Because Ian has epilepsy and autism, he’s going to have a rougher road ahead than other folks with typical neurological systems. As a society, we’ve decided that there are some folks who are unable to work and support themselves, so government needs to help them out. But actually getting one’s hands on those services is very, very difficult.

I first became acquainted with the horrific government paperwork for entitlement services twenty years ago. When Jonah was born, we took the year to finish our dissertations and lived on savings, handouts, and WIC checks. We were able to get free milk, formula, and cheese from the government, but it took a crazy amount of time and humiliation. We did that for a year until we finished the PhDs and Steve found a proper job.

We entered the system again a few years later, when Ian was first diagnosed with a disability at age 2-1/2. He couldn’t talk. So, I called the state in to evaluate him. They said he had something called speech apraxia, not autism. They sent a speech therapist to our house twice a week.

Continue reading “Sucky Paperwork For Government Services: It’s a Feature, Not a Bug” →