Governemental assistance for me or anyone else.

[Flyndaran]

I bet we would all agree that the government should help support the supremely handicapped.
But to use an example, am I bad off enough to qualify?

I have only had one real job, and that lasted eight weeks. It lasted that long because my employer made a deal for that long as a courtesy to a job placement coach.
I have severe anxiety and social phobia.
I can very rarely leave the apartment without a trusted relative or my loving girlfriend.
I often panic from most forms of responsibility, and may suffer for days from just a minor slip.

What forms of emotional disability should get supplemental income?
Say what you want. I've heard or thought it all. I've got a relatively thick skin on this issue and especially when only in written form.

[PepperElf]

Maybe I'm extremely mistaken on this but I though that there already was assistance for some forms of extreme handicaps.

I just remember talking to a friend online who was living on Social Security because his OCD prevented him from working. I don't have many other details on him however.

[BroomJockey]

Pretty sure you'd qualify for this. And I think it's right to have a program like this in place.

[blas87]

My boyfriend's brother is currently working on getting disability for his social anxiety and his other neurological disorders.

He is really one messed up individual, and he has never, ever been able to hold down the same job for very long.

First of all, he has Lyme Disease, so there's always those random days where he just cannot/will not get out of bed, and will sleep for a couple straight days and it bothers him to even get up to go to the bathroom.

He is so afraid of people that he quit his temp job at a call center (one where people who want items call and his job was to hook them up) because he was so scared of talking to people. He cannot function or deal with many people at all.

But at the same time, because of the meds he takes, he sometimes gets these urges to socialize. And when he does, sometimes he'll arrive and then get really scared and take off. Many, many times he's taken my boyfriend and I to a bar with every intention of joining us, but then took a look around at people and just ran back to his car and went home and didn't come back until we needed to get picked up.

On the rare occasion that his urge lasts long enough for him to socialize or interact with people, he gets overly aggressive and starts to annoy people, so then when people get turned off, he won't want to do it again for a long time.

He's also the type of person that will barricade himself in his room for days on end and refuse to come out, unless he has to go to the bathroom.

[Savannah]

I think that, as long as you have been diagnosed by a doctor (or psychologist/psychiatrist for mental/emotional disabilities) and you and the doctor agree that you cannot work around your disability (which seems to be your case, Flyndaran), you should be eligible for the same aid, regardless of whether your disability is physical, mental, or emotional. It would be extremely cruel to force someone who has severe anxiety onto the street just because their disability isn’t a "traditional" disability.

[Flyndaran]

My boyfriend's brother is currently working on getting disability for his social anxiety and his other neurological disorders.

He is really one messed up individual, and he has never, ever been able to hold down the same job for very long.
....

Other than the lyme disease and the bedroom boarding, that sounds quite a bit like my problems.

I think that, as long as you have been diagnosed by a doctor (or psychologist/psychiatrist for mental/emotional disabilities) and you and the doctor agree that you cannot work around your disability (which seems to be your case, Flyndaran), you should be eligible for the same aid, regardless of whether your disability is physical, mental, or emotional. It would be extremely cruel to force someone who has severe anxiety onto the street just because their disability isn’t a "traditional" disability.

I've actually been told by an official that everyone is denied as a matter of fact. You need to appeal often multiple times before a court date that takes at least two years to approach and only then do you get to meet a real person with power to approve anything.
I finally have a court date for social security assistance this month.

[BlaqueKatt]

I've actually been told by an official that everyone is denied as a matter of fact. You need to appeal often multiple times before a court date that takes at least two years to approach and only then do you get to meet a real person with power to approve anything.

Depends on the disability-I think with psychological issues they tend to be less inclined to assist-due to the unfortunate number of "false claims"-physical disabilities are more easily "proven"-my mom only had to wait 6 months(congestive heart failure), another friend was approved immediately(terminal cancer)-yet I know one girl who has fought for years both to get and to keep her SSI for schizophrenia.

[blas87]

Katt is quite right. It's too easy to fake a mental illness or disability.

I'm not saying that you are, Flyn, it's just that many people have, and it's harder to prove that they aren't.

One way to prove my boyfriend's brother's issues is that his shrink has to talk to all of his family members (at least the ones he lives with) and make sure that they all say the same things about his brother. The state wants to hear from the head shrink that this guy's family thinks he's truly nuts, beyond just a doctor's point of view.

[AFPheonix]

That, and our state is looking at budget cuts and tax increases. They've got a LOT of people trying to get assistance now.

[Savannah]

I've actually been told by an official that everyone is denied as a matter of fact.

Seriously? I had thought about saying that "should be eligible for" is not the same thing as "will get", especially in the USA, in my original post. Apparently I should have.

Good luck with your hearing!

It's too easy to fake a mental illness or disability.

Sadly true. It's also a lot easier for ignorant people to say "Just get over it" to those with things like anxiety than to those with physical disabilities.

I'd rather err on the side of assisting those who don't really need it rather than not helping those that do, but that requires resources that a lot of places simply don't have (at least in the US, I can't speak for other countries).