. @GavinNewsom is proposing a 2nd #GoldenStateStimulus.

The 1st package blocked many disabled people from receiving $.

That can't happen again.

I hope my reps @AsmKevinMcCarty & @DrPanMD pay attention to this thread.

CC @JulianGABC7 @sacbee_news @CalMatters @ABC10 @kcranews

The 1st #GoldenStateStimulus package pre-qualified one disabled group to receive checks: folks who receive SSI, or Supplemental Security Income, & SSIP.

Their checks were automated, similar to the federal stimulus packages (those that included SSI recipients).

For the 1st #GoldenStateStimulus package, SSI was the only disability program to be included.

A different disability group was never mentioned; not in the bill text or media reports (except when I raised a fuss), nowhere: SSDI: Social Security Disability Insurance recipients.

SSDI folks had to do our own research. No one told us whether we qualified or not; &, if we did, how.

That meant SSDI recipients had to have agency, autonomy, education, resources & resourcefulness to do their own research. Many of us don't; we're disabled, after all.

This was all happening in the middle of #HighRiskCA advocacy work for vaccine prioritization. Disabled people were busy fighting for our lives.

To me the stimulus coverage felt like a Trump-era tactic: distract them with A Thing, then push out a policy they're too busy to fight.

I reached out to @AsmKevinMcCarty's office for help, asking whether & how SSDI recipients qualified, since online information was sparse.

They sent the same information I had already read online, which didn't discuss SSDI at all.

I was left to my own devices. No surprise there.

I figured out how I *could* qualify as an SSDI recipient, but I had to read between the lines & still was confused:

I saw that the #GoldenStateStimulus was available to Californians who qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

That means poor people who work.

That meant it was available to poor people who work & who also file taxes.

I rely on SSDI. My annual income: $12K-ish.

I earn a little $ here & there just to survive, even though work harms my health significantly.

I don't file taxes because my income is so small.

So, if I filed taxes, would I get the stimulus?

Yes, I was. But this was confirmed by a reporter ( @MonicaColemanTV: @ABC10) via a representative of Golden State Opportunity; rather than directly from the CA legislature. https://www.kvue.com/article/money/ssdi-recipients-do-not-automatically-qualify-golden-state-stimulus/103-1bc4d573-17af-4c67-b006-af1f048d187e

Note: I shouldn't have had to talk to a reporter to receive confirmation that I wasn't eligible for the 1st #GoldenStateStimulus unless I had worked & filed taxes.

I don't earn enough $ to have to file taxes & it's actually cost-prohibitive for me to file.

But I had no other choice. I filed. Actually, a friend filed for me because it was too labor intensive for me because I haven't filed in half a decade due to extreme poverty.

I filed. And in the process I somehow owed $150; remember how taxes are cost-prohibitive for me?

As an impoverished person my only option was to file (& owe $150) so I could get $450 ($600-$150).

Because $450 is a lot of money for me & COVID has been awful for disabled people.

The 1st #GoldenStateStimulus distribution structure was ableist.

How?

Because the only way SSDI recipients (who all live below poverty) could qualify for & receive the stimulus was if:

A) They earned income (worked) on top of SSDI &
B) Filed taxes, to qualify for the EITC

People relying on SSDI had to have worked & earned taxable income to qualify for the stimulus.

Despite the fact that a vast majority of SSDI recipients:

A) Live in forced poverty (let's not even get into asset limits) & ALWAYS need more $ &
B) Can't work

Make that make sense.

Note: none of the federal stimulus packages have required folks receiving *SSI or SSDI to file taxes to receive stimulus checks.

Those checks have been automated, with no extra labor expected from disabled people to prove their poverty.

*Some fed. packages dis-included SSI

I can't say this enough:

California's decision to require disabled people relying on SSDI to work in order to receive $600 to help them "survive" on an average annual income of $15,324 (mine is $12,312) - is ableist.

I share this because I remain traumatized - yes, traumatized - by state-sponsored poverty requiring me to prove that I produced even the tiniest profit in order to get financial help.

I share this because I don't want the 2nd #GoldenStateStimulus to be the same.

Disabled people receiving SSI & SSDI live in poverty. This is a widely known, reported & understood fact.

Disabled people shouldn't have to show proof of earned income on top of SSDI in order to prove they are poor.

CA owes a lot of SSDI recipients the 1st stimulus check.

Especially SSDI recipients who can't work.

An impoverished disabled person should never have been told by the State of California that the only way they would qualify for a tiny bit of financial help during a global pandemic is if they earned income & reported it.

If the state of California says that people living on under $30-odd thousand dollars a year should receive a stimulus check, then SSDI recipients receiving an average of $15,324 should automatically receive stimulus checks in their accounts without having to prove anything.

. @GavinNewsom is facing a recall election.

I still don't know whether I will support him.

He has caused significant harm to the disability & #HighRiskCovid19 community over the last year.

This isn't the first harm.

Gov. Newsom:

- Passed us off as being disposable from the start of COVID
- Refused to prioritize us for vaccines
- Re-opened parts of the state too soon, further risking our lives
- Has outright refused non-working SSDI recipients a stimulus check

The disability community is exhausted, possibly more than we have ever been.

COVID has made it abundantly clear no one cares whether we live or die or are financially stable.

California needs to make sure its 2nd #GoldenStateStimulus package includes both SSI & SSDI recipients.

My demands are:

1) Automate $600 checks to all SSDI recipients in CA from unspent funds left over from the 1st #GoldenStateStimulus, post-fact
2) Ensure that all SSI & SSDI recipients in CA AUTOMATICALLY receive the next wave of CA stimulus checks

I expect a direct response from @CAgovernor about this.

It will impact my decision about the recall election. It will impact other disabled people's decisions.

And it will impact our lives directly.

End thread.