>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Unverified) >Date: Sun, 19 Jul 1998 11:22:17 -0700 >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From: Graeme Bacque <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>To: (Name WithHeld) > >July 19, 1998 >Big Apple has little mercy for sick women on welfare > >New York City's most vulnerable feel the might of the mayor - those who are >disabled must work, no exceptions > >By Kathleen Kenna >Toronto Star Washington Bureau > >NEW YORK - TANEESHA'S SCARRED and swollen legs draw stares of pity from >strangers waiting at a food line for the city's poorest. > >Her hobbling is so painful to watch that a few turn away. > >The 36-year-old says botched surgery intended to correct bad circulation >left her bow-legged and in chronic pain. > >She was forced to leave a maintenance job - ``The pay wasn't great but I >really liked the people'' - and seek welfare. > >Taneesha and her 5-year-old daughter, whom she doesn't want identified, >became regulars at the grocery giveaway Saturday mornings at the Open Door >Church of God in Christ. > >They couldn't survive on a welfare cheque that was only $294 every two weeks. > >And now it has been cut to a miserly $229. > >That is the latest punishment for people who balk at workfare in America's >largest city, home of a record Wall Street boom. > >Able-bodied welfare recipients already work for their cheques in such >workfare jobs as street and park cleaners, or as entry-level clerks at city >offices. > >But Mayor Rudy Giuliani, riding a welfare reform machine that is bulldozing >the poor across the United States, has decreed that every New Yorker, >regardless of physical and/or mental disability, must work in exchange for >city aid. > >It's a controversial move, but every state is watching New York City. >That's because federal law has set new limits on welfare for almost >everyone, with a limited number of exemptions. Giuliani's program is >testing just how those exemptions could work. > >So, under a new welfare-to-work program, Taneesha and about 35,000 other >disabled people risk having their benefits slashed or stopped if they >refuse to accept a city-ordered job - even if they believe they are >incapable of doing the work or fear it could worsen their health. > >``A program aimed at the disabled should reflect the nature of their >disability,'' says legal aid lawyer Kathleen Kelleher. > >``This is a service program with the death penalty attached to it.'' > >Taneesha isn't even certain why her welfare was cut; only that she tried to >explain to welfare officials that pain - and difficulty getting the right >medication - prevents her from working until she can get corrective surgery. > >``I don't mind working,'' she says. ``People need to work. I just can't >right now.'' > >Mother clutches daughter in the straggle of more than 200 waiting for bread >and vegetables: ``Does anyone think we like living like this?'' > >There is a horrible irony in New York's latest work-or-else campaign: Most >of those targeted are sole-support mothers who already have been declared >unemployable by city-contracted doctors. > >Of the 35,000 disabled New Yorkers targeted by the program, an estimated >30,000 are labelled ``E-3.'' They are deemed temporarily unemployable until >their health improves. The reprieve is limited to no longer than six >months, when their cases are reviewed. Taneesha falls into this category. > >SOCIAL SECURITY ALTERNATIVE > >Another 5,000 are classed ``E-4'' - permanently unemployable. Many in this >category are waiting to move from the city's welfare budget to federal >relief. > >Taneesha already has applied for Social Security, a long-standing federal >program that gives the permanently disabled a modest income and extra funds >for medical equipment and certain other expenses not covered by health >insurance. > >Until this summer, welfare officials would rarely have bothered a frail >woman like Taneesha, who appears certain to be accepted for Social Security. > >But in the past few weeks, welfare officials have hauled in hundreds of >sick and ailing women to tell them they will soon be assigned to one of >four non-profit groups, such as Goodwill Industries, that specialize in >training and work for the disabled. > >On welfare with crippling arthritis, severe migraines and constant pain? >Stuff envelopes. Sew buttons on used clothing. Answer phones. > >The program is so new and so controversial that Goodwill officials and >others declined interviews, explaining they haven't yet figured how to >comply with city directives. > >``The mayor says he wants to move to a system of universal employment, so >all individuals of all capabilities should be engaged to the highest >degree,'' pronounces Human Resources Commissioner Jason Turner, chief of >the city's annual $5 billion welfare program. ``We can't afford to exclude >people any more and let them sit on the sidelines. We want to bring them >back into the fold.'' > >LARGEST PROGRAM > >Turner was wooed here recently from Wisconsin, where he helped Governor >Tommy Thompson gain an international reputation for a state that is the >most successful in America at paring people from welfare. > >New York City, already operating the largest workfare program in the United >States, wants a more dramatic reduction in its welfare load, although the >number of recipients has declined steadily since the start of Giuliani's >first term, in early 1995. > >There are 790,000 New Yorkers collecting welfare now compared to 1.16 >million then - an almost 32 per cent drop. > >``We treat all individuals as on the way to private employment,'' Turner >says. ``We want to make certain that everyone (collecting welfare) makes >the maximum effort towards maximizing the degree to which they're >self-sufficient and free of dependency. > >``That's not unreasonable. That's what society wants. It's what New Yorkers >want and it's what most individuals who apply for benefits themselves want.'' > >What is pushing New York and other governments to ruthlessly pare their >welfare rolls is the spectre of having no way to help people when they are >even worse off. Propelling this movement is President Bill Clinton's >welfare reform law, which allows only five years of welfare in a person's >lifetime. Getting people off public aid now means there is a possibility >they will qualify when they are destitute. > >But the city faces anti-workfare lawsuits as welfare recipients argue they >have a right to get welfare for however long they need it. > >A state Supreme Court judge has just issued a preliminary injunction >against the city in a class action suit brought by disabled women whose >welfare was cut or ended. > >Their benefits were ordered restored after the judge declared the city had >contravened the Federal Disabilities Act. The city has been ordered to >create a more health-and-safety conscious workfare program after welfare >advocates sued. The cases include: > >• A woman who lost her benefits, including food stamps, after street >cleaning worsened her arthritis and she became too ill to return to work. > >• Another who lost all benefits because she needed time from work to get to >doctors' appointments for treatment for a long-term mental disability. > >• A severe asthmatic who had her welfare trimmed because she requested an >exemption from maintenance work. The woman relies on a portable oxygen >tank, and a city doctor already approved an exemption from such work, >insisting she not be exposed to dust and fumes. > >• A woman, recovering from cancer surgery and several severe ailments, who >was ordered to work at the sanitation department despite an exemption by a >city doctor. > >``This proves that the purpose of this is to get people off welfare and not >at all to help them,'' says legal aid's Kelleher, who is helping represent >the women. ``By definition, these are people who are not ready for work >because they have disabilities. The city's own doctors agree.'' > >Noting the widespread public support for welfare reform across the country, >Turner says workfare can be tailored to everyone from the physically >disabled to Giuliani's next target group - drug addicts on welfare. > >MAYOR'S ATTITUDE > >``These obligations that have become part of the new welfare system are not >only understood and well received by the general public, but the notion >that everybody has an obligation to work and everybody ought to be >participating is so well-established and well-ingrained in American culture >that even welfare recipients accept that and feel good about it,'' he says. > >Kelleher retorts: ``What makes me really angry is that this is really based >on the mayor's attitude that people lie about their disabilities. It's >really insulting. A lot of these people would do anything to work.'' > >Contents copyright © 1996-1998, The Toronto Star. >User interface, selection and arrangement copyright © 1996-1998, >Torstar Electronic Publishing Ltd. >
