Help Me With This Scenario
By Roger ~ November 13th, 2006. Filed under: Nobody Asks Me First.
A disabled person is unable, for one reason or another, to work.
Working is easier than raising a child/children.
Yet, disabled people are allowed to have children.
That doesn’t make sense to me. Is my reasoning flawed?
November 13th, 2006 at 10:00 am
working a job day in and day out is a different scenario than raising kids. When we say raising kids is hard work, we mean something different than “I worked really hard today.” we’re using the same word (work) to mean different things.
November 13th, 2006 at 5:00 pm
See, I disagree. When I say you can’t work a job, I mean:
1) can’t concentrate for extended periods of time (needed when raising children)
2) can’t lift objects over (let’s say) 20 lbs (needed…eventually…when raising children)
3) can’t stand/sit (one or the other) for extended periods of time (probably necessary for raising children)
4) emotionally unstable (stable emotions needed for raising children)
5) can’t grasp simplistic concepts (needed when raising children)
I think the list goes on.
November 13th, 2006 at 7:29 pm
okay, I’ll buy that.
I honestly don’t know how the disability laws work. Not having kids, and not being disabled…I don’t know if I can comment too much.
November 14th, 2006 at 7:54 am
Me, either, but it didn’t stop me from posting!
November 14th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
so…there just seems to be something off about the line of reasoning in that you’re equating the two..I’ll have to ponder it to figure out what (if anything) that is.
November 14th, 2006 at 7:06 pm
If you’re against it, then I know I’m in trouble.
I think it does make sense, though. The same things that keep you from working are most likely skills you need when parenting. That’s my main point.
November 15th, 2006 at 7:15 pm
yeah, I understand what you’re saying. and I might be wrong.
You just gotta think carefully when you say two different things are equal just because they share similar characteristics (in this case the two roles: employee and parent) even if it’s a lot of characteristics that are shared.
and again, it would help me to know the law, and the reasoning behind it. Do they offer the disabled benefits in part to give relief to the employers…so they aren’t legally required to bend over backwards modifying their position requirements and consequently reducing productivity? While at the same time, preserving a decent quality of life for those who are disabled?
Work typically involves getting a set amount of work done in a set amount of time. Whereas, child rearing typically does not. (at least not in the same way) There are more flexible ways of raising children than there are for doing any given job.
Anyway, I haven’t really given this particular subject serious thought before…so I’m still processing.
November 16th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
ok, There used to be a disability law for alchoholics. I know of someone (through the course of my work) that would go on a “bender” once a year and get arrested for either drinking in public/disorderly conduct and be able to claim disability as an alchoholic for yet another year. Thankfully this law no longer is in effect.
Many people claim disability and work “under the table” for various carpenters, roofers, or other construction fields. Disability is a broken system set by a very liberal society. It once was that a person who had “issues” would be supported by a family or community. They would do odd jobs in the community (e.g. rake leaves,which Roger hates) and be taken care for in return but the unfortunate reality is that there is no longer a sense of community (for the most part anyway) in todays society. If a person has an actual physical limitation then I agree that they should be supported but even they can perform some form of work (a person with no legs can still sit behind a desk and answer a phone). I predict that within the next five years you will see drug addicts on disability for just being drug addicts. I see many drug addicts on disabitly for mental problems that their drug addictions have fostered on them. Methadone clinics just substitute one addiction for another. I see people who get just as hooked to that as they do heroine. I have seen some one drink anothers vomit just to get the high of the methodone they had cosumed. I think I should change subject now.
Disability is far too easy to acquire, some people will just keep going to a different doctor until they find one who will diagnose them as disabled. A far better solution is to have a state funded clinic where the doctors are paid by the state to diagnose and research disabilities. It makes me sick to see people who just laugh at how easy it is to gain access to disability.
November 21st, 2006 at 11:16 am
Okay, being a full time mom, I have to comment. I definitely think that raising kids is much harder than working a job. At least you get a break from work. At least your work is scheduled. Parenting is 24/7. There are no breaks. Even when the kids are in school or visiting grandparents, the work continues to give them clean clothes, healthy food, arrange their education, make appointments, run errands…. I think motherhood is the epitome of the “over-worked, under-paid” job. And I definitely think that some people shouldn’t be allowed to have kids.
November 22nd, 2006 at 8:23 am
I agree with this, but I’m not sure you are touching the issue unless your last line directly answers the question I mentioned in the original post.
Do you think disabled people are some of the ones that shouldn’t be allowed to have kids?