Welcome to the Living the Dream Podcast with Curveball , if you believe you can achieve . Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball Podcast , a show where I interview guests that teach , motivate and inspire . Today , we're going to be talking about Social Security and Medicaid , as I am joined by writer and podcaster Devin Wieters .
Devin is in college , she is disabled with CP , and she has a podcast that we're going to be talking to her about . She is advocating for the ssi restoration act and the ssi savings act , so we're going to be talking to her about everything that she's up to and how those two acts would help disabled people .
So , devin , thank you so much for joining me today .
Hi , thank you for having me .
Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself ?
So , as you said , my name's Devin , I'm 29 . I have graduated from college , from Christopher Newport University , go Captains , with a degree in uh , communication , uh and um .
I've really struggled to find a job out of college because of my disability and the , the way the Medicaid and social security is set up , which we'll talk about later um and so , and so I just podcast and advocate , for free , basically , and I love it . So I wish I was getting paid money to do this , but you know I love doing it .
And yeah , I just do this for free . I wish I was making a little bit more money to do it , and I hope to be one day , but right now I'm doing this for free .
I wish I was making a little bit more money to do it and I hope to be one day , but right now I'm doing this for free and I'm a super fan of the show Survivor and yeah , that's all you need to know . So so , pretty much all you need to know .
Well , well , let's talk about . You know your disability , you say when we were in the green room you were talking about how it's harder to live with the stigma . It's harder to live with the stigma of your disability versus living with the actual disability . So explain to listeners what that means .
So basically , it's very hard to emotionally I guess emotionally draining we'll say to emotionally , I guess emotionally draining , we'll say to explain to people that , yes , I am cognitively normal even though I'm in a wheelchair . Yes , I can talk , yes , I can do all this .
Just because I'm in a wheelchair , you don't need to make , you know , crazy assumptions about me . And I think a lot of the stigma that , oh , people with disabilities like don't want to work , they can't work , has contributed to the way A lot of that is . Just , it was the stigma that people with disabilities can't contribute as much as able-bodied people .
That contributes to the way the Social Security and Medicaid is set up . And let me just say off the top that I live in the best state in the union for Medicaid . So shout out , wynne Youngkin union for Medicaid , so shout out when you're in . And the social , the people that work at social security are awesome Most of them .
It's just the walls for social security that aren't awesome . So okay .
Well , let's talk about Medicaid waivers . Explain to listeners what Medicaid waivers are .
So Medicaid waivers are something that people with who qualify , people with disabilities that qualify , based both Anyway , never mind People with disabilities that qualify , that's the easier way to explain can get in addition to the Medicaid insurance that we all know about . That helps them pay for a personal caregiver that they hire and pay them for the state .
Some of them help you get different equipment that Medicaid doesn't normally cover . Some offer behavior supports . Different waivers offer different things depending on what waiver you're on , but basically they provide the essentials that people with disabilities need to live in their communities every day .
Okay , well , you know you're very passionate about the SSI Restoration Act and SSI Savings Act , so tell us what those two acts are , what they would do and why you're so passionate about them in the majority of cases , like in 99% of cases .
So basically , if you lose your Social Security , you also lose your Medicare and Medicaid . And right now the asset limit for Social Security is $2,000 for singles and $3,000 for couples , so not even double what it is for singles .
Which inevitably means if you work at all , then you're liable to have your benefits cut and you can't possibly work full time , because then you're inevitably make too much to qualify for the waiver but not enough to pay for it out of pocket . So it leaves you in kind of a sticky situation . And so what ?
The SSI for couples and the SSI Restoration Act would eliminate the marriage penalty , which is where they count the spouse's income against you , whether or not you're legally married , even if you just live together . So that's the basics .
When do you feel like these acts are going to be going through or going up to try to get past ?
Well , that's funny that you should ask , because there's a guy named Raul . He's a , I bet his first name , his first name is Raul and uh , uh , sorry , I have a mild speech impediment so I might not be pronouncing that all the way correctly , and I can't even pronounce his last name because it's just too hard . Uh , his Instagram .
His Instagram is Dan , with Raul , if you want to look him up R-A-U-L . And this guy God bless him is one of the main authors of this bill and he keeps reintroducing it every year and it goes through the first committee , I guess , or whatever it is , and nothing ever gets done with it . So that is why I am on here trying to change that .
Okay , well , you was telling me about Patrice . It's a movie on Hulu . You said you felt like everybody should watch it . Explain to us why and what the movie is about . You know kind of tease people with it . Make them watch it . Explain to us why and what the movie's about . You know kind of tease people with it .
Make them go watch it , first of all , if you are looking for a laugh , if you like comedies , it's hilarious . So it's not going to be . Woe is me . I mean , there are some tough moments in there too , but it's mostly a comedy , so you will literally pee your pants laughing . And what it is is it's a documentary , a comedy documentary about .
It's all real about A couple that wants to live together and get married and they both have disabilities , but they can't because of the way the waivers are set up . They both have disabilities , but they can't because of the way the waivers are set up .
So it's basically about their struggle to live a normal life , basically , and their fight to get these laws passed .
OK , well , you're also a survivor fan , so you know kind of tell us about that .
So I have had a sometimes unhealthy obsession with survivors since I was about eight years old . Um , I just thought that it's that they do everything they can to make uh it a level playing field . They had , um , a guy with uh on season 43 of the show .
I'm actually friends with the winner of that season , which still sounds crazy coming out of my mouth but on season 43 of that show they had an above-the-knee MPT and a guy with mild CP and they just did amazing . So you know , it's always been inclusive of people with disabilities way before it was cool and it started being talked about .
So that's why I love Zoom . I love it so much .
Another thing that you love is a book that Vice President JD Vance wrote . So you know kind of explain to us that book , you know what it's about and what caught your attention so much about it agree , but I personally think that JD Vance has the best sense of humor .
Oh my gosh , he's . I personally think he's hilarious , um , but what I what I love about the book is he makes the same exact argument that I'm making about welfare . Um , because he grew up with his uh grandmother down in Appalachia and , um , that course , that's the area of the country that's very poor a lot of the times .
And he makes the argument in the book that I'm making here that basically , the people that really need the welfare are penalized the most , because it leaves you with if you make any money at all or try to go to work , especially full-time .
It leaves you with , uh , not making too much to qualify for the , for the waiver , but not enough to pay for it out of pocket . So I really resonated with that part of it , obviously , and I really resonated with how hard he had to fight , like the bureaucracy , and so that's why I tell everybody to read it .
Okay , tell us about your podcast .
So my podcast is called Real . With it , and basically anybody that I find fascinating I have on . So we've had spiritual readers , other people with disabilities , obviously , uh , business people , uh , anybody with a fascinating story , uh , especially those that have overcome obstacles .
That's who I have on , so you can find it on all podcasting platforms and YouTube , or you can go to realwithitcom and find out more about it there . Uh , we , we release new episodes every other Monday .
So , um , if you would like to help us out and subscribe , you can go to realwithitcom slash subscribe , so it'll be right there in your feed of podcast app of choice and you never miss an episode . So , if you want to find out more , go to realwithitcom . Or if you want to subscribe , go to realwithitcom slash subscribe .
And , yeah , we'd love to have you listen .
All right , tell us about any upcoming projects that you're working on that listeners need to be aware of .
So , like I said , every other Monday we release a new episode of my podcast . So , and other than that , I'm just . If you go to wewithitcom slash reforms , you can learn more about our reforms advocacy and find out more about what needs to be changed .
If you go to realwithitcom slash Patrice , it will take you to the Patrice the movie website and once you're there , you can click on Take Action and it will give you a form to fill out where you can write to your representatives to say you support the SSI Restoration Act and the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act .
So I would encourage everybody to do that and I know everybody's on the one bill train right now , but we need both of them passed , ideally , in case one gets overturned in a court or something . We still have another one . So I would like to ideally see both of them passed so you can write to representatives about that .
And be sure to follow me on my podcast and social media at we're with a pod and I'm on instagram and instagram at devin readers , facebook at devin e readers and on my personal twitter account I post about politics . So if you don't like that stuff , don't follow me on Twitter , but you can follow me on Instagram and Facebook and on all social media .
At we With A Pod .
All right , that was my next question , the contact info . So close us out with some final thoughts . Maybe , if that was something I forgot to talk about , that you would like to touch on , or any final thoughts you have for the listeners .
So one . Sorry if I was loud I just realized how loud I was but to definitely watch Patrice the movie again , go to wheelwithitcom and find out more about us , subscribe to the podcast , find out more about the reforms and , yeah , just educate yourself on these reforms and help us out in any way that you can Help us out in any way that you can .
Hey , ladies and gentlemen , yeah , help out . You know , go speak up and you know , help Devin out with her passion . Follow rate , review , share this episode to as many people as possible . Jump on your favorite podcast app . Check out the show . Check out Devin's show as well . Make sure you follow , share both of them . Leave them a review .
If you have any feedback or guests or suggestion topics for this show , curtisjackson1978 at attnet is the place to send them . Thank you for listening and supporting the show . This would not be possible without you and Devin . Thank you for all that you do and thank you for joining me .
You are so welcome , and your listeners can also email me at hello at wheelwithitcom if they want to get in touch with me . For more information on the Living the Dream podcast , visit wwwdjcurveballcom . Until next time , stay focused on living the dream dream .