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capri0mniThis is a "chat" I posted to my Tumblr, today. And I'm posting it now, in response to This story segment from dialecticdreamer, and the ensuing discussion.
Disabled Person: I need a wheelchair.
Wheelchair Manufacturer: We won't sell you one unless Medicare will pay for it*
Disabled Person: I need a wheelchair.
Medicare: Can you walk 20 feet?
Disabled Person: It's 40 feet from my front door to my bedroom...
Medicare: Can you walk 20 feet?
Disabled Person: I can, but it's excruciatingly painful, my balance is terrible, and I risk falling at every step.
Medicare: Then No.
Disabled Person: Why not?
Medicare: We're running out of money. The Baby Boomers are getting old and sick. And the Gen X'ers and Millennials are not reproducing. Very sorry. Have a nice day.
800K Gen-X & Millennial "Dreamers": Hey! we're paying into Social Security!
Medicare: You don't count.
110K Refugee Applicants: We want to come into your country, and contribute to your economy, including helping to pay for Social Security. Please let us in?
Federal Government: No!
Disabled Person: I still need a wheelchair.
Medicare: Very sorry. Absolutely nothing we can do.
Disabled Person: ...
"Dreamers": ...
Refugees: ...
Medicare: Buh-bye! Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
*Footnote: Even if you are wealthy enough to purchase a wheelchair out-of-pocket, many suppliers still require proof of insurance. And even private insurers copy Medicare's policies when it comes medical equipment and mobility aids.
dialecticdreamer, and the ensuing discussion.Disabled Person: I need a wheelchair.
Wheelchair Manufacturer: We won't sell you one unless Medicare will pay for it*
Disabled Person: I need a wheelchair.
Medicare: Can you walk 20 feet?
Disabled Person: It's 40 feet from my front door to my bedroom...
Medicare: Can you walk 20 feet?
Disabled Person: I can, but it's excruciatingly painful, my balance is terrible, and I risk falling at every step.
Medicare: Then No.
Disabled Person: Why not?
Medicare: We're running out of money. The Baby Boomers are getting old and sick. And the Gen X'ers and Millennials are not reproducing. Very sorry. Have a nice day.
800K Gen-X & Millennial "Dreamers": Hey! we're paying into Social Security!
Medicare: You don't count.
110K Refugee Applicants: We want to come into your country, and contribute to your economy, including helping to pay for Social Security. Please let us in?
Federal Government: No!
Disabled Person: I still need a wheelchair.
Medicare: Very sorry. Absolutely nothing we can do.
Disabled Person: ...
"Dreamers": ...
Refugees: ...
Medicare: Buh-bye! Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
*Footnote: Even if you are wealthy enough to purchase a wheelchair out-of-pocket, many suppliers still require proof of insurance. And even private insurers copy Medicare's policies when it comes medical equipment and mobility aids.
no subject
Date: 2017-09-15 05:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-09-15 07:11 pm (UTC)I don't think "fairness" or "fiscal responsibility" has anything to do with it.
It's all about keeping marginalized people (P.O.C., the poor, the disabled), from ever stepping across the margins (aka "out of line").
no subject
Date: 2017-09-15 07:37 pm (UTC)Oh, and Efficiency! ... uh, for whom, IDK. Not anyone the program's supposed to serve, that's for sure.
I don't really have a good "feeling fighty" icon on this account. (That's probably not a bad thing.)
no subject
Date: 2017-09-15 08:49 pm (UTC)It means: Profit-making.
no subject
Date: 2017-09-15 08:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-09-16 01:29 am (UTC)The real plan probably works like this:
Step 1. stop paying out by making it nearly impossible to claim.
Step 2. loot medicare & social welfare for pork barrel projects and other more 'worthy' causes.
Step 3. justify steps 1 & 2 by saying there's fewer 'real' claimants, and the money is just sitting there.
But then..I'm a cynic who believes that the people in power are amoral sociopaths with no regard or understanding for human suffering and are only in it to line their own pockets, so what do I know?!
no subject
Date: 2017-09-16 10:29 am (UTC)I believe keeping marginalized people "in their place" is the primary goal. And that ableism/disablism (the two are almost, but not quite, synonymous) is the mechanism by which it's done.
Because it's not just about the money. It's also about power and status.
A couple of "Blogging Against Disablism Day"s ago (May 1, 2016 -- aka "BADD"), Mel Baggs wrote this essay: There us ableism somewhere at the heart of your oppression, no matter what your oppression might be.
And this last spring, I made a infographic in response.
Y'see, when people in power have a set of ability-based criteria (either consciously chosen at a moment in history, when it suits them, or inherited from the past and accepted), then:
A) They have a "rational and logical" reason to say: "These people aren't good enough. They don't belong. I'm just stating facts."
and
B) Because it is true that a person with an injured spine can't walk, no one calls that out as "bigotry."
also
C) Because every demographic of people has disabled people within it, people in other groups are more likely to believe the bigoted claims, and so marginalized people are less willing to unite, and work together (Q.V. in American history -- the one I was educated in -- how the white suffragette movement fought to exclude black women -- viciously). -- "Well, at least I'm better than them!"
Not to mention, within each group the disabled are still marginalized when it comes to activism.
---
So Ableism is the longest lever / biggest gear in the "Divide and Conquer" machine, allowing the privileged normates to consolidate money (and power) for themselves.
no subject
Date: 2017-09-15 05:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-09-15 06:55 pm (UTC)A lot of Disabled Americans look UK's system and sigh with envy...
But also, a lot of disabled Americans don't hear the horror stories of how people are bullied and manipulated in the P.I.P. qualifications interviews, either. :-/
no subject
Date: 2017-09-15 09:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-09-15 10:02 pm (UTC)That's what makes me so mad (Well, one of the reasons), when people jump to the "faker!" conclusion when they see someone stand from a chair for ten seconds.
We already have to jump through so many hoops just to get a chair, that if you see someone using one, you can bet they actually need it.
no subject
Date: 2017-09-15 10:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-09-15 11:25 pm (UTC)A bit of clarificaton (after sleeping on it):
Date: 2017-09-16 07:05 pm (UTC)A Wheelchair manufacturer won't sell you a wheelchair without a doctor's or therapist's prescription in your hot little hand (because they want to make sure they're not selling you something that will cause further injury, and open themselves up to a lawsuit).
But a doctor or therapist won't write you a prescription if your insurance won't cover it -- even if they agree that you actually need it (because they don't want to prescribe something that has the potential to bankrupt you).
And the reason buying a wheelchair costs enough to potentially bankrupt someone? The manufacturer has to figure insurance costs and doctors' fees into their overhead (at least, that's what they tell us).
...And 'round and 'round we go!
no subject
Date: 2017-09-15 06:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-09-15 07:04 pm (UTC)A couple of years ago, I got a prescription for a home-visiting physiotherapist.
He's the one who told me about the 20-foot minimum rule, and that it didn't matter if walking was safe for the person.
...And then, he proceeded to justify the policy anyway, because Medicare is supposedly running out of money, and they have to have strict regulations to guard against "disability fraud."
...
Do. Not. Talk. to Me. Of "Disability Fraud."
no subject
Date: 2017-09-16 02:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-09-16 10:43 am (UTC)Over the last 4 years, I've three separate medical personnel at least mention "The fraud problem" to me, if not go on to actively try to convince me of its reality.
I wrote about it on my Tumblr, last year: Disability Fraud: You know what?
no subject
Date: 2017-09-16 07:02 pm (UTC)Also: Mind if I link to it?
no subject
Date: 2017-09-16 07:08 pm (UTC)Please do, in fact!
no subject
Date: 2017-09-16 07:17 pm (UTC)Well...
Date: 2017-09-15 08:00 pm (UTC)This explains all the plans I have seen online for making wheelchairs out of bicycle parts. Because you can GET those.
Re: Well...
Date: 2017-09-15 08:43 pm (UTC)Greedy, hypocritical, ableist, racist authoritarians, however...
Not so much.
This explains all the plans I have seen online for making wheelchairs out of bicycle parts. Because you can GET those.
Also, you can get the parts without having to go through medical gatekeepers, who often seem professionally required to gaslight people about what their needs actually are.
(It also brings personal mobility to a poetically just full circle, since the crank-chain-gear mechanisms in bicycles was invented by Stephen Farffler -- a disabled watchmaker from 17th century Germany, who built a three-wheeled hand cycle for himself).
Re: Well...
Date: 2017-09-15 10:17 pm (UTC)Don't tell me, I can guess...
So able-bodied people were risking their necks on penny-farthings, or pushing their velocipedes along with their feet, until a disabled man sorted things out. That is excellent.
Re: Well...
Date: 2017-09-15 11:24 pm (UTC)Farffler invented his "Manumotive Carriage" in 1655.
no subject
Date: 2017-09-16 01:32 am (UTC)Gee.. I wonder why people keep saying it's broke. Could it be so they can justify not paying out?
no subject
Date: 2017-09-16 10:45 am (UTC)