#I just can hope Ko-fi memberships will work eventually... cuz as things go | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

franki-lew-yo · 2 years

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The "joys" of being low-income but wanting to grow out of it ((pain))

Updating you all on my financial situation. Not linking to anything or asking for anything, I more or less wanna just fast track you on what's going on in my life and why I hate it:

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I’ve been on foodstamps since 2019. They’re a lifesaver, even though I wish I didn’t have to have them. I want to be making a decent enough, taxable income from my art as well as my part time job - but I can’t. What I need to sustain myself in meantime for rent and basic needs are SSI and SSA (disability benefits); SSI especially because I am low-income and have a disability that’s never going away which makes learning to drive a herculean task and prohibiting me from working full time, more hours, or finding a second job. I need to make more money and keep that money in the longterm - maybe eventually not need my low income benefits or foodstamps someday and be able to provide for myself and my dog just on my own earnings…except if SSI sees you’re even in any threat of doing just that they will immediately cut you off.

That’s what happened in 2020. I was making over 100$ a year from my patreon and independent commission work; nothing taxable but still substantial, and when they found that out and that I intended for that to grow, SSI dumped me. Now that 100+ or so can’t go to donations to ‘non essential’ things like indie artists I followed on patreon, NAACP donations, subscriptions I liked to keep, art supplies, vet bills, ect; no now I NEED that money just to be able to pay my rent which I make with my sister. Supplies and hot food really are a giftcard thing.

SSI is set up so that bad actors can’t abuse the system and do literally no work while they let the government pay for everything. In theory this stops fraudsters and rare, disturbing cases of people committing crimes and using their disabled loved ones as money generators: in practice, it means that if you or your loved one ever wants to strive for something bigger in life or -heck- even just be able to make their own earnings - they have to dumb you cuz then there’s a possibility you could be a fraudster. One day you hope to not need social services support on basic living and maybe get a bite of that American Dream once in awhile; to that, SSI spits in your face for daring to think in the long term. You have them and only them. You are dependent and will only be dependent. They want you to be dependent at all costs:

“Oh?! You’re disabled and don’t work but you’re managing to contribute a fraction to your bills through art you do online…ugh….gee…that’s really not the lemonade stand/burger king meal money we expected you to make as a sad little autist with no future soooooo we’re just gonna leave if you’re gonna abuse us like that!”

“You’re homeless? Hmmmm I don’t know…it says here that you have a job and some money from a ko-fi or something. You can pay for your pets food and a gym membership to wash up and -gasp- Del Taco for dinner but you otherwise live out of your car??? Tsk, tsk, how dare you squander from us Mr. Moneybags!!!”

“Oh you got another job- wait? ANOTHER job? Ugh- you’re so selfish! How dare you want to have enough money to send your kids to school or get your adult child into that program that’ll help them find the independence they want when you’re gone! What’s this about ‘stababillity’? Stability is being dependent on us.”

I don’t want to be dependent my whole life. Most people don’t. Contrary to popular belief, most disabled adults don’t want to be living with their families all their lives. We have dreams. We have ambitions. We have wants and goals and in my country the government looks at all that and says “well you aren’t autistic enough to understand that so you’re not worth our time” ((which is really offensive to the people lower on the spectrum by the way. ‘They aren’t aware enough so it’s okay to make them dependent and treat them like manchildren’. Or heck? What about people with Down Syndrome? We have dreams as much as anybody else. I'm so sorry I’m not Tom Hanks and can’t just accidentally stumble into success like a good little autist)).

It’s depressing. And it’s made even more depressing because every support service never wants you to lose your stability and so insists it’s okay actually that you can’t pay taxes like the rest of us. They’ll tell you you can achieve anything because they have to be optimistic - but what they really need is for you to always settle on scooting along rather than achieving what you want.

#autism #author woes #autistic artist #autistic spectrum #autistic culture #low income #support #capitalism #eat the rich #artists on tumblr #social security supplemental income payment 2022 – exact date to apply for $841 cash– check your ssi account now #disabled community #disability rights #cw: ableism #cw: reappropriated ableist slurs

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