No disability for me. Nor for Alan, nor for Jesse.
We can't prove we're unwell to the government's satisfaction.
I have been advised by well-meaning people to make an appeal, to press my case. But really, I just don't need the stress or the distress. Because I'm not going to win any appeal. None of us here are.
We don't have the documentation. Our mystery diseases are too mysterious to present themselves on paper, in blood tests, to any bureaucrat's satisfaction.
I understand that. I'm not alright with it, but I understand it.
We go into it being suspect. We go into it with the examiners and evaluators assuming that we could be liars and scammers trying to leech a living off the government.
I get that.
And I'm not too eager to put myself in that setting, thanks. I am not a liar or scammer and if I wanted an easy way, believe me Charlie, this wouldn't be it.
We went through something similar when Alan got hurt twice in two different jobs and his dealings with Compensation were sometimes very helpful and sometimes very damaging, financially and at the gut level. Being regarded as a liar on a regular basis does something to the soul.
I won't go through it again. Not when I know they're going to find against me anyway.
That goes for Canada Pension Disability, who turned me down last year, and Ontario Disability Support Program, and Welfare. We, a household with three people who are not able to work, are all disqualified. There is no safety net for us. And the untold others like us ...
People are always surprised if I mention that we have no pension, no disability, no welfare ... Don't be. Our story is very common.
Just look around. We're everywhere.