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From: David.Andrews@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (David Andrews)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: hot topic
Message-ID: <16521@handicap.news>
Date: 28 Jun 91 14:40:01 GMT
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Index Number: 16521

[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 DK> hi david.  driving first of all is not a right but rather, a
 DK> privelege but reading and writting is a right in this country
 DK> so i still go back to the premise that education taught me to
 DK> read and write and so to practice this right, i need to
 DK> purchase a brailler now at around $500 as apposed to a 50  cent
 DK> pen.  there are alternatives to transportation but sighted
 DK> folks earn  the privellege to drive so by the n f b and other
 DK> groups, in the 40s, 50s have fought to compensate for these
 DK> ecconomic disparities by enstating financial government subsity
 DK> programs such as s s i.  what's the difference between
 DK> recieving discounts from society's perception of the blind's
 DK> ecconomic situation or receiving s s i from society's same
 DK> perception???

There are two classes of qualifications for SSI, one is blindness, another
handicap or old age, and the other is income related.  If you make too much
money, you won't get it, no matter what.  Some transit fare reductions are
solely based on disability, I believe, not income.  Those are the ones I
wouldn't be in favor of.  As I have said in a previous message, I believe the
time for these subsidies will pass, but not in my or your lifetime.
In one sense, there is no difference between SSI and other subsidies.  However,
I think it is more of a complex issue then we think.
I suspect that much of society feels sorry for disabled persons.  They have
guilt feelings because they are "able bodied" and we are not.  One way to
assuage these guilt feelings is by taking care of us, and giving us things, such
as SSI and reduced transit fares  then they are doing something.  However,
ultimately, these are not the things that are going to win us our place in
society.  Proper training, opportunity and improved attitudes are.  So
ultimately, we will not help ourselves as a minority group by accepting these
things.  I think we should use them as a stopgap measure, as a way out, not
becoming dependent on them.  The happiest day in my life was when I went off
SSI.
Yes a braille writer is expensive.  Do we have the right to have the government
buy us one.  I don't know?  It is probably a reasonable part of the
rehabilitation process, because it is a necessary tool towards getting a job.
All of these things are double-edged swords.  You have certainly heard the
saying, "there is no thing as a free lunch."  This is true for the blind as
well.

.... David andrews

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