Veterans And The First National Disability Program

Douglas C. Baynton argues in his article, “Disability and the Justification of Inequality in American History”, that the concept of disability is culturally constructed and has been paid little to no attention to throughout history. He also argues that the term disability plays an important role in justifying discriminations against minority groups, based on gender, race, and ethnicity. He states that “Disability has functioned historically to justify inequality for disabled people themselves, but it has also done so for women and minority groups. That is, not only has it been considered justifiable to treat disabled people unequally, but the concept of disability has been used to justify discrimination against other groups by attributing disability to them.” (Baynton 94) He used women’s suffrage, African American freedom, and immigration restriction as examples to show how disability played an essential role in illustrating how minorities who were labeled as disabled were treated with discrimination. As they were labeled with disability, discrimination against them became justifiable, which ultimately proves that discrimination against disabled was thought as justifiable and were looked over.

This study strives to increase the awareness of healthcare disparities among veterans in hopes that veterans can receive the best healthcare possible. This study has the potential to change the structure of veterans’ health care. If their health care is damaged to the extent that some insiders and outsiders believe it to be, then hopefully the veterans’ health care system can be restructured. These disparities can be addressed in community outreach programs to expand common knowledge on the subject.

There has been an increase in veterans, approximately 107,000 whom are unemployed and homeless, while 1.5 million veterans are poverty and homeless. These veterans live in various dismal conditions suffering from disorders while lacking social support. (National Coalition for Homeless Veterans) This epidemic attracts the attention of politicians, sociologists, etc. whom are unconcerned with the fate of veterans in America. Professor Tull, insisted that to resolve the problem, he argued that the main reason for homelessness was that the veterans had PTSD which had negative influences. (Tull) This reason is that the PTSD should be treated with various ways, such as cognitive-behavioral treatment, which unfortunately some veterans can’t handle

Originally, assistance for veterans began in the 1600 where the colony passed laws where soldiers that became disabled while fighting with the Pequot Indians would be supported by the colony. The DVA was established as a

Rates of trauma and mental illness are reported to be disproportionately higher among American veterans, especially those of the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The barriers to care after civilian reentry further disadvantage this already vulnerable population. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been the longest sustained US military operations since the Vietnam era, sending more than 2.2 million troops into battle and resulting in more than 6,600 deaths and 48,000 injuries. Veterans are at risk mental health challenges, as well as family instability, elevated rates of homelessness, and joblessness. Veterans have disproportionate rates of mental illness, particularly posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance abuse disorders, depression, anxiety, and military sexual trauma.

Both articles identify the issue of providing mental health services for veterans with an extra emphasis on those that served in Afghanistan and Iraq (OEF/OIF veterans). It is no surprise that returning veterans suffer from both visible/invisible (physical and mental) wounds. Most veterans have this “high” expectation that they are going to receive quality care from both the DoD and VA. Unfortunately reality steps in where veterans are slapped in the face because they are receiving a lack of poor quality care all while jumping through Beuracractic hoops. The challenges faced to access these services include resistance, stigma, lack of professionalism, and geographic and/or regional disparities in the distribution of services resources and/or benefits, and the system simply refusing to change.

In 1930, President Theodore Roosevelt instituted the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for the purpose of providing for those who served in the military and their dependants. Because the VA is dedicated to providing care to those who have made a sacrifice for our country, it is often held to a higher standard than other healthcare providers, however, many have criticized the VA for failing the veterans by being financially wasteful, ethically unsound, and inefficient in providing health care. As of late, the VA has been seen in a negative light due to an influx of scandals, and many have began questioning who should responsible for fixing the issues that haunt the VA. The VA cannot be allowed to continuously fail these

Throughout the history of the United States the government has felt a responsibility to care for those who defend the freedom of the United States. This responsibility is to make sure that our veterans have the best care possible when they return home from war. Since its establishment, the Veterans Affairs (VA) has come under fire from all angles, saying that they are not offering the best possible care for our Veterans. Throughout history yellow journalism has been found to destroy some organizations. The VA is an organization who has experienced the effects of yellow journalism and they are trying to recover. The VA is taking the yellow journalism and turning it into constructive criticism in order to improve their services for the United States Veterans.

The National Civilian Vocational Rehabilitation Act, also called the Smith Fess Act, was developed in 1920. People with physical disabilities were targeted under this act and it was a foundation for the vocational rehabilitation makeup that has lasted through today. During 1943 the vocational rehabilitation act extended its services to those with mental retardation and mental illness. This act was made to assist vocationally disabled civilians and disabled veterans by providing funds through a federal-state matching formula (DiNitto, 2003). Federal and state governments shared the cost of the vocational rehabilitation program on a fifty-fifty basis (DiNitto, 2003). The program was appealing from conservative and economic viewpoints because rehabilitation is generally less costly than long-term care and income maintenance payments (DiNitto, 2003). According to the Federal Government's Rehabilitation Services Administration, the state VR agencies "assist persons served to become tax-paying citizens and to reduce their reliance on entitlement programs." Today the federal government provides a majority of funding for VR programs, but each state operates its own according to federal guidelines and also supplements federal funding (DiNitto, 2003).

Once reviewing the following policy, I have conducted that this policy wishes to give disabled veterans or their spouses, if they have passed away while on duty, a property tax relief. For a disable veteran to be qualified, the veteran must have been honorably discharged at the end of their military career, while also being determined having become permanently disabled. The Property Tax relief from what I have seen also has no age cap for the veterans or spouses who try to receive the Exclusion, which is good for the people applying so they are unable to be phased out by age. For the spouse to receive the benefit they must either be the spouse of a disabled veteran or the surviving spouse of a veteran who has unfortunately died as a condition of service while in the line of duty. However this is one of my biggest problems with the Property Tax relief, it states that only spouses of deceased emergency personal officer are allowed to qualify for the Exclusion if they have not remarried. I understand this could seem that it is fair, however I do not consider it right to forbid someone to remarry especially after they have lived through the traumatic experience of losing their spouse. In this it appears as if they remarry, they are no longer truly connected to their former spouse, which for some could be farther from the truth. If someone had lost a person who they had loved and marry, I believe it is their right to claim this Exclusion even if they have become remarried. Yes, some

Practically all older men used some health care, as did about three in four younger nonveterans or veterans not in VA care. West and Weeks (2009) states that Veterans in VA care were more

Also, basic food allowance is not enough to support these veterans and their families with regards to the changing economy. These allowances, however, depends on the individual geographical location, pay grade and dependency status, still thus making these veterans not to meet up with their day to day expenses. Meanwhile according to Ho who said “federal officials are working with local agencies to emphasize the need for more affordable housing, putting a bigger emphasis on transitional and low-cost units over expensive single-family homes”

Many veterans are unable to leave behind the trauma of Vietnam and psychologically return home. They struggle with a variety of extremely severe problems that neither they nor their families, friends, or communities knew how to understand

“A small pension designed to offset any wages that might be lost due to a missing limb or some similarly severe wound” (Trout). Gelber stated “the Federal Board of Vocational Education (FBVE) promised to enable wounded veterans to return to their prewar occupations or to qualify for new jobs.” Even with this generous gesture, there was more pain than gain that was to come from this.

The paper will address the history of social welfare of veterans the social, economic struggles of departure from the armed services to become a productive member of society discussed some of the stats on veteran employment, health issues, and homelessness elucidated some the services veteran received after their enlistment from active duty. Introduced non-profit organization resources for vets of all spectrums going through the filling process to file disability compensation claims. Therefore, the training, education provided from the DoD (Department of Defense) to ensure that veterans received the best care, adequate services that any veteran who was in need will have a professionally educated resourceful social worker.