but who needs it during the time they are not working because it allows them to pay their expenses.

Finally, while some people with disabilities are fortunate to find employment early in life–and I know of several who fit this description–there are many who do not. There are many things that unemployment studies leave out. If a person does not find employment when they are young, or if their resume is full of volunteer activity at agencies for the blind, it is unlikely that they will find full-time employment outside the blindness field even if they search diligently. I have both observed this and lived it. The older a person gets, and the more this pattern becomes a part of their life as they do more and more volunteer work in an attempt to demonstrate that they are not inactive while they also spend hours and hours filling out job applications and re-crafting resumes, the less likely it is that they will find employment. Even if they take side jobs to earn a little extra cash along the way, those things don’t always look professional on a resume, and sometimes the jobs don’t last long. People who are very creative might hear of someone who is willing to pay $50 for someone to come and clean out their house after they move, than hear of someone else who needs child care over spring break, etc. This type of one-day-at-a-time work does not go well on a resume, and it is very stressful living. But anyone who thinks that people who receive SSDI are sitting on their behinds, not bothering to contribute back to society, has serious misconceptions.

I describe these conditions because I want those of you who read and who don’t live under them to understand what a los of 20 per cent of a Social Security Disability Insurance payment means. Media state that an average payment is $1,000 a month. For those who are not good at math, this means that some payments are very high and some are very low. SSDI payments are based on how much a person has paid into the program; so if you begin receiving them after a long and successful work history your payments could be $1,500/month or more. On the other hand, if you didn’t work much or your pay was low, your payments could be $500/month. 20 per cent of $500/month is $100, so that person is left with $400/month. Medicare premiums are still $100/month, and if that person pays a premium for a Part D drug plan, that could be as much as $70/month. That leaves the person with near $230/month to live on. Let us suppose that the person really is a person who falls into the category of people who are medically unable to work–this program does not just apply to people who are blind, remember. How does it feel to reduce a person to living on $230/month? I can’t say that I lived on that little even in the early 90s. Furthermore, SSI recipients who live at home and don’t receive full benefits because it is assumed that someone is helping them meet their needs receive more than this. Do we want to be a society that stoops so low, especially when it is already hard for people with disabilities who do actively look for work?

About Sarah Blake LaRose

Sarah Blake LaRose teaches Biblical Hebrew and Greek at Anderson University School of Theology and Christian Ministry in Anderson, Indiana. She is one of three blind academic scholars who received the Jacob Bolotin Award from the National Federation of the Blind in 2016 in recognition of innovative work in the field of access to biblical language texts and tools for people who are blind. In addition to her work as a professor, she provides braille transcription services specializing in ancient languages. Her research interests concern the intersection of disability, poverty, and biblical studies.

About Sarah Blake LaRose

Sarah Blake LaRose teaches Biblical Hebrew and Greek at Anderson University School of Theology and Christian Ministry in Anderson, Indiana. She is one of three blind academic scholars who received the Jacob Bolotin Award from the National Federation of the Blind in 2016 in recognition of innovative work in the field of access to biblical language texts and tools for people who are blind. In addition to her work as a professor, she provides braille transcription services specializing in ancient languages. Her research interests concern the intersection of disability, poverty, and biblical studies.

One comment:

  1. This is well written. I agree and lifting up prayer for politicians to seek God’s truth during this Legislation..

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *