The cost of SSI...

by Ann_C

After noting that your blog article garnered over 500 hits on DR yet only a paltry number of comments were entered, I'm beginning to wonder what is really going on here.

Is "mum's the word" the general response, because the subject hits too close to home for many deaf people?

The recent VRS fraud is small potatoes compared to SSI fraud that have continued for many years.

I'm sure that there are a good number of deaf and disabled people who're more than qualified and willing to work for a company. The problem is more a societal one in which the hearing and able-bodied majority puts up the barriers and would rather subject those who don't "qualify" in terms of hearing or able-bodied convenience to a life based on SSI or government assistance. The mask of benevolence on a governmental level? One wonders what the cost of accessibility in the workplace and other public spaces would cost compared to keeping disabled persons who can work but don't "qualify" on the dole for their lifetimes? One wonders if we're becoming an "entitlement" society?

What bothers me most is that people are not asking what is the price being paid here when SSI fraud occurs. Depending on which side of the coin one speaks from, the price is wasted potential and lives not fully realized or taxpayers' money being wasted for maintaining an homogenous society of the hearing or able-bodied, without taking into account the richness that can result from a diversity of both disabled persons and all of society.

Both the deaf/disabled who abuse the assistance programs AND society lose, for the cost is immeasurable, and not in just dollar terms.