Bernie understands that disability is not a choice. I have physical injuries that have lasted almost ten years already and that will probably last the rest of my life even if I live another thirty or forty years. I did not chose to live in pain every hour of every day for the rest of my life, severe pain even with taking appropriate pain medication. The pain medication takes the edge off enough that I can function well enough to perform some of the activities of daily living, but others are a struggle. Without pain medication every day, I cannot eat or feed myself or sleep before I am exhausted, and I toss so much while asleep that I have had to sleep on a mattress on the floor so I don’t fall too far when I toss myself out of bed in my sleep. Then when I wake up on a mattress on the floor it can take me half an hour of struggle to push and pull myself up with my arms because I cannot bend my legs enough to push with my legs to get in a standing position. With pain medicine, I can sleep in a bed and still be in the bed when I wake up, and I can get out of bed and reach for my crutches or my walker and just start walking, even if I do need to use my arms to support and balance myself. I do not have to struggle for literally half an hour on a good day to get up from a mattress on the floor, because I do not need to worry that the pain will trigger muscle spasms sufficient to throw myself clear out of bed in my sleep. Of course, Right Wing Conservatives demonize anyone who uses pain medicine, and makes people jump through all sorts of hoops to get any, regardless of injuries. And on top of that the Republicans and some of the Democrats want to cut Social Security disability benefits and Medicare, or Privatize it so that their friends can steal the money more easily.
I was injured at work, and Workers Compensation, even with a good attorney, was barely enough to get me through the first stages of my recovery. I struggle every day to regain as much mobility as possible with my injuries, but nerve damage takes a long time to heal. It has already been almost ten years, and this is as far as I have gotten, but at least I have gotten this far, because I persevere every day of every year to recover as much strength, mobility, dexterity, balance, endurance, and flexibility as I can.
Meanwhile I struggle to gain new skills so that if the economy ever recovers enough that an employer would consider hiring someone with my mobility, dexterity, balance, and pain problems, I would be able to use my still agile mind to support myself, even though I am old enough that I would qualify for Social Security already even without a disability. With Republicans determined to destroy the economy further and to cut benefits to the bone, I cannot count on having Social Security last as long as I do, and I cannot count on the existence of even subsistence jobs even for the able bodied. But I will not give up doing the best I can to support myself whatever obstacles the Tea Party wants to throw in my path. But I want to vote for a leader who will lessen the obstacles I face, not increase them.
That is why I support Bernie Sanders.