Unfit for work

[The Heretic]

http://apps.npr.org/unfit-for-work/

In the past three decades, the number of Americans who are on disability has skyrocketed. The rise has come even as medical advances have allowed many more people to remain on the job, and new laws have banned workplace discrimination against the disabled. Every month, 14 million people now get a disability check from the government.

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[OLDNEWBIE]

That's part of how they get the false low unemployment figure. Nobody that's paying attention really believes that nonsense!

 

[The Heretic]

I remember when I crushed my foot and had it reconstructed with surgery the next day.

I had to take a week off work because I couldn't stand, even on crutches - the pain was too much.

I showed up for work the next week with a cast and pins sticking out of my foot. I propped my foot up on a chair and worked as long as I could (I write software) until the pain was too much.

By the next week I was working regular 8 hour days.

Once the cast came off I was taking breaks to get back on my feet. First it was trying to make it across the parking lot to the sidewalk - with crutches. Then every day I would walk up the sidewalk and back. Each day I would make it a little farther. Then I was walking with a cane. Every day I went to work and every day I would walk a little further.

It took 6 months until I could walk without a cane and I still had to carry it for about a year in case I needed it to walk long distances. I still carry it in my car.

I remember going to visit a friend while on crutches - on a Sunday. His girlfriend of the time was there. I mentioned that I had to leave so I could rest and be ready for work on Monday. She was aghast that I was working - after all, she was on "disability" for having a "bad knee" (it looked like she walked fine to me).

I know I have an easy desk job and now that I am 60 I can't work manual labor jobs due to my bad back and being out of shape. But when I was down and out, it just never occurred to me to give up and go on disability.

 

[RW-Ore]

Worked since I was 16 years old and didn't draw one day of rockin chair [unemployment] retired this month at 66

 

[Caveman Jim]

Not many on disability have the ability to sit in a chair to work, most work with their hands and backs outside in all types of weather. Your company is not your friend & they will throw you under the bus once you get hurt at work.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[OLDNEWBIE]

I don't have a problem with getting on assistance if you become partially disabled but it should only be a supplement.
Bad knee, back, eyesight etc. you're not paralyzed for god sake (some of them work too!) get up and do SOMETHING!
The system is geared to encourage more and more to get addicted to government cheese than ever before.
Once hooked on the Dole, do you think these people vote with gun rights or national debt as a priority?

 

[coastal steelheader]

Not many on disability have the ability to sit in a chair to work, most work with their hands and backs outside in all types of weather. Your company is not your friend & they will throw you under the bus once you get hurt at work.
Just my 2 cents.

Agreed but there is a real problem in poorer areas of the country where people go on SSI because they can't find jobs. NPR did an excellent story on this topic and even interviewed people from Aberdeen who were encourage by state agencies (Worksource and DSHS) to go on SSI

 

[Caveman Jim]

Workforce, what a joke they are, they have to be the worst in the PNW.

 

[clearconscience]

I had a pilanodial cyst I had removed from my arse. Basically cut my whole arse crack out and had the skin and muscle stretched and stapled back together. Not fun.
I had it done on friday and went back to work on monday. Couldn't do a lot and I have a physically demanding job. I couldn't sit down for a month. So working was even harder not being able to sit all day. But that didn't stop me.

I have a friend that just broke his neck diving in a pool, he was in a traction frame bolted into his head that day and almost drowned they had to do cpr on him. He was still on his phone on speaker talking to people to make sure his clients deals got done properly ( in real estate).
That day he had an 8hour surgery to fuse 4 vertebrae in his neck together, a couple days later with a breathing tube down his throat he was still trying to work his deals.

Can't tell me these lazy pieces of shet can't work.

 

[Scott F]

I am service connected disabled. spend around four hours unable to work at least five times a week. The vertigo is so bad it is sit down, lay down, or fall down. I took early retirement. I am 65. If my disability bothers you then perhaps you should see if there is an ignore function on this forum.

 

[bolus]

I am service connected disabled. spend around four hours unable to work at least five times a week. The vertigo is so bad it is sit down, lay down, or fall down. I took early retirement. I am 65. If my disability bothers you then perhaps you should see if there is an ignore function on this forum.

I think the concern is abuse of the system rather than it being there to serve the people, like yourself, that really need it.

People really do consider disability a career option. Its not uncommon in my practice to hear "I had to get a job because I could not qualify for disability." Sorry, but if you can work full time at a job then you are not disabled. There are a huge amount of people that say "well, my back hurts some time, let me see if I can get a lawyer and qualify for disability." Yet they have completely normal xrays and MRI scans.

One the flip side, there are people that have real disabling conditions that cant get treatment covered by their insurance. I have several patients who are on CareOregon (one of the state Medicaid plans that we all pay for in taxes), that wont cover a back surgery or carpal tunnel surgery or physical therapy so the patient gets on disability.

It makes me want to smash my head in with frustration. You mean the state wont pay for a $2000 hand surgery so instead we put them on disability and give them $1500 a month for the rest of their lives!?!

 

[2506]

It's just like insurance fraud. Disability insurance is a safety net--something to fall back on in hard times. People abuse it all the time, just like insurance. Some people treat them like investments and want a return. That's not how either of those things work.

 

[Provincial]

Scott, I don't believe that anyone here disagrees with supporting someone who is truly disabled. The problem is that there are so many collecting Disability payments who could work if they wanted to. Compound this a government that encourages fraud in the system, and you have a real problem.

While I have full sympathy for you, I am closely connected to someone who claims service-related PTSD, but is fully able to work. After his then-wife got a big settlement from a car accident, he had one of his own, then sued and lost. In candid conversations with family members, he said that he lost because he was still working, and had learned his lesson. He had another fender-bender within a year and stopped working, then sued. When he lost that one, his wife left. A new girl friend worked for the State VA, and within a few months, he was on Disability! He borrowed a large amount of money from his folks and reported it as pre-accident income to up his payments, and soon went from broke to a new house, car, and boat.

Don't get me started about Disability fraud! I believe that if we could eliminate it, those of you who really deserve it could be paid twice as much and us taxpayers would be paying less than half of what we do now.

 

[BoonDocks36]

.... SNIPPED
.... I propped my foot up on a chair and worked as long as I could (I write software) until the pain was too much.

By the next week I was working regular 8 hour days.

With All Due RESPECT. Writing software is not included in Millions of Blue Collar WORKERS definition of that Word, Work.

One of my former Bosses used to look at me, and say I need you Back Hoe Experience... And I would grab my shovel.... I also tied Rebar for that man. The truck was not allowed Near the hole, it could disturb our "dig"... So I was Constantly climbing the Rebar WALL, and then I would commonly pull 8-10 Twenty Foot Pieces off the truck... And Shoulder it, to carry to the "dig"

Another said, I need another Fork Lift .... And I would go Pick Up, and carry... Four Sheets of 3/4 inch Plywood, carry it just ~short~ Of a full city block. And I did that Eight Plus HOURS a day.

...... SNIPPED ...... I know I have an easy desk job and now that I am 60 I can't work manual labor jobs due to my bad back and being out of shape. But when I was down and out, it just never occurred to me to give up and go on disability.

This was the saving grace of your post..... It was a JOB! Work, makes a man Sweat!!! You probably had Air Conditioning, to protect you, And your Computers as well!

I have had Jobs... And I have worked... I actually am trying to return to having a Job.... At least Part Time... But I will never be able to Really WORK, again...

WORK, Wears a Man Out. Breaks down his body... Makes Young men OLD, before their time...

Of Course, Your Mileage May Vary...

Sincerely,

philip

 

[The Heretic]

My point was that even though I was literally crippled, as soon as I could hobble around and think clearly (which isn't easy when taking pain meds), I showed up for work. The friends girlfriend who said she couldn't work because of a bad knee and was therefore on disability, wasn't a manual laborer and there are jobs out there where you can sit most of the day - if you have half a brain.

That said, I have worked my share of manual labor jobs - the worst one was in the mushroom plant in Salem. I worked in temps of 150*F (verified by a thermometer they kept in the building) while loading the hot manure, ammonia based fertilizer and straw mixture into the growing beds - I came out of there smelling and looking like I had stood in a shower of urine - everybody did.

Backbreaking work. One of the few jobs I ever quit (I went to work picking cherries instead) after two weeks. Few white people lasted more than a few days there. Most of the workers were hispanic and I suspect most were probably undocumented (there was more than one INS raid there over the years).

I also worked on various factory assembly lines, worked driving various ag harvesters, set choker in the woods (that was hard and dangerous work), various ag manual labor and I grew up on a farm, doing whatever work I was able to do from the time I was old enough to walk and work in the fields.

I was in the USCG for 4 years risking my life on SAR missions, to earn enough credits in the old GI bill and save enough money to go to college - I took out loans and worked summers to finish my degree and towards the end I still ran out of money - nobody else paid my way - I earned it. Out of college I didn't land in some cushy job, I worked part time jobs until I could get a real job - then I only made $19K per year traveling around testing communications systems in Alaska and Montana for 3 years until I could land something better.

That whole time I had to support a family, whether I had a job or not.

So yeah, my job is not blue collar, but I do what I can and I show up for work every day I can. I haven't had a paid day off in over 4 years (as a contractor I get no PTO) except for one sick day this year because Portland now requires paid sick leave.

I consider myself somewhat fortunate in the sense that I work a good paying desk job when I know I can't do manual labor for a living anymore whether I wanted to or not - I wouldn't last more than a day or two.

That said, I am where I am because I worked very hard to get there, I made sacrifices and worked long hours (60 to 80 hour weeks sometimes) to prove I could get the job done when given the opportunity. I taught myself and spent long hours improving my skills and knowledge - I still spend several hours a week, unpaid, improving and increasing my skills and experience.

I haven't had a pay raise in over three years, even though I have gone from knowing nothing about the business domain I write for, or the codebase, to now being the unofficial lead on a $2+M project - because that is how my employer and the client manage things - if I don't like it I have to go work somewhere else (and once this project is done I may do just that).

So no, it wasn't a bed of roses to get here and it still isn't. It has taken me almost 30 years since college to get here and I have another 5 to go before I can retire.

 

[decklin]

I was in a serious motorcycle accident. I had just arrived at the er and was about to go into surgery before being admitted to the icu.
Both my lungs were collapsing and I still called my work to let them know I wasn't going to make it in the next morning.
Didn't want anyone to think I was a no call-no show.
Went back to work in a wheel chair with only one working arm.
I kinda get frustrated when people make excuses for why they can't work.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I am service connected disabled. spend around four hours unable to work at least five times a week. The vertigo is so bad it is sit down, lay down, or fall down. I took early retirement. I am 65. If my disability bothers you then perhaps you should see if there is an ignore function on this forum.

Scott, brother I feel your pain, I too had that nasty vertigo since 95, it has affected my hearing & that tinnitus is horrifying at times.

I have worked hard labor jobs since I started working at 13, I have worked sick (pneumonia, allergies and meniears disease) and hurt (to numerous appendages to mention) during the last 50 years, no cushie inside job for me to skate...

 

[Caveman Jim]

Scott, I don't believe that anyone here disagrees with supporting someone who is truly disabled. The problem is that there are so many collecting Disability payments who could work if they wanted to. Compound this a government that encourages fraud in the system, and you have a real problem.

While I have full sympathy for you, I am closely connected to someone who claims service-related PTSD, but is fully able to work. After his then-wife got a big settlement from a car accident, he had one of his own, then sued and lost. In candid conversations with family members, he said that he lost because he was still working, and had learned his lesson. He had another fender-bender within a year and stopped working, then sued. When he lost that one, his wife left. A new girl friend worked for the State VA, and within a few months, he was on Disability! He borrowed a large amount of money from his folks and reported it as pre-accident income to up his payments, and soon went from broke to a new house, car, and boat.

Don't get me started about Disability fraud! I believe that if we could eliminate it, those of you who really deserve it could be paid twice as much and us taxpayers would be paying less than half of what we do now.

To help stop DI fraud people need to speak up when they see fraud!!!

 

[Provincial]

To help stop DI fraud people need to speak up when they see fraud!!!

We did. No one would listen!

 

[clearconscience]

The govt doesn't want to stop the billions in abuse of the system. It's not their money and it's how the pay for votes to stay in power on the sweat of us sheeple.

I work at a health club and see people all the time working out that are in better shape than i am and happen to be on disability, wtf?
If they paid these militarized federal agencies to police the fraud we would be able to save this country billions a year and force more people to work for a living which would raise the tax income, and give more money to our returning disabled vets, and people who REALLY need it, but we wouldn't want to fix the broken system that would be silly.