Thread by @MtnShepherdess

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS 3/ Do you know that when people can't play games due to serious medical problems, Social Security disability is all about playing games? Denying people disability income? -Michaela, Fresno cc: @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott 4/ I describe the Social Security disability application process as like asking someone in a major car crash to climb Mt. Everest, then pushing them off the top if they even make it! 😡-Michaela cc: @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott 5/ I've worked for San Francisco Bay Area law firms, top attorneys, earned A's in college, have a paralegal certificate (also A's), changed CA state law for high-risk crime victims (Safe at Home run by the CA Sec of State), testified before CA State Senate committee.-Michaela

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott 6/ Not even I, with my academic background and law firm experience, can make it through Social Security disability. It is a system that is designed for failure, NOT help. And those policy failures show up as the homeless chaos in our sts! -Michaela, Fresno, CA

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott 7/ When I worked for a Silicon Vly law firm and problems from my epilepsy arose, I had to leave my job. My medical team filled out CA State Disability forms, submitted. I received income in less than 1 month, was able to pay my rent & bills, got medical care, no chaos.-Michaela

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott 8/ When I was priced out of Silicon Vly rents, moved to Fresno for cheaper housing and a Social Work degree @fresnostate . My plans were derailed by sick, hospital. I wasn't working. Not eligible for CA State Disability. I spent thru savings, became homeless. -Michaela

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott @FresnoState 9/ I had a tour of duty of hell: Fresno's frightening, dangerous, abusive shelters with untrained staff and managers who did much damage to medically vulnerable women. I also met other women epileptics, unable to get Social Security disability and housing. -Michaela

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott @FresnoState 10/ Many homeless people have their government identification stolen, or lost. No home. They then are required to go through an expensive process to get a replacement, but can't. No help. -Michaela

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott @FresnoState 11/ @FresnoCountyCA wouldn't issue a WIZ report (of low income) to a homeless man I was helping, to get a low-income ID voucher to give to Catholic Charities. @FresnoCountyCA REQUIRED a gov issued id to give him the paperwork! 😡. Again, a system designed to fail. -Michaela

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott @FresnoState @FresnoCountyCA 12/ Finally some Lutherans from @fresno_hope paid for his id at the DMV, and haircut as well for his photo. I had to pay for his birth certificate, Notary fees, to obtain his Social Security card. Process took more than 1 yr! -Michaela

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott @FresnoState @FresnoCountyCA @fresno_hope 13/ He lost out on job offers, including blue collar, as he could NOT prove his right to work in the US. -Michaela

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott @FresnoState @FresnoCountyCA @fresno_hope 14/ He is 37 yrs old.

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott @threadreaderapp unroll thread, please.

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott @FresnoState @FresnoCountyCA @fresno_hope 15/ The majority of homeless people that I've met want to be off the sts. They get NO bona fide help in doing so. The shelters and MAPS housing trailer at Poverello are gang I fested dangerous hell holes. MAPS fails to deliver on promises and deadlines. Many of us tried.-Michaela

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott @FresnoState @FresnoCountyCA @fresno_hope 16/ So medically disabled people like me are then beholden to a variety of bizarre shelters -from liberal to conservative - with NO medical training, who act like they own us and we're their dolls collection. Shelters exist due to government failures/policy failures.-Michaela

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott @FresnoState @FresnoCountyCA @fresno_hope Typo due to Twitter's auto-incorrect: doll

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott @FresnoState @FresnoCountyCA @fresno_hope 17/ An Englishman was shocked that I a 59 yr old epileptic was on yr 3 of sleeping in my car in Fresno, CA. He wrote that medically disabled people there are put on disability income, housed, get support services. Unlawful to discharge them from hospital without these!-Michaela

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott @FresnoState @FresnoCountyCA @fresno_hope 18/ The government could stabilize people early on if they wanted to, not create chaos. The majority of the mentally ill homeless I've met get NO Social Security disability. Lives wasted on sts. Want to participate in society. Bright, kind, talented. -Michaela

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott @FresnoState @FresnoCountyCA @fresno_hope 19/ Many homeless are introduced to meth on the sts, and hadn't tried it before. Now two serious brain problems. Constant hospitalizations. Revolving door. Drives up costs, work load of first responders. -Michaela

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott @FresnoState @FresnoCountyCA @fresno_hope 20/ The psych hospital team that treated me in Fresno, CA (depression & anxiety are common probs in epileptic brain and can be side effects of anti-seizure meds) told me that I'm their "success story", even though in car 3 yrs. Everyone else readmitted due to NO support!-Michaela

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott @FresnoState @FresnoCountyCA @fresno_hope 21/ I've also had many hospitalizations related to homelessness (never happened when housed). Two cases of food poisoning from shelters (the 2nd nearly fatal according to surgeon), asthma, cardiac problems, seizures, dehydration and bleeding. -Michaela

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott @FresnoState @FresnoCountyCA @fresno_hope 22/ The U.S is the richest nation in the world. California is the richest state in the U.S. If California were a country, it would be the 5th richest in the world, behind Germany at 4th and ahead of India at 6th. There is NO reason for the chaos in our sts. Fix it. -Michaela

@AndrewDLewis @HowTheWestWS @MayorJerryDyer @Esmeralda_Soria @BalderramaPaco @EpilepsyFdn @Jason_Elliott @FresnoState @FresnoCountyCA @fresno_hope 23/ Would you use ANY service where the response time was 3, 6, 10, 13, 15 yrs away? (Like applying for Social Security disability.) If your food order, car mechanic, plumber, or first responder said that...it would be unacceptable to you...that you'd wait for yrs.