Introduction/Definition/etc

StaringBeauracracyInTheFace2010 was preparation for

this, the Main Event...

20100802 11.36 am Jerry

Body

Getting There/Office Differences

So after going into the Federal Social Security

satellite office, encountering security guard with attitude,

testosterone poisoned and likely [artificially] pumped up ego,

by contrast, after getting to a remote county site,

finding the right non descript building,

going into a county building, was simple, sign in,

get a sticky visitors badge,

go to a suite, check in with the front desk office

wait in a busy crowded waiting room with people

likely looking for housing, and I'm going for

an appointment after waiting for likely over a decade,

coming up on a list, get called in early,

while trying to make sense of the papers,

a second person, not listed is in on the "interview"

so double teamed...

Round 1

Pleasantries are skipped, the person asks

if I've done the paperwork, filled out the forms,

no I have questions to know how to fill out

the paper, second person says she will stay

and person appointment is with leaves,

so spend much time asking questions

about the questions, unclear,

like is SSDI in this list of questions,

I state I need a copy of everything I turn

in, but don't get it, as that was to the

other person, when changing people,

that gets lost in the shuffle

Like Temple Grandin, and I mentioned

dyslexia and autism, Temple was the one

she had heard of, I say she's popular,

but I'm more Jerry Newport (Mozart And The Whale,

book and movie, he asks your birthday and

autographs/signs with a calculation he does

in his head of days you've been alive...)

I say that's nice, try calculating how long

I will be alive, this housing process is sickening to me,

and since my name is Jerry, they think it's me,

taken literally, just more like Newport than

Grandin, and there are different types of

Autism involved here, one classical

another Asperger's, I'll skip the functioning

levels as just saw http://vimeo.com/12901883

at Autreat, and other Drew Goldsmith's

Rolling Credit and Amanda Baggs

not verbal, per se, but communicate very

well by technology, and through parent

co presenter (described more on

http://autreat.com/aut10presentations.html )

so questions like Communications,

language spoken at home = Geek,

English for me, I can't make sense

out of the poorly designed questions

lists of programs, conflicting, is

SSDI an employment disability?

It's from work quarters, SSI has

no work requirement, and is needs based,

and the ",etc" makes answering questions

impossible. Do you do x,y,z or anything else?

How do you answer a closed question

Yes or No to something with a miscellaneous

etc in it? Because Etc can be anything...

Yes or No is the only answer they accept,

so Do you receive gifts? Yes or No...

Yes, I get holiday gifts, and birthday gifts,

upon reverse questioning, more interrogation

coming my way, good cop/ bad cop like,

they are looking for "Does anyone fill your

refrigerator with groceries?" No.

Transportation. Cars registered to you?

No, use of other vehicles? Yes, I rent

car sharing sometimes

and Occasionally use a parents car,

car sitting when out of town / country,

and how I got to the conference,

so I listed it, what I remembered,

they want license plates, owners, etc.

More detail than I remember,

but I've answered truthfully...

And Tips? No.

And property? No.

And inheritance? IRAs, Annuities, etc...?

I had 401k when employed but that is

decades gone, pre becoming homeless,

so I know a little, but it's mostly income

stuff, YES/NO questions, and at least one

I answered No and provided explanation,

there is no comments, just closed ended

questions, "If Yes, explain" type stuff,

If No, I really need to say why it's no,

since the questions are lousy...

And it's not an official like form,

clearly used, but probably not vetted by the

administration well, no form number,

no revision date, and everything is

you must respond or you will be

found unqualified for benefits,

services, denied, etc..

Threats

The Welcome page is a threat,

of fraud and jail, fines, etc,

but the questions are more

"When did you stop beating your..."

So by analogy, while Temple Grandin makes

the treatment of cattle more humane,

they are still being slaughtered,

the housing process is abusive

and potentially killing, someone in

the waiting room broke down, and pulled

inside to discuss her personal issues,

might have missed an appointment,

or in dire need of services. I wonder

how many had been in shelters,

in daily treatment for a year,

or how many are just paying too much

percentage of income for housing, > 30% is one

of the qualifying criteria... But Project

Based Section 8 sets rent at 30%

minus medical expenses, so I'd thought

I'd never come up on the list, and others

had previously said so, not authoritatively,

but rumor and misinformation, perhaps,

years of being on the waiting list,

and living in an unhealthy place for me,

lack of sleep and gangs, gunshots

nearby, six+ guys surrounding me at rail,

people shot and killed and animals shot nearby

and that was a criteria on one original application form,

unsafe housing THAT WAS NOT ASKED,

and should have been...

Not to mention we've now got Rats

RatsAndOtherParasiticLifeForms ...

Emotionally Bruised, Wounded and Safety Issues

I feel violated, my privacy completely wasted,

even medical HIPAA theoretically can tell you

who has accessed your records

and has fines for disclosing but

this packet of forms requires

that you give authorization for

various nondescript generic organization

and types of organizations without even listing them all

to be contacted and release information

about you, credit agencies, former employers,

lots of government agencies, federal, state, local,

employment assistance, but limited to

not useful for getting tax information,

but they are looking for income

and some gestapo type inquisition

the assumption is that people coming

and wanting and needing help are

liars, thieves, crooks, drug dealers,

welfare queens/ kings, pimps and

God knows what else, and Fairfax

has that attitude, while the party line

is "It's Fairfax" and we have money,

the down side is that anyone who doesn't

is slime, scum, lower than human,

with the neighbors of the housing office

is NRA, so they know how to take

care of things, I guess

(see Nov 13, 2009 shooting of an unarmed

former special forces estranged dad

for picking flowers in a nearby

plant nursery...)

In my current neighborhood, we hear

gunshots on occasion, police vehicles

sometimes, helicopters searching sometimes,

sirens a fair amount, and ambulances,

fire trucks were very common, I sometimes joked

they were teaching people how to cook,

firemen amused, mostly, but I'm

guessing it's fire responds quicker

to personal safety issues than police...

And I've called 911 a few times here..

Reporting one rapid crackling sounds,

confirmed heard with a neighbor,

and a swat type team came by,

determined it was firecrackers by the trash,

and they didn't mind much,

said call if you need to.

Another time heard gunshots

in the early am, while asleep,

wondering car doors, backfiring, dumpster trash lid,

trash truck, but later confirmed with

a neighbor, gunshots... Maybe a

drug deal gone bad, early am is when

heroin addicts are jonesing (sp?) the most,

withdrawl over night and other issues,

much like cigarette smokers and nicotine

withdrawl, or caffeine, I used to say

when training at Detoxes, "you can

take away people's narcotics,

by the time they get to detox,

they might know it's not good for them,

but don't mess with their coffee and cigarettes.."

Virtually Unconscious

So it's a couple hours of slugging back

and forth, questions, sign this,

over 15-20+ forms, how can someone

understand all those, they were sent

ahead, and a few extras, so I know what types

of information was requested and how,

but some that I didn't have time to read,

only lawyers specializing in that area

could make an informed

consent to most of this stuff,

and I questioned near the end,

after they had photocopied my birth

certificate, "Says right here on the

bottom, it's illegal to photo copy"

but must be exceptions for governments?

You don't read the fine print,

it usually says things you wouldn't expect,

and clearly the roles of the people on

the front lines is to force people to sign

stuff, but they have little to no knowledge

of how things are decided, I asked

about the process, "Is it a mystery?"

or I'm guessing they think I'm

and all like me are incapable

of understanding such things,

but as a former fed, I've seen bureaucracy

that might make their heads spin,

military has it's own variation,

and that's before clearance information...

What Else Is Missing?

And there was no introduction to the

program you are applying, forced to

give information for, so there is

no incentive to cooperate, besides

the threats on the Unwelcome pages...

Research

The housing forms available online

give a hint as to what happens,

but I've gotten some rumors wrong,

60 days to fill the voucher (plus can ask

for extension), once approved, if available,

and the forms online have something about

approving a place, so might be a vacancy

and landlord willing,

but they have to go inspect it,

slowing the process further,

and landlords can charge up to 2 months

as security deposit, and moving costs

and application fees, adding up very quickly

with unexpected, surprise,

you've come up on the waitlist costs,

but screening is up to the landlord,

so very quickly the costs of doing this is going to be

over 30% of recent disability income,

but they probably only count past payments,

not costs incurred to move in to their program,

so another barrier, and they can't say

how long it will take to know if approved,

it's done like it's a favor, we Fairfax might

grant, or maybe granting you

something when the process should be

transparent and fair, but they must

assume if the process is known

people will abuse it, but like the

Fried Green Tomatoes movie with

an elderly woman after some young

thing steals her parking space,

rams into the young things' car,

and states defiantly "I have better

insurance". Or Judy Tuneudo's (??)

Crash, Yep, Bad Driver (find exact quote

and reference?)

Survey Says...

But nothing was really funny,

the process is inhumane, insensitive,

the power differential is too different,

the people think badly, or little to nothing

of the applicants, and it violates

privacy, probably common law

and needs to be reviewed for process,

I know there is a lot of paperwork required for HUD,

and I recommend anyone going bring someone

else with you, preferably a lawyer or paralegal,

since they will be the only ones to understand

the forms and implications, but at least

a witness, since double teaming by

an unnamed person, new person training or assisting,

for a "interview" which is really a required filing/

submission deadline and little to no information coming the

other way, a smirk or laugh when asking

for and getting my personal information,

like we are beating you down,

and another response "we have to investigate"

which is really another form of "we don't trust you"

and have to hear it from everyone else first,

officials, neighbors, employers, law enforcement, etc,

before we believe you and we have to keep an eye on you,

because all you types are scum, liars, cheats, etc...

Sensitivity Training Needed

At least with peer stuff, you have been through

a similar process so there is not as much

differential in life experiences..

Sensitivity training needed in the minimum,

Reasonable Accommodations that I mentioned

but that is a different department

only one sign in the room included that,

and even the calculator had the keys

wrong, = was ** so maybe an accounting thing,

no spreadsheet programs available,

the computer was probably just for the staff,

looking up definitions, addresses and phone numbers

would have helped me, using a spreadsheet program

to calculate total expense, I'm doing from memory,

or booting to my own Linux based operating system,

other might be used to Mac instead of corporate Windows,

etc, I could unplug the Ethernet/ internet cable,

but safe browsing on Firefox instead of likely Internet Explorer with

caching, capturing passwords, cookies, and

corporate government monitoring,

maybe wifi out to a local rare cafe, and a calming down,

plus the fluorescent lights making me weird,

while natural light available in the windows,

they might have well been shining a

bare light bulb in my face like classical

movies on interrogations...

Privacy In Government

I don't think they understand

most feds or DOD and others

are not to answer questions,

default is loose lips sink ships,

and privacy is not an assumption

of guilt, but a right, so trying

something experimental (EIV?) on

people is likely unjust, experimental

systems don't have the safeguards

required and people aren't trained

on the weakness and liabilities of the system,

to advise, so when something comes out,

it'll be lots of handwaving like

recent reports of WikiLeaks.org

on war in Afghanistan and other such stuff.

Veterans and other benefits for uniformed

people probably have better safeguards

and security, and know who all can

access information, and having had some

of my relatives die recently, I can't say

who all has known who I'm related to,

even Project Based Section 8 forms

and consents I'm guessing all sorts

of people could have gained access,

the usual standard is double locked

door, filing area and file cabinet keys,

CARF being the highest certification...

Social workers and benefits people gossip,

like most others but probably more,

even the new inspecting person telling me about

others, which would be a violation...

Mail with full names and addresses left at front desks,

on purpose, between organizations, housing to

Regional Recovery office, snide receptionists

with sick twisted hatreds, and it's no

wonder its closed...

TKO

So finally ,TGIF, it was when leaving,

after they stopped beating my head against

forms and privacy violations,

probing personal questions, from strangers,

forced coercion on non informed

nonsensical questions with threats

of law and punishment for wrong answers,

and they pretty much make people wish

they were dead, are assumed to be scum,

and builds the egos of those interrogating,

(the laughs can be interpreted many ways)

and does nothing but harm to people

applying, for something that should be

transparent, fair, just and accurate,

with grievance procedures, assistance

in filling out forms, getting information,

rolling submission times, and/ or extensions,

they have all the time, we have none,

and many more things/ changes than

I can quickly elaborate on..

Time Out

And it took me days of calming

and doing other things to get to a point

where I'm just not doing &&%$&*$$##@....

Commuting

Leaving, I have to get some exercise,

despite only a few hours sleep again

the night before and bike major roads,

like Rt 50 and find an entrance to a park trail,

and hits the Cross County trail,

up Wakefield park, where MORE

mountain bike races and clubs meet,

and skateboard park

(see DocsInProgressFilmFestival2010

as kids in Silver Spring want similar

and did a summer camp video about it)

Taking a turn after sprinting over the beltway

and construction and hear a crunch,

the car behind or next to me has

hit another car. We all stop, and I tell

the people in the left hand turn lane

they are witnesses and need to stop,

and exchange information, and the

Lincoln Mark something and Jaguar,

he claims responsibility saying he hit

her instead of me on a bike, didn't

see me in the shade, sun in his eyes,

etc... I wait around in the heat for a while,

she calls and gets to crying , yelling,

he takes responsibility when her brother

shows up, yelling at her in an Asian language

I don't understand, and I call the police

and they exchange, I give my info,

but get none in return, I didn't see

it just heard something and on the

scene afterwards, but rattled that

someone almost hit me, and he

need to slow down, be more careful,

as I almost got broken bones,

and/or coma / killed

due to his driving...

Conclusion

Summary of experience or similar

Discussion

A place for feedback on the page presented

Page History

20100802 Jerry

Jerry created this page to rant on something that is just not a fair process,
and maybe give some reasons and suggestions for changes and improve
how others who go through it...

TheMainEvent2010