Live data from Hacker News

We’re all just temporarily abled

blog.jim-nielsen.com

421–430 of 537 posts

Re: We’re all just temporarily abled

#421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My fiance had intercranial hypertension. Which is a complex way of saying "we don't know the root cause of why your spinal fluid is causing so much pressure in your head that you want to take a ice pick and poke a hole in it!" which also decreases EVERYTHING due to brain pressure, so more tired, less ability to think, less sensitive to all senses, less emotional control (especially because you're in constant pain / f…

Hi, this was enlightening. I'm a dude who has IIH myself for now almost half a decade and I was at no point told this could reduce my cognitive abilities. I take Diamox just in case (to reduce the intracranial fluid). It was a heering experience to get this diagnosed. One day all of a sudden my head started hurting and didn't stop, for months. But I had no other symptoms so doctors didn't take me seriously and my neu…

>neurologist appointment was several months AFTER the onset of the symptoms (yes, months!).

But but but but I thought that could only happen in SOCIALISM countries! We pay arms and legs because we get MORE TIMELY care, right?

Re: We’re all just temporarily abled

#422

How many people I know got hit by a car and had their life ruined horribly. Or a bad surgery. Things totally out of their control. We need to see disability as a cost to society we must pay, not a failure of individuals which is more or less what were treating it. The American disability system is basically proving (very painfully) that life is barely livable to get scraps of help. Like below poverty levels. I really…

Yup. I have a child with autism. The American system is cruel beyond imagination. To qualify them for social security and Medicaid I have to leave them impoverished. They can't have more than $2k worth of assets in their name. Instead it's a complex lawyer game of trusts to give my child any sort of inheritance. Yet they are basically guaranteed to end up in a group home (Even though I own my own home) because a care…

If you don't know already, go look up ABLE accounts. If your child became disabled before the age of 26, they can create an ABLE account and keep much, much more money in their ABLE account than they would otherwise be allowed to keep. ABLE account funds can be used for living expenses that cover the majority of expenses for most people- housing, healthcare, transportation, etc.

Re: We’re all just temporarily abled

#423
post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I feel like the biggest thing the US could do is remove means-testing from our disability aid programs. The problem isn't the means testing the problem is it's applied with broad strokes like all well meaning but inevitably awful government work. First, everyone pays into disability. So everyone should be able to get their share when necessary. Second, means testing includes things like housing, retirement accounts…

Something my therapist pointed out to me is that obesity is directly linked to childhood and intergenerational trauma; calling it self-inflicted is not accurate. Even if we're focused on healthy eating, food deserts exist. No man is an island, &c. Also, to cite an HN darling[0], obesity is, at the very least, a lot stranger and more complicated than CICO. > we also need to prevent the exploitation of disability progr…

> What if everyone who wanted or needed it got help

That's always the ideal surely. But there are at least some cases where simply providing people with material necessities and access to medical care etc. doesn't always feel like it's really helping them - I have one such friend, and while I genuinely sympathise with his very real mental illnesses, it's hard not to think sometimes the fact there's no expectation he will ever need to provide for himself at all might be part of what's stopping him turning his life around.

Re: We’re all just temporarily abled

#424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Private and well-compensated medical workers still don't offer a sci-fi "healing tubes". Private healthcare is maybe marginally better for 1% of the population, but far more expensive.

Medical tourism into the US is extremely common. I own a rental unit near a major hospital and rent to many foreigners who travel in for treatment, particularly Canadians. Everything has trade offs.

There is also medical tourism the other way to EU, Mexico, and other countries.

US is really good for the top 10%, who can afford it. However, a minimum wage worker has a really tough time getting good results because the cost is astronomical even with decent insurance.

Re: We’re all just temporarily abled

#425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Got Tinnitus from working as a concert photographer. It's not so bad. I've learned to live with it. But yeah... It's permanent. So, to not make it worse, I've bought protection that I carry with me when I go to loud clubs or concerts. I use it religiously. Highly recommended! Especially if you work in a bar or club, or in some capacity at concerts. Do it now, because Tinnitus doesn't go away. Some of them are very di…

Is there any particular type or brand of earplugs you recommend, that are comfortable enough to wear for multiple hours and don't make the music sound too muffled (while still reducing the volume to safe levels)?

I'm using Earasers, it actually makes music sound better and I don't have any ringing in my ears after the concert.

Re: We’re all just temporarily abled

#426

This article really struck a chord in me. At the end of May, I started suffering from Achilles tendonitis in one of my feet. Because I was exercising too vigorously too early in the morning while my body was not properly warmed up. Never a problem when I was younger. It has been a long, slow recovery. With a few relapses into tightness because I tried to walk too fast or carry too much weight. Even now, almost 3 mont…

Achilles tendonitis is very popular side effect of flouroquinolone antibiotics(cipro, avelox, levaquin and others). The symptoms can show up to 12 months after last dose.

There are many other side effects. If this applies to you, you should never take this drug again.

Re: We’re all just temporarily abled

#427
post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As you approach $100k in assets, you get into special needs trusts.

Right, but what happens when I die and there's 90k in the account? In 2->5 years, you'll need to start rolling money into the SNT, yet the only person that can do that is my kid. What if they don't have the wherewithal to know they have to do that? Able works if my kid can make ok financial decisions. It's a bad idea if they can't.

If they can't make OK financial decisions, it doesn't really matter does it?

There are 2 choices:

- Either you set it all up ahead of time and they have someone you trust to watch over them after you are gone.

- They get shunted into the system and whatever happens, happens.

Re: We’re all just temporarily abled

#428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I feel like the biggest thing the US could do is remove means-testing from our disability aid programs. Means testing usually does not feel like an effective way to distribute services. This was an argument for "libertarian" universal income. Huge government edifice which exists to determine who, where, and how aid is distributed. Much glad-handing, acrimony, and inefficiency. Just cut out the middle-man and cut ev…

The issue with Univeral income is it's easy to dismantle or not fund. Let's say we set the level at $1k per month for everyone. Great, until it's 2050 and that level is still $1k. Without inflation adjustments it eventually turns into giving people the equivalent of a penny, only now there aren't other safety nets in place. But also, you'll have politicians saying "This is a huge cost to the government and everyone s…

> The issue with Univeral income is it's easy to dismantle or not fund.

Completely the opposite. Because everyone gets it, lowering the funding requires you to fight everyone. The average income is moderately higher than median income, so the median person (i.e. the majority) receives more than they pay, even if it's funded with a flat tax. (Which also allows you to vastly simplify the tax system, because flat tax + UBI is progressive but requires much less privacy-invasive financial tracking than other forms of progressive taxation.)

> Let's say we set the level at $1k per month for everyone. Great, until it's 2050 and that level is still $1k.

So index it to inflation, or better yet, GDP per capita.

> But also, you'll have politicians saying "This is a huge cost to the government and everyone should just take care of themselves. So let's cut back the spending for people born in 2023". Just like they did with SS.

They only get away with that because the people born in 2023 wouldn't have received SS until ~2088, which doesn't concern their parents, and the infants are too young to put up any resistance.

With a UBI, everyone gets it, and then every parent will object that they're cutting funding for children.

Re: We’re all just temporarily abled

#429

How many people I know got hit by a car and had their life ruined horribly. Or a bad surgery. Things totally out of their control. We need to see disability as a cost to society we must pay, not a failure of individuals which is more or less what were treating it. The American disability system is basically proving (very painfully) that life is barely livable to get scraps of help. Like below poverty levels. I really…

I do share your dream - perhaps it's just empathy? Maybe a good start is to believe people who tell us they're suffering, even if what they're suffering from isn't obvious and physical.

[dead]

Re: We’re all just temporarily abled

#430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>perhaps it's just empathy Any system can be hacked, including empathy. We call it "fraud" and unfortunately it seems that the number of humans who can keep two concepts in their head at the same time are vanishingly rare. So you end up with a useless "empathy vs fraud" debate repeated endlessly, roughly corresponding to the left and the right, and it doesn't go anywhere. Of course, what we need is a synthesis. The l…

Unfortunately, "risk of fraud" is a cover for the belief that giving their money to people who haven't worked as hard as they have is theft. Many want to decide who deserves their money more than themselves. Being poor or disabled is effectively a character flaw.

[dead]
Post reply on HN