Stupid Services

Social Services departments around the United States all claim to be able to 'help' people who need it...which, they do. SOME of the services they provide are actually worth the effort to participate in them. By 'effort', I mean the applicant has to be willing to run through a gauntlet of paper work and interviews, which basically amount to the equivalent of taking 24 hours to tie your shoes, instead of a few seconds. This is especially true when it comes to health insurance. I pity anyone who has to use state run medical insurance (and I include myself in this group).

In California, the process it takes to get medical insurance coverage is grueling at best. And by the gods above and below never try to explain to anyone in this organization that you're disabled in any way, shape or form. They actually believe you if you tell them everything is fine, you're just poor. Better yet, there are probably better results if you don't even say one word, and just fill out the pile of forms quietly and be done with it. Or, so you think you're done with it.

I'll give you an example. On one of the forms I had to fill out, it asks me to list my disabilities, and then it asks me to list things that limit my ability to work in certain job settings. There's a difference apparently. I have hearing difficulties, and have to list that on the form, because it is also listed on my medical forms. Because my insurance does not even cover a hearing exam, and I don't have a grand total of at least $3,000.00 to spend randomly on the process of getting hearing aids, I have no choice but to list this on the form. A lady from the Social Services department called me once regarding the forms I filled out. She said "I see you have listed that you are hard of hearing. So, how is it that you're talking to me on the phone if you're really hard of hearing?"


Seriously? Someone that stupid was hired to work for the Social Services department? Worse yet, are these people trained to ask really idiot questions like that? If so, for what purpose? So that people like me can write articles about how stupid people like them are? What? I don't get the point....

Have you ever had one of those weeks that you were so busy and/or you had so much on your mind, that things just got forgotten? Sometimes, you forget a doctor appointment, or perhaps what time it is, or maybe even forget to mail something out until it's too late to get it mailed out until the next day? Well, I forgot a medical appointment, and to me, that's not a huge ordeal, simply because I can just make another medical appointment. It's not like my schedule is so jam packed that I have to pencil something in and hope it works out in my favor. When you apply for medical insurance in California, and have stated that you are in fact, at least somewhat disabled and not capable of working a "regular job" (ya know, the kind of job that either yanks you into a daily mental break down or the one that strains you physically enough to qualify you for medical leave after only 8 hours of work), you are required to see a physician (appointed to you by the Social Services department) for both a physical and mental evaluation.

I have 2 forms of full body Osteoarthritis. One of these is called Osteopena, and is degenderative in nature. Thus, there is not one moment that goes by in my day that I am not in at least a minor bit of pain....depending on how well my pain killers work that day.

I will also add that traveling by car for more than 30 minutes at a time is enough to make my back curl up into a snail like ball and scream in agony. Therefore, I am required to pull over and stretch a bit when I have to travel for longer periods of time. Keeping this in mind...

I went to the "required" office visit for my physical exam. This office was not my local doctor's office (which is within walking distance of my home), but rather 2 hours south of me in Yuba City, California. My appointment was at the office of a Chiropractor, and I was seen by an Internal Medicine specialist (who liked to remind me as often as possible that he's been an internal medicine specialist and physician for 35+ years). By the time I got there, I was about in tears from the pain in my back and legs. Some random nurse (who had only been a nurse for a few months) takes me into a back room to weigh me, measure my height and check my blood pressure. He tells me my blood pressure is a bit on the high side. Gee, I can't friggin imagine why? Maybe it's the pain I'm fighting? No idea...

Then, the physician sees me. Tells me I have to sit in the chair and discuss my case. He looks over my case and says to me "You know, there are many people with Arthritis that is worse than yours who work regular jobs on a daily basis and have no problems with it". I asked him to show me those people. I'd like to see one person with any form of advanced Arthritis, that is worse than mine, who is capable of working a regular job for 8 hours a day, 5 - 6 days a week...without any problems at all. Seriously, where are these people? If they exist, I want to meet them and have their heads examined.


Then, the physician tells me that Allergies are not considered a disability. In and of themselves, no, they typically are not (unless you're a person who has rare allergies and requires special medical treatment for them). However, with me, the Allergies are a trigger for other things, which, end up having snowball effect, and the end result is me wanting to run out of where ever I am, screaming my head off. Thanks to my drug allergies, popping a pill to take care of the problem is NOT a solution for me. So, I have to really plan things out at times. For example: If I'm working in a store, and a woman comes in with a type of perfume or cologne I'm allergic to, the chain reaction starts, and it's difficult, if not impossible, to stop.

My allergies cause my sinuses to swell up, and restrict my breathing... which sets off my Asthma...which sets off my Anxiety...which sets off more pain from my muscles tensing up, and before I know it, I'm either hiding under a box someplace, passed out on the floor or running the heck out of the place for fresh air and less physical restriction. Oh yes, I can see a boss putting up with that every 15 - 30 minutes out of the day.

Then, I stand up. The physician tells me I have to sit. I tell him to take a flying leap because if I didn't stand up, my back would lock and he'd be the one responsible for unlocking my back unless he allowed my husband in the room with me. He allowed me to stand. What...he thinks that if I stand up I'm incapable of answering questions? Or.. perhaps he thinks I'll...escape!! OH NO! Then he asks me to lay flat on a hard table. That hurt like hell. Then he takes one of my legs and bends it up to my chest. At this point I was ready to punch him in the face from all the pain he'd caused me, and I was near to tears, pleading with him to let go of my leg. Then, to make it worse, he bends that bent leg across my stomach as far as he could, over to the opposite side of my body. At that point, I was really hoping that manslaughter was legal these days, cause he clearly deserved it.

After all this, he acted as if nothing was wrong. I left, using every 4 letter word known to humanity. I think I even may have created a few just for the occasion. Next was to be my mental evaluation. The appointment I forgot about. Social Services had some barely-speaking English lady call me to ask me why I missed my appointment. I was honest and simply stated.. "I forgot. Sorry. Can I just make a new appointment?" Ohhh someone clearly had knocked her off of her PMS wagon that morning cause I took the brunt of what other women would generally describe as "one hell of a massive bitchy moment".

She asked me a bunch of idiot questions, starting with "Why did you forget your appointment?". Ok, excuse me? Um.. because I did? I don't know, why does anyone forget anything? I have no idea. Perhaps I was busy and forgot. Then that was followed with "Didn't your mother remind you of your appointment?" Well, no, she didn't. If she had, I wouldn't have forgotten it, now would I? Then I was asked "WHY didn't your mother remind you of your appointment". I decided that the best option here was honesty, so I replied with "I have no idea, why don't you call her and ask her yourself?" That set the lady off even more, and she began asking me if I really wanted my medical insurance or not, and if I intended to cooperate with them at all.

At this point, I'm thinking "cooperate"? What is this, the military academy? Am I under house arrest for not "cooperating" and forgetting an appointment? So I snapped right back at her and said "Lady, regardless of whether or not I keep this mental evaluation appointment, I am still going to be getting my medical insurance. I'm not mentally disabled, I'm physically disabled. So, you can either make another appointment for me and settle the hell down now, or, I can just hang up and you can make another appointment for me anyway and send me the information again." She decidedly asked me if I want my medical insurance to stop.. which I interrupted her and said "wanted it to stop? It has stopped lady! I haven't had medical insurance for 3 months now because of your stupid evaluation process that requires me to travel more in one day than I do in a week, just for you people to poke and prod me like some barn animal, and tell me that I'm not disabled, and give me my damned insurance anyway. So, stop already with the bitch act, and do the job you were hired to do, or so help me I promise you that I will be finding you another job, cause clearly this is NOT your forte. Now then, I'm going to hang up, and you are going to make another appointment for me. If you do not, I'll simply call another case worker and make one my damned self, but if you think for one second that I am going to handle one more of these ridiculous phone calls from your office without complaint... think again. I'm disabled, not stupid. Good bye."

Social Services needs to clean up their act and start treating people with respect, instead of treating them like cattle. Otherwise, and overhaul is going to be the last thing they're going to need to be worrying about.