Killing Us Softly: Here as it is in Britain, the War on the Disabled Carries On With Little to No Attention from the “Progressive” Left

by Scott Creighton

The war on the disabled has been going on in this current version, since Obama and congress passed a bill in 2013 which was very similar to the one Ronald Reagan passed in 1981 which was designed to kick people off Social Security Disability by the tens of thousands. That bill back in the early 80s killed thousands of people, just like left-cover Obama’s bill is doing right now.

I know because I am one of it’s victims. I write about it because I have to.

(I’ve written about this extensively and you can access the history of my writing on this subject under the “personal” and “war on the disabled” headings on the left side of the webpage.)

Back in the 30s, the fascist Nazi party went after the disabled first as well. This is a well established fact. Neoliberalism is the economic ideology of fascism. Some call it “inverted totalitarianism” or “corpratism”.. but let’s not mince words. It’s fascism and more specifically, it’s Nazi fascism… the same Nazi fascism our big businesses backed in Germany, the same Nazi fascism our banking system backed, the same Nazi fascism Prescott Bush supported back then, the same Nazi fascism his neocon offspring back and the same Nazi fascism that was the ultimate goal of the Business Plot of 1934.

They call it different things now… hell, they don’t even like the term “neoliberalism” anymore, do they… but it’s the same.

They go after the disabled first for a reason: because they’re the easiest to get the general public to turn on.

Just like that old urban myth about the guy you once saw begging for money on the side of the road then getting in his luxury car at the end of the day, all disabled people are lying and they are perfectly fine… right?

Well, not ALL of them. Just most. Right? And even if it’s just HALF, then SOMETHING needs to be done, right?

Truth is, less than 3% of people on disability had been shown to be capable of returning to work before ObamaGod and the complicit congress passed their new law in 2013 to pump 1 billion bucks a year into reviewing hundreds of thousands of disability cases with the EXPRESSED intent to kick a LARGE PERCENTAGE of them off disability.

Truth is, there are some folks faking it. Obviously.

But in the past 20 years or so, getting disability in the first place was one of the hardest things to do in terms of getting money out of the government for anything. It’s easier to get a top secret government clearance and a stipend for a defense department contract than it is to get on disability. It took me three years of illness and abject poverty to do it. Hell, I was in the hospital recovering from my second Pulmonary Embolism when I received my notification letter. Literally. Had just nearly died a second time. And I had already been rejected twice before.

Here’s what people outside this process don’t understand, and I want my libertarian readers to grasp this as best as possible before responding to this article:

Obama’s version of Reagan’s Nazi War on the Disabled plan WAS NEVER INTENDED TO STOP FRAUD IN THE SYSTEM.

Chew on that for a second.

Fact is, I went before my last review hearing with Administrative Judge Weekley without legal representation. Do you know why that is? Because I’m disabled, living in squalor on next to nothing and couldn’t afford to pay some suit $3,000 to represent me.

And as soon as Weekley saw that, he knew he could use me and my case to pad his rejection percentage numbers with little push-back… so he did.

If I had been cheating the system and working off the books on the side, I could have walked in there with an expensive lawyer and walked out victorious.

The people who wrote that 2013 bill understood the number of fraudulent disability cases in the U.S. was minuscule compared to what they pretended it was. So that wasn’t the point.They don’t do these things for nothing.

They also knew, in advance, that the truly disabled wouldn’t be able to afford representation. Did they make it so public defenders could defend them in these cases? No. In fact, they made sure they couldn’t.

Think about that for a second.

If you are busted for shoplifting a loaf of bread, the country considers it your right to be represented by a lawyer in the matter because it may have an effect on the rest of your life, that little misdemeanor charge.

But when going before a judge to determine your disability status, a judge who’s been tasked with getting a certain percentage of folks on disability kicked off the program, the government didn’t see that as a big enough deal to demand you had legal representation in spite of the fact that if you are truly disabled, you certainly couldn’t afford to hire one on your own.

Who does that seem like it’s deliberately stacking the deck against? The the fraudsters or the disabled?

As is often the case, our neoliberal policies are mirrored over in the U.K. now, just like they were back in the days of Ronnie Ray Gun and Maggie Thatcher. And here’s a little insight into that as well:

Finding numbers like these here in the land of the Big PX is difficult but not impossible. I’m sure the numbers are similar though I haven’t found them yet. They are probably worse and yet, we hear nothing from the fake-left (the BernieCrats of the DNC) or event the progressives who are busy fighting for single payer while the sickest and most vulnerable among us are dropping like flies.

When the fraudsters are kicked off disability, when their scam is so obvious even their expensive lawyers can’t help them, they simply get a job and go back to work. Usually with a bill from SS for back-payments for a couple years (like they tried to do with me until I won my appeal with Social Security over that because I’m still clearly disabled)

However, when someone who’s actually disabled and can’t work is kicked off the program (by the way, I’ve paid into the disability insurance program under Social Security for a total of 30 years) they cant’ simply get a job and keep the roof over their heads and medicine in their cupboard.

Homelessness, depression, suicide, sudden exacerbation of illnesses due to lack of treatment and eventually… death… are the EXPECTED RESULTS.

And as you can see, their expectations are being realized. They know that the fuck they are doing. Why not. Been doing this particular program going on 90 years now. Worked then, works now.

But why do they do it? Are they really that concerned with the dreaded “national debt”?

Don’t be silly. They do it because, when they end up privatizing Social Security, they want AS MUCH MONEY IN THE SYSTEM AS POSSIBLE with AS FEW LIABILITIES ON THE BOOKS AS POSSIBLE. So… killing off the truly disabled is simply the result of a COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS. Cut off the dead flesh, the “useless eaters” and get the few fakers without good lawyers to get out there and work for next to nothing at Walmart.

It’s a win win. Right?

In my case, I moved my mother in here long before this Judge Weekley thing happened because it was getting harder and harder for her to do various things needed to live alone. Plus, as some of you may know, you don’t get paid much on disability, well below the national poverty level in fact, so it was good for our finances as well.

Had it not been for that decision way back when and some help from readers, I would be homeless right now. Homeless and without healthcare because as you know, it’s nearly impossible to maintain any kind of access to treatment without a means to communicate with doctors and aid plans or transportation to get there. I would be homeless, increasingly sicker and sicker (and with my blood clotting condition, it is doubtful if I would even be alive at this point) and in an ever deepening state of depression which of course would lead to only one inescapable conclusion: I would be just like one of those statistics up there reported from the U.K.

In this job environment, where potential employers can pull up your complete medical history as easily as they can pull up your criminal record, where potential employers have to cater to their insurance providers when it comes to hiring people or not based on their PREEXISTING MEDICAL CONDITIONS (since insurance coverage is MANDATED)… do you think someone who’s ACTUALLY disabled is going to be offered a job over a person who was caught FAKING IT?

Of course not. Big Insurance runs HR departments these days and they would rather have a fraud hired than a sick person… BECAUSE THE FRAUD WONT COST THEM A DIME.

It’s fucking convoluted isn’t it?

Now imagine being homeless AND actually sick (and steadily getting sicker) and trying to get that job.

That’s where the depression sets in brought on by the hopelessness and dread of what awaits you tomorrow.

Personally, I was put on disability for 5 reasons:

1. Post Thrombotic Disorder
2. Recurring DVTs in my left leg
3. Pulmonary Embolisms (have suffered from 3 at this point that required hospitalization)
4. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (from a lifetime of acute bronchitis)
5. a long history of profound diagnosed depression (two suicide attempts: one when I was 22 and the other a year or so after my first P.E. when I couldn’t work anymore and my business was gone)

Administrative Law Judge Weekley in his official decision noted that it was clear I suffered from each and every one of these ailments and went so far as too say he knew there would be few jobs available for someone in my condition and certainly none in the fields that I had previously worked in. He stated I had to be able to sit and stand at my own discretion, had to stay away from heavy machinery, couldn’t work in shops or places where the air quality would be less than good… in short, he acknowledged the authenticity of my various illnesses.

His vocational expert even told him there would be NO JOBS I could be hired for given my condition and IF I FOLLOWED THE DOCTOR’S ORDERS REGARDING THE TREATMENT OF MY COPD. Judge Weekley asked her again to clarify that point and she said she knew of no job that I could do if I took my medications the way the doctors prescribed for me.

And in the end, Weekley decided to ignore that one part of his expert witness’ testimony and declare me “fit to return to work”

In fact, he back-dated that determination to 2014, about a month after my 3rd and last P.E. which put me in the hospital and nearly killed me… again.

When I appealed Weekley’s decision to charge me with repaying SSD payments from 2014 on, a bill which would have FURTHER CRIPPLED MY CHANCES OF SURVIVAL… SS took a look at the evidence presented to Weekley during the hearing, and overturned his decision to force repayment from me.

I am eternally grateful they did that.

When I appealed Florida’s refusal to grant me Medicaid on the basis that I am disabled due to Weekley’s decision, they also looked at the evidence presented at the hearing and Weekley’s decision and they reversed that decision and now I have healthcare.

I am also eternally grateful they did that as well.

However, none of these things could have been done if I had no base of operation from which to launch my appeals. So, for that I am grateful to all those who have assisted me in my daily life struggles, namely you guys and my poor mother who deserves better than this.

Without these over-rulings, without the help, I wouldn’t be here. I would be an American example of what this particular neoliberal austerity measure is DESIGNED TO DO.

Look back up there at my health issues. Taking medical care from me would kill me in a matter of months. Hell, it almost did back in March.

But the real thing sitting up there, the thing that I wonder if it wasn’t the main reason Weekley decided to pull the trigger on me in spite of the obvious health issues I suffer from… is that last one. A lifetime of chronic depression exemplified by years of isolation, self medication and two previous suicide attempts.

Could anyone looking at that history knowing full well the legitimacy of my chronic illnesses, not expect a repeat of history? And in that vain of reasoning, is it not reasonable to expect… it’s what he wanted?

It’s hard for progressive, liberal-minded people, to understand the sheer depravity of the neoliberal mind much the same way it’s hard for us to understand why someone would go to great lengths to gin-up reasons to bomb Iraq or Gaza or Libya. The amount of suffering caused is mind boggling and young naive minds find it difficult to grasp how some out there can be so callus, so cruel as to willfully bring that much horror to bear on other people so far away for such petty, selfish reasons.

But they do.

And by the same token, they do it here everyday.

In Britain, they are at the point where the general population is rallying against the brutal neoliberal economic agenda of Theresa May and the Conservatives (and the New Left as well for that matter)

Over here, all we seem to care about is Russia and whether or not Donald Trump had a reason to fire James Comey.

The war on the disabled is real. It quietly collects victims everyday, men and women, actually disabled, suffering and dying without recourse, without sympathy, without a single soul to take up their story before the teachers and the nurses and the workers and the minorities and the Black Lives that matter and the “undocumented” and the refugees who have their protests covered by activists and journalists every week.

Everyday another number of victims die from this war. The rotting flesh being scraped from the body politic while few notice and even fewer care.

I share with you this deeply personal information because I have to. Because, for all the reasons I have listed above, I am one of the few who still have have a home, who still have access to the internet, because I still have a voice. Because I have to.

The progressive left needs to take up this effort. They need to demand to see the numbers release in the U.K. They need to know just how many disabled people have been killed by this program that working quietly behind the scenes in D.C. to kill off the useless eaters like me in the name of the neoliberal greater good.

They need to do that because yes, the Republican healthcare plan will kill poor folks in the future… but this thing, this Reaganite Nazi war on the disabled started off this time by Barack Obama, is killing people TODAY. And it’s killing a lot of em.

Killing a lot of us.

Source: https://willyloman.wordpress.com/2017/06/26/killing-us-softly-here-as-it-is-in-britain-the-war-on-the-disabled-carries-on-with-little-to-no-attention-from-the-progressive-left/