Battling Poverty by Design

…cynically, you’ve gotta have a way for the rich folk to beat the system… at least in the US

Am I finding ways to cheat or just work the disability services system more effectively?

Probably a little bit of both ;) !

How not to be Poor

I’ve been writing about the tools that you already have (and might want to use or check out … see disclaimer to CYA below ***!) to both maintain eligibility to disability services and not have to keep yourself poor.

This does assume you, or people who care about you, have or may have access to resources.

So, we’re in “Step 3”:

Identify potential disability services
Meet eligibility requirements
Make sure you stay eligible.
….

A friend and subscriber to this list and I were talking about this (By the way – if you have comments or questions or ideas … I look forward to hearing from you – just reply to this email).

It is a cruel, weird game that governments force us all to play:

We’ll “give” you some benefits (reluctantly)
But, you have to be at least somewhat poor and we are going to be picky about this (why poverty is a criteria is a willful policy choice)
And, if you are privileged enough, devious enough, and/or wealthy enough, you can still get benefits and not be poor.

As my friend lives in the UK, I checked, and, sure enough, there is a similar system to ours in the US:

Disabled Persons Trusts and Vulnerable Persons Trusts

Bingo!

Same tune, different key.

There is always a way around things.

I profoundly reject this core model for disability services.

But it is what we have.

A Potential Battle Strategy

Our “Poverty by Design” (seemingly global?) systems for disability services financially disable disabled people (on top of the actual impacts of their physical, cognitive or other disabilities).

Disability services should move to a set of systems of support to unlock the human and economic and ??? potential of disabled people to fully participate in our societies.

… not be “pity services” to make the “able” feel better about themselves.

My proposed approach:

Stage 1 – Individually “work” the existing system better – what are all the tools that we can individually bring to bear to work through and around the current disability systems. This would include things such as the tactics I’ve discussed about annuities and using things like ABLE accounts and Special Needs Trusts as effectively as possible.

Stage 2 – Collaborate Today – Either get existing businesses to see disabled people as valuable customers or set up our own entities to provide “Special Needs Trusts in a Box”, “Disabled Worker Employment and Benefit Cooperatives”, and other entities and services that can do things at scale today that aren’t feasible to do individually…. maybe we need our own bank or credit unions.

Stage 3 – Change the Model – we need to move towards things like “Universal Disability and Elderly Services Insurance” where access to services and supports have no asset limits, no income limits, no co-pays, no marriage penalties, no sub-minimum wages… unlock the potential of our disabled citizens, not keep them down. This almost certainly means that we need to fundamentally change how we engage with our political systems – proactively change laws and culture, not wait and hope for the mercy of our capricious court systems. This is going to be a big lift. Along the way, work to change the laws, culture and systems anywhere and everywhere we can.

… you know, easy stuff.

What problems can we start working on together today?

*** DISCLAIMER – I am not an accountant, a lawyer, a financial planner, a benefits expert… basically, I have no special qualifications except a desire to find a way to help disabled people financially and a willingness to read rules and regulations and … try to figure out how far you might be able to stretch them. “System Abuse” used to be a big part of my job in the computer security field… and may be my oldest hobby with my interest in games, game rules, and systems…