On the Dole
No photos today.
Just a few words about disability seekers.
One of my ‘jobs’ is doing disability assessments for Social Security. Applicants are scheduled every fifteen minutes from 8 AM until 6PM. There is a four page summary to be completed and sometimes medical records to be reviewed. Then I must dictate a summary and my impression of the claimed disability and the applicant’s ability to do work.
It is a very good thing that I do not do this on a regular basis as it is very depressing.
There are people who claim regular health issues as disability such as elevated cholesterol. Some people want disability so they can get health insurance—-ObamaCare not being helpful. Some people want disability for health problems they did not take care of with simple measures such as exercising more and eating less—a lot less. Some might have their problem fixed with surgery but refuse to do so because they ‘heard it didn’t work’.
At what point does society need to provide for people that refuse to care for themselves? Some of these don’t like their job–but given the opportunity for an education frittered it away.
Then there are the scammers…some are pretty funny—the woman who claimed she couldn’t get around without her walker–folded it up as she exited the building and walked briskly across to her car–walker folded over her arm…..or the woman who claimed she could not raise her hands above her shoulders but yet had expertly applied makeup and a fancy hairdo that she proudly claimed she did by herself.
I will have another round of disability exams to complete later this month–but I tie it onto some sight seeing photography adventures. I don’t make the final determination in these claims–and never know how they turn out.
I just need to focus on the photo-ops coming up–
Sylvia Weir Art 
Fascinating. What kind of safety net should a society provide for those who won’t take care of themselves? As a teacher I observed this daily. And I had students who did not want their education. They would rather do drugs. And planned to become rich selling drugs. Students. Heck, I had a son. He barely graduated from high school and had to learn everything first hand, would not take advice. Now he has regrets. He’s 43. Never got into drugs, thank goodness.