Lately there’s been an ongoing debate in Norway on the social security system and the various social benefits. This debate seem to pop up every once in a while and is not exactly new under the sun. Living in a more or less free and democratic country it is also necessary, you have to question the validity of your current system and occasionally measure it up . Being young and disabled I am directly or indirectly one of those whose condition and ability are in danger of being discredited and whose living conditions may very well be affected.

I was one of four disabled people featured in an article attempting to give those that is the statistics a face, so to speak. Obviously things don’t get much more public than this and I feel a need to explain some of my personal perspective on the debate. This is not really why this blog exist, but it is the only available and unedited medium I’ve got ready access to and if someone Google my name they are likely to find their way here.

The Faces Behind The Statistic
One of the three large national newspapers, the conservative Aftenposten (fairly liberal by American standards), have published a number of articles over the past few months, highlighting various sides and arguments concerning both a major ongoing reform in the social security system, the unemployment rates and grim sick leave statistics. I’d say it’s been good and healthy series of articles and generally speaking quality journalism, even if it’s hard to avoid a certain tendency to social pornography when featuring those affected by the social security system.

Earlier this week I was contacted by the Norwegian Association for The Blind on behalf of Aftenposten,  looking for people currently living of social benefits (we have a number of variants). They explained that Aftenposten wanted to do an article to sort of show the faces behind the statistics. My daily bread and butter is financed by a form of disabilities pension and I sport the lovely diagnosis Usher Syndrome resulting in the medical and judicial definition “deaf-blind”. A definition that is difficult to comprehend without inside knowledge of the medical and practical aspects of a condition such as mine. I am severely hearing and vision impaired, but I still have some hearing and sight left, my world is not completely black.

I felt I had to make myself available for this presumably good cause. Especially the young and handicapped need to be heard and reckoned with, although no-one seem to really want to hear us out. I’m not a spokesman and I hardly think I’m suitable either, but I am a conscious individual with the right to join the choir. In Norway, as in most countries, you seldom hear the voices of the poor and otherwise less fortunate. They seem to be a boring political problem and in many cases human shuttlecocks of the bureaucracy. My experience is that in particular the young and disabled are neither politically correct nor vocal enough to warrant any serious or constructive effort from the law-makers.

To make a long story short, I was interviewed, photographed and videotaped, together, but not at the same time, as three others in similar situations as me. The article appeared in the printed edition today, Saturday, as well as both text and and video on their website. The journalist and her photographer and videographer all behaved in an exemplary manner. I was also given the chance to correct my part of the article before publishing. The end result is completely acceptable, although I wish it was more in-dept, but there are obvious limitations when they feature four different “destinies” so I make no complaints. I’m no more overly exited of displaying my questionable mug in national media today than I was when I appeared on TV a few months ago.

The Luxurious Life On Socal Benefits
The finance crisis is the spark that set off this current round of debate concerning our welfare system. Although Norway have fared way better than pretty much every other country in the world, the effects are still noticeable, we experience increasing numbers of unemployed and individuals on long-term sick leave. Recently that last phenomenon have been in the spotlight, because these people can receive fairly generous sick pay and some feel there are a lot of frauds and swindlers among them “taking a holiday”.

From this and also earlier debates you get the impression that there seem to be a kind of “bright” idea in certain circles, that there are no disabled people, they are only lazy. The reality is of course a bit more complicated. I believe there are few people that willingly choose a “career” as a social benefit frauds. The result of living on social benefits, especially if you’re young, is social and economical ruin and in terms of general “life progress”, pretty much a suicide. You just don’t have the financial muscle to build a life, a home and a family and you loose out on the very important social side of a workplace. Everyone else you know progresses and build their lives while you’re left on the sideline to watch.

I’ll illustrate this by using myself as an example (what I make is not exactly a state secret, just standard rates). I pay a rent of about 1300 $ per month for a very modest 2-room apartment. Add power, Internet, insurance and the common recurrent expenses and you’re easily forking out between 1700 and 2000 $ per month. Food, clothing and so forth not included (easily 800-1200$). On disabilities pension I gorge myself in the jaw-dropping sum of 160-170 000 NOKR yearly, about 30 000 $, or some 2500 $ monthly. Since we’re two people and split the rent the wheels keep turning, but there’s not any financial overhead for me. This boils down to the fact that I haven’t got a snowballs chance in hell to get a house loan or otherwise “establish” myself. Only if my spouse get a decent paying job we’re golden (she’s about to finish her masters). Ultimately it’s pretty much hand-to-mouth as long as I live in a major city with high living expenses. Living in a major city is an advantage, some would say a requirement when you’re severely vision impaired, mainly due to public transportation, short distances and health services.

Clearly, the financial situation causes me a lot of concern. If a tooth needs fixin’ or the fridge goes kaput, I’m dead out of luck. It’s either borrowing money from friends or family, or selling the few of my possessions that have some value. Say I wasn’t the marrying kind, or simply disabled in such a way so that I could not realistically hope to attract a spouse, then a life of potential social and economical misery would likely await me. Now I am lucky enough to have a spouse, a good one too, at least as long as she bother having a blind wreck stumbling about the apartment knocking things over. Yet, it is quite uncomfortable and really not very 1979 to be completely dependent on another persons whims for financial security. Nor is it a secret that divorce and breakup-rates are high these days. Even how well you get along, you sort of have to plan for the worst.

Now, do not get me wrong, I’m perfectly fine with being poor by Norwegian standards. In fact, ever since I “grew up” and moved from home (17) I’ve been more or less in the same financial situation and me currently being on disabilities pension is a conscious choice to ensure a minimum of financial security that I would not otherwise have, given my medical prognosis and chances to get and keep a suitable job (I don’t have a fancy education). I don’t ask for more money, but I’d like for arrangements to exist that would help me to a new fridge if the old one dies, without having to crawl on my knees before my family and beg. Small, interest-free (micro) loans with a flexible down payment plan from the state would be better than nothing for people in my situation. The state already have the muscle and weight to get the money back (IRS) :p

The Obvious Solution For Me..
…is that I should get a job, that’s probably what most are thinking when reading this. “Lazy brat” and so forth. Yeah, I know, but it’s easier said than done. I actually love working, I like feeling that I create something, do something worthwhile. The challenge for me is to find something that balances relatively acceptable life quality with amount of workdays/time. Being vision and hearing impaired I burn a lot more energy than the average healthy person just communicating and moving to and from places. It means that I can for short periods of time manage an a full-time job, but I’ll burn myself out in the process and basically have no other life than work and eating/sleeping before hitting the wall (been there done that).

A part-time job is the logical step for me. Unfortunately and despite of 14-15 years of education I’m pretty much qualified to do nothing. Even if I was and did get a decent paying job, what I would be able to earn from a 50 % position, is dependent on my pre-benefit income, which was very low. I would in fact not be allowed to earn any more than what I get from my current 100 % disabilities pension. Alas, I’m locked up by the rigid and not very flexible rules and regulations of the system. I have not even mentioned the difficulty of handicapped to get jobs in the first place. If you’re handicapped or your name is “Ali”, you’re going straight down to the bottom of the pile. There are laws against that, but it still happens.

I must make a point of the fact that I never planned to end in this situation when I was younger, but life tends to put you onto paths you never imagined or wished for. The path I’ve walked so far have been one of traumatic and difficult experiences with a trail of ruined plans and broken ideas behind me. A common suggestion is “more education” and I heartily agree on that. Education is always good (I guess you could say my life motto is “live to learn”). Yet, regardless of my own understanding of my situation, capabilities and capacity, as things are now I don’t realistically see me finishing a 3 to 5 year education either (likely longer, I doubt I could get through as a full-time student). My vision and hearing deteriorate, not very fast, but it’s not stagnant either, I’m likely operating with a time perspective of 5 to 15 years for my current level of functional ability. An education would also have to be something I could realistically work with for the rest of my life, and get a job with too.

At the present time I am not motivated for more education, and I feel that the best thing for me is to be out among people and work while I still see and hear something. I guess a dream would be to work as a writer of some sort and/or with photography and image editing/processing. Some will perhaps suggest photo journalist and I’ve given it some thought, but without qualifications and with my condition it is unlikely that I could make it in a dog-eat-dog industry such as the media business is today, and surely not over time. I also doubt I got the balls for it ;)

For the time being I keep myself occupied with my hobbies and volunteer work with web development at my old upper secondary school (VGS), which is a school for the hard of hearing. I can take thing in my own pace and remain functional outside work hours while still doing something resonably constructive. I’m hoping opportunities will arise in the future, but for the time being I am where I am and my condition will not get better.

No More About Me (thank God!)
I’m going to close this post by saying a few things related to the ongoing debate on the social security system, yeah the general welfare system in Norway.

1. The way a society treat its weakest members is more telling of its quality than anything else.

2. Make no mistake, Norway have one of the finest public health and social security systems in the world and mostly we are very happy with it. It is sort of our idea that performing within ability and receiving based on need is sort of a good general principle, and you don’t have to be a crazy-eyed sickle-wielding freedom-hating fanatic to think that’s a good idea. However, just like any system, ours still have to be refined and tuned regularly, this is something everyone seem to agree on. What people do not agree on is how to do this.

3. When it comes down to getting more people off benefits and into jobs, no-one, nor I, think that is a bad idea. But how is an entirely different and very complicated question. Forcing people off social benefits through cuts in the very benefits is not a good idea. The number of people on social benefits are caused by a multitude of reasons, and you have to investigate and understand at least some of them before looking for suitable means to help the situation.

4. Our society have gone through massive changes and the great wheel have made many considerable turns over the past 150 years or so. In the last few decades we’ve seen the social structure of our societies changing even more rapidly than ever before. A lot of things are happening, and all at once. I guess one could say that  modern society have got rougher. Not necessarily in terms of poverty, violence and sheer brutality, but in more subtle ways. The requirements to efficiency, speed, competence and productivity are continuously rising with the result that work life have generally become more demanding.

In personal life there’s a focus on apparent success, on material goods, and perfectness. Young and old are bombarded by the idea that you have to succeed in life and engage yourself in mindless consumerism to be socially acceptable. Failing to do so, or the fear of, can be a considerable burden on it’s own. We’re born to the idea that everyone can, will and must make it and there’s no room for 2nd place.

Also, regardless of improved methods to  diagnose psychological conditions and illness, as well as better statistics, there seem to be an increasing number of people developing mental issues. If that is true, our society is no doubt at least partially to blame for that, all cannot be caused by pollution, diet or substance abuse. It’s likely that changes in the social structure, the way we organize our societies and what the  life expectations of people are (how realistic or unrealistic they may be), is one of the keys to understanding the increasing number of people on social benefits and why certain groups people in general struggle. I fear we’re creating society that is just as inhuman as the “barbaric” civilizations of the past. We seem to, even with all our knowledge and understanding, be even less adaptive to the many possible flavors of the human being.

Thank you for your patience.