|
|
When I was a teenager I tried to stay fit. I rode my bicycle 20 - 50 miles a day. I participated in bowling, roller skating, rock climbing. I could bench press 180 lbs and could curl 140 lbs hundreds of times. In January 1978, when I was just 18 years old, I had a work related injury. I was rushed back to work "to get a quick compensation ruling." When my back still hurt, I was told to find other work. My employer quickly found an excuse to fire me.
Every doctor I have seen since (there have been dozens), told me that I should give up and stop working because I was working my way into a wheelchair. For years I was unable to get Health insurance, because no-one would cover my back injuries. Unable to pay I doctored myself for a dozen years. Finally in July of 1990, I was able to get in the Geisinger Plan. My job and health insurance ended in January 1995, so once again I went out on my own, because I can not afford doctors and medicines and no-one including medicaid will do anything for me.
I continued to find work by knowing exactly what my limitations were. No lifting, avoiding stress, taking breaks and knowing that when I exceeded my limitations to lay down for a few days to recover. Over the years my limitations changed and by June 2007, I knew that I had reached a point where I could not hold a job due to those limitations.
Currently It takes me two - three days to fill out paperwork, that the bean counters say should take less than an hour. I can't stand for more than a couple hours, I can't sit for more than an hour, I can't write for more than a few minutes, I can't sleep when I want to and sometimes, I just fall asleep with no notice, I can't drive for more than thirty minutes. I tend to drool at times and I have to pee as often as once an hour and some days my hands are cramped and swollen to the point I can't wipe my ass properly. Being as I have always tried to be honest with my prospective employers about my limitations, who in their right mind would hire me? I could lie and say I'm healthy, but there is no way I would last more than a couple weeks at any job. I am 50 years old and due to my disabilities and inability to find supportive employment, have had to move in with my mother, at the suggestion of the welfare department, who still refuse to give me any help whatsoever.
Now after 30 years of pain and suffering and a trip to a SSA doctor, where I could not even touch my toes for an exam, some bean counter that has never seen or met tells me that I am not disabled and that if I want to get the benefits that I am entitled to I have to hire a lawyer and give him a percentage of my due! I have to say that I AM JUST PISSED OFF because they have gladly taken my money for 35 years and now when I need some back, all I get is red tape. The way I figure it my dad died this year, so someone needs to take his place. Yet Someone decided to give it to my ten years old grand-daughter, because she can't sit still or shut her trap in school, they call it Attention Deficit disorder and are giving my working daughter (minus the deadbeat dad) $800 a month for her learning disability, I am thinking there is something wrong with this system... Especially since I am now being told, due to the fact that there are 8 million other Americans in the exact same state as myself, that it could take as long as two years just to get in front of the judge. Another good reason to elect me, I need the money
