Falling through the cracks

So, here's a little background about Thaddeus, the guy who needed to have 5 teeth pulled.

Thaddeus was diagnosed at age 5 with Cerebral Palsy. This is a condition that is typically diagnosed before age 10, and is a condition that is "a group of neurological disorders that affect the part of the brain controlling body movement and muscle coordination."

So, Thaddeus shakes. It's pretty clear that there is something not working properly. Consequently, Thaddeus was put on disability at about age 5, when he was diagnosed, and expected to be there for life. There is no known cure for Cerebral Palsy.

But, apparently a few years ago, Thaddeus got thrown in jail, and when he got out, they denied his disability. They told him, since he had no records of this disability, he would have to obtain them to qualify for disability payments.

If anyone has been in jail, you will know that when you get out, they send you off with something like "$50 and a new suit." Thaddeus had no way to re-certify his disability, no money to pay the price for a doctor.

So he kicked around for a while. Lived with some people for a while in an abandoned house, but had to leave there when the police were called. But in Elkhart, we have a public plaza with live electric and wifi, and so he gravitated to the plaza. He has a old laptop that he got somewhere and he guards possessively. This was his connection to hope.

He was at the plaza the day Occupy Elkhart landed there also. He tells me that he was terrified when OE arrived, thinking only that they were a church group or something and they would demand he leave.

Instead, he found an Occupation.

Thaddeus had *tried* to get his disability back. He has a local lawyer he is working with, but despite several calls (many that I have prompted), no one seems to have had the foresight, knowledge, or perhaps, just interest, to work through what is needed to document his disability. I finally sat Thaddeus down and said, "ok, where were you treated and diagnosed? When? What's their address? How do we contact them?"

We got forms in this week from two medical facilities/hospitals for consent to release information. These will go out and hopefully we will get some documentation. From there, hopefully we can work through the other piles of paperwork to get him re-certified.

But here's the kicker: Thaddeus has a state ID with a medical ID alert on the back confirming he has Cerebral Palsy. I don't know what it takes to get the alert, but probably the level of required documentation is not as much. But Thaddeus tells me he went to a plasma bank, several months back, to try to sell plasma to get a little money.

He was turned down due to the medical ID alert on his state ID. The plasma guy said, unfortunately, that with a medical condition such as this, he would need to have a release from his doctor saying it was ok for him to give plasma.

So, Thaddeus can't get medical care because he has no money. If he gets any medical or dental care, since he has no income he can document, he has to paid full price (the reason why it cost $750 to have 5 teeth pulled), and yet, if he tries to do something like donate plasma to earn a few bucks, he's turned down because he's disabled.

I think Thaddeus has fallen through every crack ever invented. So I'm determined to not let him fall through any more.

This is why I do what I do. And this is why I Occupy.