i told these two women i was getting esa in church tonight, do you think i should have done that or do you think i should have kept it to myself?
i am a bit worried about what people think about me and i really worry that there might be some sort of scandal or something idk, like when i am in church i kind of seem ok, like i will sing and pray and talk to people after, i do get some anxiety here and there but i try to manage it, i tell people that i have this anxiety problem and that it effects me but its hard to spot, i tell people i take medication for it and things but idk what people think, i wish i knew how every body thought but i guess i have to just trust people,
i cant trust the government though because they hate the mentally ill and think we are a blight, seems like if you are vulnerable in any way they come down on you,
i heard that a woman that was really ill was asked if she had tried to commit suicide and the woman said yes and then the assessor had said ‘then why aren’t you dead’ and obviously this is not something you say to someone so ill who has had multiple attempts i really dont know how they can get away with this, its not fair.
Do not discuss it. Some cities have really worked on churches and part-time mental problem victims who got no disability pay. There is so much anger toward people who are on govt assistance following mental care, stigma is not what to call this - it is more like the old racial discrimination system pre1960s.
In your case, I would NEVER say another thing about it…
In past it was okay to discuss your back story, pre-mental care, a little but things are getting so hateful now, I would just keep quiet. I would NEVER share this at work EVER. You can tell boss you are on disability payments and what changes you need to work environment/duties to get job done (called accommodations). This applies to US. Accommodations include fewer hours to keep your income below income limit for working on disability pay, limited customer contact, work from home when you have disruptive coworkers, same hours all the time for insomnia, flexible hours to deal with bouts of insomnia.
If you move, say you got a settlement from car accident for income, pick another health problem to tell them or say a wealthy relative left you a little money…
Hope this helps.
(Some of the churches have trained people in anti-chist fashion, so they will do 180 on you and totally turn into a hate monger for a while. If you are ever mistreated, keep quiet…If you are asked to leave or mistreated by large group of church members, just leave quietly. THis is called ‘mobbing’ and know you ended up in bad church and you are a lucky person to be released by the church and you won’t end up like theirs. You may be stalked for years so just keep quiet when it happens…This can affect your ability to work so pick something without public contact or former church members for securtiy.)
You can tell who you want to tell. There is nothing they can do when they find out. I mostly keep it to my self and only let people close to me know. If anyone asks I say I’m unemployed currently.
Where I live we go to town in a group, so many people recognize us as mental health recipients. They don’t ever say anything out loud, but I sometimes wonder what they say behind our backs. Sometimes one of us will mess up creatively and get us banned from a place - stealing, and worse. That kind of thing reflects on all of us. When someone messes up it makes us all look bad.
All my family knows I’m on benefits. When it comes to the odd person asking if i am off work for the day I normally tell the that I am unemployed at the moment.
I dont go out of my way to tell others about my diagnosis or the fact that I am on benefits - its none of their business.
If they find out they find out - certain family members know that I am on SSDI - big deal
i usually say ‘i’m not working at the moment’ if they ask ‘what do you do?’ but i dont stop there, if i feel its appropriate i will try to explain that i am working my way up, i say i am trying to build myself up and then sometimes i say ‘because i use to have a mental health problem’ and then they are like ‘thats ok’ they are usually ok about it but you cant bank on everyone being ok, you cant please everyone.
I tell haircut person I’m on disability. I put off getting a haircut as long as possible, because I feel I have to tell the truth. I try to go to different places. I seem to have tears in my eyes while getting haircut. I feel extremely guilty not working.