The food stamp people need me to provide proof that the junk yard paid
me $159 for my old car AND receipts that show how I spent that money.
Because apparently if I have all that extra cash on hand, it affects the
amount of food stamps I receive. Can't have people with that much
money just collecting $16 a month in unneeded food stamps, you know.
You see, once a year I basically have to reapply to proof I am still eligible. That's what I did this morning. In my county, that means
turning in a ton of paperwork (copy of my lease, bank statement, last
year's tax return, receipts from all medical bills including my service
dog's expenses, a prescription for my service dog, etc). That has to be
done at least a week before the reapplication interview. The interview
is done over the phone and took a full hour this morning. During which I
was informed I have 10 days to provide them with a copy of the $159
check and receipts to show what I spent the money on.
No, it doesn't make sense. I have mostly stopped asking for the government benefit system to make sense. I just said OK. Because it's not like that $159 is going to stick around long.
Just went through a SNAP benefit review/renew a couple of months back, what a joke. My only source of income is SSD. I have a lot of medical expenses that I have to pay for out of pocket that health insurance either does not pay for or have to pay for various co-pays. Also, just general meager living expenses such as rent, utilities etc. I can honestly say from personal experience, I hate these reviews. Having to save receipts etc and keeping them organized alone can be a daunting task. The public welfare office that I have to deal with is a joke. They employ people who are not knowledgeable and only get training on the basic general guidelines. Moreover, sadly the negative and humiliating way / manner that I have been treated by staff creates further anxiety and trauma. Before discovering / reaching out to others, I dealt with this process on my own. However by reaching out to various non profit agencies and advocacy groups. I have found the process to be somewhat less traumatic. As a disabled person, if one is unable to handle or represent him/herself in a given scenario that depicts discriminatory practices by any governing agency. Then it is time to call in the troops (so I call it). If its a scenario such as SNAP benefits, there is help out there. However there are a lot of discriminatory/traumatic scenarios where if one is not him/her self their own self advocate, when it involves disability rights, benefits etc. Its not easy being a self advocate, it can be traumatizing depending on the scenario. How ever sadly, there are those who are disabled that either don't know and or can't speak for him/her self that are getting what I call the raw end and still continue to not receive the benefits or services they need and require on a daily / monthly basis.
ReplyDeleteThe people at my county office are pretty nice but they often don't know they answers to pretty basic questions I have. and it sure is a lot of work filling out all the forms and saving all the receipts and stuff.
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