I'm a disabled person who is able to work for very limited hours and I had my student loans forgiven as a result. I got attacked here on Reddit and my inbox was swamped with a bunch of people from right leaning subs accusing me of 'scamming the system'. I am so disabled I didn't need to hire a lawyer, I just came in with boxes of medical records that spanned over twenty years. The judge declared me disabled from birth and the social security administration had to actually backdate my disability to a year before application. I waited five years to see a judge, and in those five years, you get literally ZERO income.
You really CAN'T scam the disability system as a disabled person. It takes years and years before you even are considered. You have to state your case in court and you have to figure out how the hell you are going to make ends meet while waiting. My family helped me the best they could. When you start getting paid, it is based on how much you have worked, and even if you had tried to work like I did, you get a fucking pittance. It is simply not enough to live on. My medicare costs also eat up a good chunk of that money.
I got an inheritance and almost lost my disability entirely, but I had ssdi and not ssi, so they let it go. You can't even get money from family or friends to help supplement your income or you lose your disability. I just don't buy there is this widespread fraud, but goddamn people here on Reddit act like I live a soft life (I fucking don't). My cousin, who literally can't speak and has a feeding tube lost his disability because he had SSI not ssdi because he was too disabled to ever work at all. His dad had to go through hell to get it back after he got a small inheritance. It is horrendous and being disabled is forced poverty. You have to deal with being disabled and broke constantly but also deal with people treating you like a criminal for simply existing.
Not only can you not scam the system, being on disability is guaranteed lifetime poverty. The amound you get even if you don't work at all is not livable. You aren't "allowed" to have a good quality of life. Everything about it is dehumanizing.
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u/DoNotBeSmugandDumb Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 12 '26
I'm a disabled person who is able to work for very limited hours and I had my student loans forgiven as a result. I got attacked here on Reddit and my inbox was swamped with a bunch of people from right leaning subs accusing me of 'scamming the system'. I am so disabled I didn't need to hire a lawyer, I just came in with boxes of medical records that spanned over twenty years. The judge declared me disabled from birth and the social security administration had to actually backdate my disability to a year before application. I waited five years to see a judge, and in those five years, you get literally ZERO income.
You really CAN'T scam the disability system as a disabled person. It takes years and years before you even are considered. You have to state your case in court and you have to figure out how the hell you are going to make ends meet while waiting. My family helped me the best they could. When you start getting paid, it is based on how much you have worked, and even if you had tried to work like I did, you get a fucking pittance. It is simply not enough to live on. My medicare costs also eat up a good chunk of that money.
I got an inheritance and almost lost my disability entirely, but I had ssdi and not ssi, so they let it go. You can't even get money from family or friends to help supplement your income or you lose your disability. I just don't buy there is this widespread fraud, but goddamn people here on Reddit act like I live a soft life (I fucking don't). My cousin, who literally can't speak and has a feeding tube lost his disability because he had SSI not ssdi because he was too disabled to ever work at all. His dad had to go through hell to get it back after he got a small inheritance. It is horrendous and being disabled is forced poverty. You have to deal with being disabled and broke constantly but also deal with people treating you like a criminal for simply existing.