Twenty-three years ago, we were on the public dole. We qualified for food benefits from Women Infant and Children (WIC), because we made the error of having our first baby while in graduate school. Two decades later, as parents of a young adult with autism, we are preparing to go back on the public dole. Technically, Ian is the person actually going on the dole since he’s the one with a disability, but it’s me who’s really filling out all the paperwork and cashing the checks.
The WIC program certainly had its stupidity — I’m happy to tell you about their weirdmilk requirements — but this disability system is beyond bizarre. The national and state system of support for disabled people in our country is opaque, overly reliant on parents, and as a result, regressive.
Read more at my newsletter, The Great Leap
Apt. 11d 