Purge the “not-disabled” disabled first.
People break their pinky and get SSDI for life. Most of the people getting SSI/SSDI could do SOME sort of sedentary job even if not what they did before, and probably still get as much money as they do on SSDI, assuming the jobs were out there in the first place.
I’m not smacking on the truly fully disabled people, just the ones that might have a moderate issue that means they can’t move around well, but could still handle a sedentary job or something.
Yep, I’ve seen some disable get along better than the ones that claim to be disable.
In order to get on SSDI or SSI you have to convince a judge, who is also paid by the Feds by the way, that you cannot engage in full time gainful activity. You are right in that almost anyone who is on SSI or SSDI can do some type of work, but the question is how long can they do it? Most could work a few hours a day, or a couple of days a week, but the judge has to be convinced that because of their age, education and level of disability that they can’t maintain full time gainful (ie, minimum wage or better) employment.
Every now and then you see some type of scandal where, until it is found out, and it usually is when free money is involved, that one or two judges are handing it out like candy. But SS keeps tabs on judges who deviate from the norm too much and they usually get shut down. (It takes a lot longer and is much rarer for a judge who isn’t putting people on disability as much as his peers to have any type of sanction.)
Also, it can SS a long time to re-evaluate people once they get on and some of them do get better, but that is a pretty small number and in reality they probably will always have some restrictions that make it difficult for them to get work even if they are now capable a maintaining some type of full time employment. There are very few jobs out there, for example, that allow you to alternate sitting and standing at will and lift less than 10 pounds. But, if you have a back injury, and everyone agrees that you need a job like that, you don’t get on SSDI or SSI even if there are no jobs like that in your home town because they exist somewhere. And as SS likes to say, they are in the disability business. They are not an employment agency. If you can do the work, and the job exists somewhere, you don’t win. Or at least you aren’t supposed to.
Roughly 80 percent of all disability services are given to the non-disabled.
I used to work (as a deaf student), with disability services. The number one disability? ‘Learning disabilities’. Why? They got extra time on tests.
There just simply aren’t enough folks with true disabilities to make up any significant portion of the student body. The harsh truth is that any who do make it that far likely don’t need assistance anyways.