Memoirs of a can guy

[charmed hour]

Originally Posted by WildCardSteve1

Life on the street...I banged my head and wound up in the hospital for 18 days.


I have a subdural hematoma. I'm still not better. Not sure I ever will be.


Back to begging. I'd love to work but I'm not up to much.

Originally Posted by NYC refugee

He said he'd rather WORK. He didn't say anything about begging.

Please the above.

[HomelessLoser]

Originally Posted by WildCardSteve1

Possibly. I'd really rather work.

Hello Again, Steve. Sorry to hear that you're in worse shape now.

Just as an FYI, you can still work while on Disability. In fact, it seems like a lot of the folks do! Whether holding doors or collecting cans or doing off-the-books gigs, it's not only possible.

In a WaPo article over the summer, folks in Appalachia on Disability still collect wild mushrooms and such to be sold to the local dealer (I'm not talking drugs here but honest-to-goodness foraging of wild berries or something, whatever).

[HomelessLoser]

Originally Posted by NYC refugee

It's hard to get on SSDI and can take months. You can expect to be turned down the first time you apply and you have to appeal and you need someone medical on your side to push and write letters and fill out forms using the proper buzzwords and codes. But since it's a steady income, it can help with housing, so it's worth finding someone in the hospital system willing to help. Don't give up, Steve. Any foot in any door is something.

I have met so many folks in the shelter system who are on some government income or other (I don't mean food stamps but SSI/SSD/whatever), including relatively thirty/forty-something guys and even outright tweenagers...don't know how they do it as there's no doubt in my mind that had they no such government income they would absolutely find a job to make money. One big dude, who used to be a bouncer, has got housing and income for "anxiety!" Another kid who's pursuing a songwriting career gets seven-hundred-something a month.

Seems like these folks are consigning themselves to a life of poverty since you can't really work for real unless you do off-the-books stuff which almost always are low paying....

Sometimes I think a bit of GEN Patton slappin' malingers is what's needed!!