Thread by @adntigger

This is the kind of super-efficient system they want to use to "help people". Got laid off, and since I was classified as a "contractor", no unemployment for us. Had to apply for assistance, which is a little over $400/m. Got this on the 20th. Note the appt date. The 18th.🙄

Note it says "IN PERSON", even though I requested phone, and I advised that it was due to being disabled and immunocompromised and was following orders the STATE gave me to not go out, be in groups over 10, etc. Ok, missed my appointment thru no fault of my own. Now what?

Next step is to call and say I missed my appt because I got this 2 days late. NORMALLY you sit on hold for hrs and hope you dont get hung up on. Tmobile has a 4 hr time limit b4 it disconnects. Others are less. I cant imagine what its like NOW. Of course, got disconnected Friday.

It normally takes me days/weeks to get thru. I dont know what to expect now. All while our bills are due and landlords are saying "too bad".

While I'm talking on this, I tried to apply for this a few yrs ago. When at my appt I was told I needed to go to "work search training".

About 6 hrs/day 5 days a week. They would pay to put my child in daycare (more unneeded spend). I advised not knowing how to look for a job isn't my problem (for crying out loud, I work in HR and recruiting, it was there on my resume). But I had a bigger issue with this...

Being disabled, I have to work from home (w/ my particular ailments). Remote jobs are tough to find and incredibly competitive, especially considering the size of the candidate pool. So, if I have to work from home, I also can't go to training 6 hrs a day 5 days a week.

I asked what kind of accommodations they had for people like me. Response? NONE.

"Have you applied for disability?"
Um, NO, I want to work.
"Well if you haven't applied for disability then you have to go".

Straight up. I had to walk out empty-handed, no assistance at all.

So you're telling me I have to apply for something I don't want in order to have just a few accommodations? What does being ON disability have to do with ADA protections or, I don't know, logic and common sense? Don't you WANT us to WORK and be self-sufficient?! Guess not.

They also have another program where they will pay for ACTUAL job training: degree/certifications. Awesome, right? Nope.

THIS is what I actually wanted help with. Not a few hundred/month, but help getting a certification so I can bolster my resume in this competitive job market.

But they didn't care about my experience or what would be best for the actual PERSON. Even though I had experience in HR, recruiting, admin, etc, they only wanted to train for jobs the STATE actually needed. So they wanted to train me in welding.

WELDING. Even tho the training program wld have a higher success rate if I had a degree to match my skills, they wanted to FORCE me to retrain in something completely different that THEY needed. Also, hi, I'm disabled. So, no degree for me either. "If you can't help us then BYE."

I applied again this time around, hoping, with this crisis, "in person" requirements are waived. Doesn't look promising from that letter, and who knows when I'll be able to get thru to the state to get the help we need. All while the bills pile up and landlords demand rent.

I am not alone. There are millions just like me. We need people to keep fighting for US. The disabled, the elderly, the 77M+ contractors. ALL of us.

@scottsantens @PagetKagy @nerdsforyang @SpeakerPelosi @SenSchumer @AndrewYang @GovRaimondo @TimRyan @AOC @RashidaTlaib #YangGang