Re: SSDI vs. SSI - Innacurate info...

[Guest guest]

:

I am a Social Worker working with veterans with mental illness and drug

and alcohol problems. You're last post is completely incorrect and very

discriminatory. All persons receiving SSI/D for a drug or alcohol problem

were kicked off of it in 1996. This was a huge bureaucratic nightmare

because, while not all persons with drug and alcohol problems have a serious

mental illness, a large proportion of persons with SERIOUS mental illness

(schizophrenia, rapid cycle bi-polar, etc.) also have a drug or alcohol

problem (estimates vary by setting but range from 5% to almost 80% --the

eighty percent is of the fequently hospitalizzed not the general MI

population). This group are termed the dually-diagnosed. Some began to

use drugs/alcohol to self-medicate and some were forced to live in drug

infested mental health ghettos by a combination of deinstitutionalization and

a cut in affordable housing, single resident occupancy units. Many of

these dually diagnosed persons who quite honestly can not work except in work

programs or supportive programs, lost their SSI/D in 1996 because the

bureaucrats just cut people w/ drug or alcohol problems without looking at

all their diagnoses. A psychiatrist told me he actually had a client commit

suicide because he lost his benefits and was too overwhelmed to know what to

do to get them back and didn't know how he could live without them.

Furthermore, since this change in 1996, even persons with very legitimate,

very disabling conditions SEPERATE from a substance abuse problem have a

harder time getting SSI/D because anyone applying with a substance abuse

history is held to a more stringent standard.

People with mental illness have to face enough stigma as it is; please

be sure you're info is accurate before you incite more stigma. Thank you.

- Marti

[Guest guest]

Sorry Jeanie: I meant to address this post to . - Marti

[Guest guest]

Marti

I am sorry if I offended you, and I was not being discriminatory. I worked

for Child & Family Services in Knoxville before I started working in medical

transportation. True, the government did take away the SSI from the

alcoholics and addicts, but most of them [in Tennessee] got their SSI back.

It may be totally different where you are, but I've worked with many of the

addicts and they do indeed call their checks a crazy check. I did not imply

that all of them are abusing the system. And many of the mental health

patients truly had illness and deserved their checks.

[Guest guest]

:

I was not offended that you said many of them call their checks " crazy

checks. " I've heard people use this phrase too. What was offensive, was

your statement to the effect that it appeared easier for these people to get

benefits than " people with a physical illness. " This comment placed a

hierarchy of worthiness on disabilities and further stigmatized persons with

mental illness by it's assumption that it's not a real illness. I would

never want to have to choose a disability, or make a hierarchy of

disabilities, but I have known literally hundreds of people with major mental

illness and I would take even the most serious CMT any day over Schizophrenia

or Mental Retardation. These people do have a physical illness! And, you

may have gotten to know many of these people in your job capacity, which may

have made the process " appear " easy. But for the individuals and the case

workers helping them get benefits, I'm fairly sure that it was not easy.

Also - I do know that, those who did get their checks back only did so

because they also had a major mental illness or other serious illness. It is

simply impossible to get the check back if they did not; if you know of any

specific exceptions, I'd love to hear them because I have not met one in any

state. Some of the illnesses are not immediately apparent, but they are

there.

Lastly, SSI does go to people with MR and folks previously considered

" institutional " but lots of other people, including many with CMT, back

troubles, etc. get SSI.

- Marti