Disability privilege

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I have not had time to read all the responses yet but to respond to the original post, I don't see it as privilege at all. Because of my disability it is impossible for me to make enough money to survive. If I can't get help I will not survive. I will literally die. So I see it more as making life a little more fair. And during the shutdown, my sister and her husband did not not get paid at all and had to continue working but they make enough so that they were able to get through it and they got all of their back pay once the government reopened. I just started getting SSI, still fighting for SSDI and even with SSI on top of my job income, I still cannot make ends meet. So I think it is only fair for disabled people to get breaks whenever we can.

The degree of disabled of a particular person might affect the way the way a person feels about receiving benefits, but not necessarily. It is basically a kind of subjective call based not only on a person's level of disability but also ones personality and how one has been conditioned to think/feel about himself. I do think there is a tendency in a lot of people for receiving certain kinds of benefits to affect their self esteem.

***About fairness, I think it would be helpful to get that straight, as many people are imo confused about this. Is it fair or not fair the way a person is born? Looking at it from this angle, that particular concept makes no sense.

I wish I could work. I find some work enjoyable; I love the repetition of the work itself and the added routine to my week; I like the access to more opportunities to practice socializing; work gives me added purpose and the feeling of contribution.

And you can earn more money, which helps to reduce stress about debt and bills; afford a better living situation in a safer area or with fewer roommates or neighbors; afford healthier and tastier food; afford better healthcare; and afford to do more of whatever reduces stress/makes you happy. So I really, REALLY wish I could work.

But I do not feel guilty or privileged to receive the small benefits I get. Besides the few benefits that it offers to those that manage to earn them, society is unintentionally set up to put us at further disadvantage than our disability alone does.

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31st of July, 2013
Diagnosed: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Auditory-Verbal Processing Speed Disorder, and Visual-Motor Processing Speed Disorder.

Weak Emerging Social Communicator (The Social Thinking-­Social Communication Profile by Michelle Garcia Winner, Pamela Crooke and Stephanie Madrigal)

"I am silently correcting your grammar."

I guess I am one of the some people who will feel privileged when they see what advantages they get to their disadvantage.