Who do so many working class whites receive disability?

The increase in the number of Americans on disability and the concentration of recipients in certain counties is fascinating to me. Why are more and more Americans receiving federal disability benefits? Are they living increasingly unhealthy or risky lifestyles?

And why are so many disability recipients concentrated in certain counties? Are they working more dangerous jobs? Or are they just lazy? Terrence McCoy discusses this phenomenon in his five-part series on disability payments in rural America for the Washington Post.

There have been numerous posts about the series on the Legal Ruralism blog. For more information on the trend of intergenerational federal disability recipients click here. For another take on panhandling in rural America click here. For more on the underground economy in rural America click here.

I came into this class knowing only one person on disability, my uncle. He won over $5 million dollars in the California lottery and lost it all within ten years. He now receives federal disability benefits because he had two strokes.

What caused his strokes? The same methamphetamine that cost him his lottery winnings. How does he spend his disability check? Two packs of cigarettes a day and a monthly trip to Morongo, a Native American casino located a couple hours from my grandmother’s home in San Pedro. That’s right, he's in his mid-sixties and lives with his mother. More money for gambling and cigarettes when the rent and groceries are covered.

Needless to say, my opinions on disability recipients were similar to those of David Hess, the owner of the house on the hill discussed in the McCoy article we read for class. After reading McCoy’s series, my view has grown to be more nuanced. It is difficult to draw conclusions on the increasing population of disability recipients in rural, white, working class America.

The numbers are staggering. Between 1996 and 2015 the number of Americans receiving disability increased from 7.7 million to 13 million. More money is spent on disability benefits than on SNAP, welfare, housing subsidies and unemployment combined.

In the 102 counties with the highest rate of disability recipients, one in six residents receives benefits. All but two of those counties are rural. Eighty-six of the 102 counties were majority white, and in those counties whites made up 90 percent of the population. 

There are certain instances where everyone would agree disability should be awarded. No one will bemoan the disability recipient who broke his back in a coal mining accident.

However, disability recipients often suffer from ailments that many would not traditionally associate with an inability to work. Multiple recipients surveyed by McCoy receive disability because of their anxiety. Another suffers from depression. Many of the recipients discussed struggling internally with the fact that they could still physically work despite their disability. 

The spectrum of shame felt by disability recipients is revealing. Some shamelessly seek benefits at any opportunity. For example, the grandmother who shamelessly brings her grandchildren to the doctor insisting that they have autism, OCD, and ADHD to appeal the government’s decision to cut off their disability benefits. 

Others desperately want to work and feel a deep embarrassment from relying on government benefits. One woman profiled by McCoy desperately wanted to find work, but after ten years, filled with depression and anxiety, she was unable to become one of the meager 3.7 percent of recipients to get off disability.

Other recipients profiled applied to numerous jobs but ignored available positions at fast food restaurants and Wal-Mart because of the low pay. The compensation is so low at these jobs that a full time worker would receive less take home pay than if they simply remained disability recipients. Recipients often previously worked blue collar jobs that paid in excess of $20.00. For these recipients it is difficult to find the motivation to work for about a third of what they once made.

While it is important to recognize the plight of many residing in these depleted communities the manner in which disability benefits are consumed by its recipients can be alarming. In Logan, West Virginia, cars line up for hours outside of ATMs on the first of the month when disability checks come in.

One woman admitted to spending her entire check within days of receiving it on, amongst other things, three six packs of beer and cigarettes. Another man copped to purchasing 3 12-packs of Mountain Dew for his girlfriend who often drinks 24 cans in a day. It’s hard to get behind my tax dollars being used to facilitate smoking, binge drinking, and extremely unhealthy Mountain Dew habits.

The one common thread through each of the recipients profiled by McCoy is their desperation. The desperation to get that next meal and survive the day. To provide for their families. Even the Mountain Dew and beer purchases reek of a desperation to find an escape from a life of constant uncertainty. These are some of the most relatable human emotions and are undoubtedly sympathetic.

I find it difficult to draw conclusions from McCoy’s series. McCoy does not indicate that high disability rates are a result of dangerous blue collar jobs, which are more prevalent amongst the white, working class. Nor does he spend much time discussing the foreign outsourcing of many traditionally rural, blue collar jobs. However, it is not difficult to infer a connection between the anxiety and depression of many disability recipients and the uncertainty of poverty triggered by chronic unemployment.

Whether or not the rising disability rolls is a national crisis likely depends on one’s opinion on the role of government as a safety net. There are certain jobs white working class folks just do not want to do. For those who think that government should play a limited role, it is anathema that abled bodied workers are collecting government paychecks when jobs are available and often being avoided because they pay less than the free money. Even moreso that these checks are often being spent on beer, soda and cigarettes.

If you believe government should provide a hand in trying times, then it is hard not to feel sympathy for these people. Even if a recipient is physically able to work, slaving away for 40 hours at minimum wage for the honor of taking home less than money then if they just sat at home all day is a deal that many Americans would refuse.

I believe that creating incentives for disability recipients to go back to work as well as treating them with dignity and respect would be a good start towards creating an environment where everyone wins. Both sides need to recognize the concerns of the other and work towards finding compromise rather than dispute.