I lost everything waiting for disability assistance. And I’m not the only one.

https://goo.gl/BmKuNk

Last week, ABC News reported that the backlog of Americans waiting to see if they qualify for disability assistance from Social Security has swollen to one million people and that thousands have died while waiting for the agency to deal with their cases. What they didn’t report is that thousands have also lived while waiting for the agency to deal with our cases. And that can be just as bad.

I was born in 1968 in York, Pa. My birthparents were semitruck drivers, so we bounced around the country quite a bit growing up. As a child, I was placed in foster care, and by 21, after working for a time in a warehouse, I, too went into truck driving.

Driving, loading and unloading trucks is not an easy business on the body. But as a young person, feeling invincible, I didn’t think much of it. I got married in 1997 and realized that being gone all the time wasn’t a great thing. So I left truck driving and went into trade school to become a locksmith. I love working with my hands, tinkering with things and figuring out how they work, so the job was a natural fit for me. Of course, lifting and moving heavy safes without proper equipment, I wound up damaging my back even more than I had already damaged it driving trucks.

But the pain just got progressively worse and worse and worse. I finally saw a doctor, who told me I had degenerating discs in my back, neuropathy in both legs and sciatica. I had cut back my hours, and at that time a co-worker suggested I should apply for Social Security Disability. I thought about it — after all, I don’t believe much in taking handouts. But I felt like I had paid into it, so I should be able to benefit from it. I applied.

But the agency ruled that, because I was still gainfully employed — at very reduced hours — I didn’t qualify for SSDI. So, I kept working, and things kept getting worse. By August 2015, my boss tearfully called me into his office and said: “Eric, I’m sorry — I have got to let you go. You need help, and you can’t keep up anymore.” He was right. I did need help.

Time stretched on without me working. My wife had just started her own hair styling business — her dream. But as bills came due and weeks went with no word from Social Security, our savings began to run out. The agency fought me at every turn: When I would request updates, they would tell me that my case was moving along, and nothing more. Every few months they sent me another pack of papers to fill out: What were my current conditions, was I working, and so forth. I would dutifully fill the packets out and send them back in, and I would hear nothing. All the while, our money dwindled away.

My wife and I began selling our things. We had to sell our car, and I sold my motorcycle, which I had built from the ground up. It wasn’t anything special, nothing fancy; but it was something I put a lot of time and sweat in to. I sold it to cover living expenses for about four months. We sold our furniture, and my wife took her clothes to a secondhand consignment shop in Las Vegas to sell them, too. I had 23 remote-controlled cars that I had accumulated over many years — one of my hobbies. I had to sell the entire collection to make it by. Kitchen appliances and everything else we could think of to put up for sale went, too.


Nearly 200 Protesters Arrested Demonstrating Against GOP Health Care Bill

ADAPT does it again!!!!!

https://goo.gl/8Rz68m

A total of 181 protesters were arrested on Monday for demonstrating against Republicans’ latest beleaguered attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Hundreds of activists had gathered on Capitol Hill on Monday morning in protest of the GOP bill, with many who said they were prepared to be arrested.

U.S. Capitol Police announced late Monday that their officers arrested demonstrators who “failed to cease and desist their unlawful demonstration activities” in the committee hearing room, which disrupted the hearing. 

Shortly after the hearing began, some protesters in wheelchairs were physically removed from the hearing room by police officers as protesters continued to chant “No cuts to Medicaid!”

Others were arrested in the hallway after police said they refused to cease and desist demonstrating there. 

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) put the committee in recess while police removed the protesters. Later, he told the shouting activists that if they can’t remain quiet, “then get the heck out.” 

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the main co-sponsor of the repeal legislation, appeared undisturbed by the activists’ opposition, and was observed yawning as some protesters were forcibly removed. 

Butch Brosman, a man with disabilities who traveled from Atlanta to protest the bill, told HuffPost that if it passed and became law, it would literally mean he and others with disabilities could die.

“Death,” Brosman said, “death for me, death for millions of Americans. It’s an assault on Medicaid, an assault on the lives of many Americans.”

Michael Bancrowsky, a man from Philadelphia who traveled to D.C. to protest the bill, told HuffPost he was scared of it passing. “It would be terrible because I need Medicaid. Basically I can barely afford the things I got, it would ruin everything in my life.”

Stephanie Woodward, a woman with disabilities who traveled from Rochester, New York to protest the bill, said its passage “would mean people with disabilities who need Medicaid in order to live would have their lives put at risk and their liberty.” Woodward, along with several other protesters, said they were with ADAPT, an advocacy group for disabled people. 

Ep 2: Immigration and Disability

https://goo.gl/PTdzp9

Today’s episode is on immigration and the Latinx disability community. 

Alice talks with two activists from Chicago and Oakland: Michelle Garcia and Alicia Contreras. There’s little known or written about undocumented disabled people. Michelle and Alicia join Alice in a conversation about immigration, deportation, the current political climate, and what disabled Latinx immigrants are experiencing right now. 

This episode was recorded before the Sept. 5, 2017 announcement by the Trump administration to end DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program).

Please note there are some technical issues with the sound in this episode.


Sunday Hours: Obamacare Website To Be Shut Down For Portion of Most Weekends

https://goo.gl/pcVri6

The Trump administration plans to shut down the federal health insurance exchange for 12 hours during all but one Sunday in the upcoming open enrollment season.

The shutdown will occur from 12 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET on every Sunday except Dec. 10.

The Department of Health and Human Services will also shut down the federal exchange — healthcare.gov — overnight on the first day of open enrollment, Nov. 1. More than three dozen states use that exchange for their marketplaces.

HHS officials disclosed this information Friday during a webinar with community groups that help people enroll.

The Trump administration has come under attack from critics who say that it is intentionally undermining the Affordable Care Act, through regulatory actions. It shortened the enrollment period, withdrew money for advertising and cut the budget for navigator groups, which help people shop for plans.

And now HHS is closing the site for a substantial portion of each weekend — for maintenance, officials said. That is the same time that many working patients — the prime target group for ACA insurance — could be shopping for their insurance, critics noted.

“The Department of Health & Human Services is actively trying to prevent people from signing up for healthcare coverage,” Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) tweeted. “This is outrageous.”