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Re: Experience applying or disability?

Posted by Austin on August 20, 2003 at 15:27:48:

In Reply to: Re: Experience applying or disability? posted by sleepykitty on August 19, 2003 at 16:30:27:

Oh, Sleepykitty, how well I know N's variability! LOL!! (BTW, I'm 57, onset age 12, dx age 18, 'classic' baaad case until mid-30s, but doing much better now. But, boy, do I pay if I forget to take my pills!)

Certainly, some PWNs truly cannot function in a normal work environment, and they have my every sympathy. I'm grateful that there is a support program like SSDI (or better yet, private LTD).

No, I was referring to folks who go on penny-ante SSDI, often at a young age, when they could do SOMETHING, even if it's not what meets their dreams. I'm the first to acknowledge how badly N beats us up, sucking the life out of a person, and if one's depression is not dealt with, desperate choices may seem to be all that's left.

Daily, I work with people facing serious, frequently fatal disease, often for years and almost always with monumental suffering. Most of them could get SSDI in a heartbeat, and we assist them with that. But for some, first I help them explore what it really means, beyond getting a check, to be "Disabled" -- self-perception, dreams, finances, quality of life, etc. If Diasability is what they want & need, we're behind them 110%. But if what they really need is some help re-framing their place in the world of personal efficacy and self-definition (and perhaps a [preferably short-term] course of anti-depressants), then that's the appropriate route. The real enemy, at the moment, may be that sense of being overwhelmed, or that "what-if" anxiety about job performance.

Putting anyone down for what they genuinely had to do was NOT my intent -- Apologies if it seemed that way. However, my perception from several years reading this wonderful forum is that sometimes a PWN is making what seems like an easy choice, without really understanding the constraining, often life-short-changing, implications.

On a different track, I also marvel (negatively) at the witch's brew of medications some people are on. Jeez -- no wonder they're in a hole! But that's another thread...


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