I, myself, can't remember the time that we as a nation have taken our best interest into consideration, always looking out for the little guy as well as the big. There is a fine line between helping people in need and pacifying the needs of the people. I have learned that there is very little or no help for some people with disabilities. It's a shame when an American citizen who has worked all of his or her adult life, maintaining an assertive lifestyle, paying taxes, can get put aside and turned down for much needed help.
My plight began in August of 2001 when I was working as an installer for Comcast Cable. The day started out like any other, I got up at 5 a.m. and did what I had to do to get to work, stopping along the way to get my coffee and bagel, before arriving at work at 7 am. I would get my route for the day and look it over, I’d check out the stock on my truck to see if I needed anything for my route and head out to my first job. Everything was pretty much routine until about 1:15 that afternoon. I was stopped at a traffic light, sipping on my second cup of coffee of the day, when all of a sudden my vision went out as if someone had turned off a light switch and put my world into darkness. At first I did not know what to make of my situation until I began to hear the sounds of the cars behind me signaling me to move on. Right then I knew something was wrong. I could not see, yet I was aware of the sounds around me. I panicked and just sat there gripping the steering wheel blinking my eyes in hopes that my vision would return, but it did not. I sat there until I heard a voice asking if I was alright, it turned out to be a police officer whom I knew from the area that I worked. I told him I could not see. Well I was rushed to the emergency room where I was examined and tests were administered to try and determine why my sight went out, but the tests were to no avail. I was referred to an eye doctor who was associated with the hospital and who referred me to Wills Eye Center in Philly. While at Wills I received two steroid shots in the back of my eyes, which over the next week and a half gradually brought my sight back to 20/20. But that did not last. It was finally determined that I had a very serious eye disease that was slowly robbing me of my sight. Cataracts and Uveitus had somehow joined forces suddenly to plunge me into darkness on that hot and muggy day in August.
Until that day I had taken my eye sight for granted, not realizing how important and valuable it was. I never had regular eye exams even when sometimes my vision seemed blurred or distorted. Those were possible signs of my illness. Well over the next year and a half the sight in my left eye began to deteriorate from the high pressure in the back of the eye; no matter what the doctors tried, the sight went completely out in the left. To this day my doctor struggles to keep the sight in my right eye. Of course I could not work.
Not being able to work put me in a financial down spin that nearly cost me everything. I couldn't pay my rent neither could I maintain the lifestyle that I was used to living. In desperation I turned to the government, first local, then state, and finally federal. In all Instances I was told that there was little or no help for me because I did not fall into a specific age group or disability status. I always thought disabled meant disabled. I did not know that you have to be a certain age or have a disability that falls within certain guidelines before you can receive help.
Once upon a time there was help for any and all who became disabled, not just the elderly or the young, but all that needed it. What happens to those who don't fall within the guidelines? Well if you rent an apartment you will more than likely wind up homeless or in a shelter. If you are between the age of 18 and 56, you will more than likely be turned down for disability the first or second time around. You will more than likely contact agency after agency seeking help and getting referred time and time again with little or no results. I was lucky to have a family that was willing to come to my aid and help me keep what I had and not let me slip into a tidal wave of despair and hopelessness. I sometimes think I should move to some third world country where it seems like most of our taxes and hard work are going. People in other countries get more help than the people in this country. For instance there is a program called section 8 that is supposed to help those who are in desperate need of assistance with their rent. That program has been cut by our beloved government and the funds diverted to the Middle East to rebuild a country that we have destroyed.
Forget about trying to get assistance if you are disabled, that does not compute unless you are younger than 18 or older than 56. I mean what’s the difference? I found out, by being disabled, that there are very few programs that will help a person with a disability keep and maintain a home and or apartment. The government should take a new look at the problems that this country has and re-evaluate the needs of the tax paying people of disabled status. Stop sending billions to some other country and create a program that will appeal to the disabled of this country first. If I sound bitter and disappointed I apologize, but where is the right and the wrong of this country? Who will one day stand up for the disabled? Unless you have money you can’t survive the way the economy is today.
If it were not for The Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired, I would still be a social mess; I mean that is one agency that has helped thousands, if not more, of the blind and visually impaired people of this country. I know that they (The Commission) are financed by the government, and The Commission has great benefits for the blind and visually impaired, but there is so much more that the government can do to help. Thank you for The Joseph Kohn Rehabilitation Center (J.K.R.C) for providing most people with blindness, or visually impaired sight, the opportunity to learn independence, self esteem and maybe even the chance to become gainfully employed again in society.
Before I first came to J.K.R.C.. I heard great things about their program. Now that I am here I get to learn everything I need to learn for when my sight does go completely away. Their staff is patient and friendly. Many of them have gone through or are still battling sight loss and impairment to their vision. More people should know about them.
Once upon some future time, I hope we will once again become a place where help will be given when it is needed, that we will one day realize the importance of taking care of our own people before we try and help our fellow man in other countries. The disabled do not need to be pacified, WE NEED to receive more in the way of help and awareness. Help people keep their homes and give better medical support for all who are disabled……REGARDLESS
