2 ms·
As somebody involved in communities with a large amount of people who can't work for one reason or another... being on significant welfare for being literally u
by vertex-four 11y ago
As somebody involved in communities with a large amount of people who can't work for one reason or another... being on significant welfare for being literally unable to work, or only being able to work a part-time job, is incredibly stressful.
The issue is, conservative Government parties point to people taking welfare without meeting the requirements for it as a significant issue that costs countries large amounts of money. To solve this problem, Governments set up welfare departments to be all but adversarial, with near-constant - and, worse, unpredictable - changes in requirements forcing a lot of mental effort to be taken just to keep proving and re-proving that you can't work, and welfare agencies taking the default stance that any individual taking welfare is likely to be fraudulent.
The result is that keeping up with the welfare system is often as stressful as a full-time job in itself, if not moreso as you're very aware that society and your Government both think of you as someone who they'd really prefer just died.
Of course, as those most affected by the discrimination against those on welfare are generally the people with the smallest voices - unemployed or low-wage workers, those with disability, and often further minorities - it's not going to change in a long time.