Even a glance at Shy’tyra Burton’s life reveals her need for the sort of federal government assistance that helps disabled Americans stay in their homes. Born two months prematurely into a poor family in Philadelphia, unable to breathe or swallow without tubes and largely confined to medical facilities until age 4, Burton was diagnosed with a litany of developmental and intellectual disabilities that left her with an IQ below 70.

She persevered and graduated from a high school special education program, then attempted community college. But she struggled to grasp basic tasks and information. She couldn’t get hired, including at McDonald’s. After multiple medical and psychological evaluations and a hearing before a judge, the federal government approved her for the Supplemental Security Income program, which provides a basic income to those with severe disabilities and to indigent older people.

For Burton, now 22, the $994 monthly benefit is lifesaving but not enough to completely support herself on her own. So, like many SSI recipients, she has continued to live with her father, who makes around $2,000 a month as a Philadelphia sanitation worker.

Now, President Donald Trump’s administration is poised to penalize people like Burton simply for living in the same home as their families, according to four federal officials, internal emails and a federal regulatory listing. The administration is working on a rule change that would deduct the value of a disabled adult’s bedroom from their SSI allotment, even if the family members they live with are poor enough to qualify for food stamps. This would mean slashing the benefits of some of the most low-income SSI recipients by up to a third — about $330 a month in Burton’s case — or ending their support altogether.

  • Zoop@beehaw.org
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    13 days ago

    Fuck. It just keeps getting more and more obvious that they really, really do wish that people like me would ‘just do everyone a favor already’ and kill ourselves. I’m fucking tired and I don’t know how to keep surviving.

    This isn’t right. People deserve better.

    • Bane_Killgrind@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      13 days ago

      It’s worse than that, they aren’t thinking about you at all. If they think about something about you, they are doing the least amount of thinking possible.

    • orbitz@lemmy.ca
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      13 days ago

      Weren’t disabled people targeted by Nazis too? But it’s a hyperbole we call people doing Nazi things Nazis.

      I hope things work for the best for you. In my opinion a proper society should help those who need it and tax those who can afford it so we can all live a fulfilling life.

      • tomenzgg@midwest.social
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        13 days ago

        Fascists always target the disabled generally right out the gate; because an ideology built on the idealization of “strength” inherently views the disabled as an aberration that must be corrected.

        And they know most people don’t pay any attention or thought to the disabled, to begin with, that people won’t generally notice.