Warning: Long Post:
I am posting this because I saw another thread on here about someone living in this capitalist hellscape who is mentally ill and being dragged down by feeling like everything is hopeless. It got me thinking about my own situation and feeling very similarly. I feel like I am drowning slowly. I also struggle with depression, but I am also autistic. I worked 30-40 jobs each between 1-3 months over a 4-5 year period before the number of psychiatric hospitalisations, firings, and all the issues I had got them to really look at my case and was able to finally get me a proper diagnosis and eventually getting on disability. I live in the US.
Disability has some of positives, and a lot of drawbacks. The positives are that I have a passive income that is reliable. I also get medical/dental/vision with some caveats, low-to-no copays with no premiums. The Drawbacks are… I make only slightly more than *HALF* of minimum wage. . I get $798/mo. That's all I have to live on. If I earn more than $740/mo on top of what I already get, I lose everything, including my health coverage, at least last I checked, if someone has updated information or can expand on this, feel free.
I do not get cost of living increases, or at least I haven't in over 10 years. Every year inflation creeps in, I feel the pinch more and more. I'm lucky I have family who help me out and send me additional money to supplement my income, I get an additional $500/mo from them. It used to be enough to provide me a quality of life where I felt I had some dignity. I can barely afford to pay for food and general living expenses anymore after the price increases this year. I feel like I am drowning. It's making my depression so much worse. I would love to get a part time job, but can't without the risk of losing *EVERYTHING* with nothing to fall back on. I mirror the sentiments of the person from that other post. I feel like it's no longer a question of if I will but when I will…