So, what have you learned? That's right; now it's your turn to go and take advantage of the system. Have at it. They sell cheap braces at Rite-Aid. Good luck to you.

It is in no way easy to obtain disability or game the system no matter what you believe. Applying for disability (as in Social Security Disability, which is based on work history and REQUIRES DOCUMENTATION BY DOCTORS) is a long, arduous process that involves reams of paperwork, proof of every single doctor visit, symptom, treatment, and affect on your ability to work. And you have to prove that you cannot work AT ALL, IN ANY CAPACITY, NOT JUST IN THE PROFESSION IN WHICH YOU MAY WORK NOW AND CAN'T FIND A JOB OR MAY HAVE WORKED YOUR ENTIRE LIFE BUT ARE NO LONGER ABLE TO PHYSICALLY DO, I MEAN ANY WORK IN ANY CAPACITY AT ALL. PERIOD. FULL STOP.

Lawyers cannot "get" someone disability. Lawyers are hired to get doctors to fill out the required paperwork, because most doctors, unless they happen to be decent human beings who might actually care about their sick and disabled patients, can't be bothered to fill it out, or fill it out wrong, or people haven't actually seen doctors and need to hire lawyers to help them through the process which requires them being evaluated by doctors the government sends to determine disability. And again, being disabled does not mean you cannot work. You can be disabled and work and be denied SSD benefits. You can be disabled and not work and be denied SSD benefits, because the government decides just how disabled you are and whether or not they believe you can work.

People collecting SSD are also evaluated and re-evaluated to make sure they are "still disabled" - depending on the severity of your disability, either in one, three, five, or seven year increments.

Because the Republican congress has continued to gut funding for the federal government to function properly, there is a backlog of SSD cases that is years long. That's years with no income and no health care at a time when people are generally their sickest. Thousands of people die while waiting. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/social-secu…

Anyone who believes the process to obtain any government assistance in this country is easy is absolutely uninformed. I worked helping people who needed social services work to obtain benefits for which they qualified and not only are people forced to jump through excruciating and humiliating bureaucratic hoops, they are dehumanized for wanting to obtain assistance for which they should have no shame in needing and for which our government is supposed to provide to help the people in this country.

Back to SSD specifically, if you haven't worked, haven't seen doctors, aren't seriously ill, and can't prove that you cannot work in any capacity, you WILL be denied. Anyone who believes you can slap a brace on your wrist and file a claim and never have to work again is delusional.

It never ceases to amaze me that our president, his administrators, our congress, and the corporate world is literally ROBBING AMERICA BLIND EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY and people choose to ignore it and/or simply not believe it because they are so incredibly stupid and it's so much easier to vilify the poor and the sick and the disabled and those in need than to have to face the facts that the obscenely wealthy who are "entrusted" to run the government are only taking care of themselves and those who are like them and leaving everyone to twist in the wind.

Social Security taxes are paid for with every pay check (up to $127,000 > any money you earn above that amount is not taxed the Social Security tax). Social Security is paid for by ALL working Americans so when working Americans become unable to work or they retire from working at the retirement age set by the government, they have benefits which they can collect. Pretending that working Americans don't pay for this and shaming those who live on these benefits is utterly ridiculous.

Meanwhile, the president has already cost the American taxpayer over $72 million in his golfing trips, his administrators are costing American taxpayers hundreds of thousands in private jet flights for personal reasons across the country, congress refuses to do anything about the president's conflicts of interest, treason, violation of ethics laws, outright theft of money from the American taxpayers that is going DIRECTLY into his pocket every minute he spends at one of his properties golfing or "entertaining" or holding a white supremacist rally. And between the outrageous and despicable budget they want to pass, tax reform to give the wealthiest tax cuts, and the fact that they are willing to cut Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security as well as add TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO THE DEFICIT THEY ARE ALWAYS COMPLAINING ABOUT WHEN THERE IS A DEMOCRAT IN THE WHITE HOUSE OR A DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY IN CONGRESS (oh and did I mention the president wants to destroy NAFTA outright, which will put thousands of people in rural areas who voted for him OUT OF WORK and basically cause one of the most severe recessions this country has ever witnessed, even worse than the brink of economic collapse brought on by George W. Bush and his policies).

But please, by all means, continue to be pissed about your coworker and her wrist brace and how that is somehow taking something from you. You and everyone like you is why the country is going down in flames. So concerned with your own navel and how someone next to you is getting over and getting something you think they don't deserve when the real thieves and takers and con artists are literally running the country and running it into the ground like a fatal meteor strike.

@ForrestHump who made you boss? I made my point.

So?

That's rich Forrest. Christina made several excellent points and writes in a style that is logical and intelligent. And you are annoyed by the length of her comment? What's the matter, can't focus that long? You do realize no one is forcing you you read it right? I know it can be fun battling it out with fellow trolls but some people actually do want to exchange ideas here. So please refrain from embarrassing yourself by thinking you have any Authority whatsoever telling people how long their comments can be. You're just making yourself look ridiculous when you do that.