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Michigan's State Government at its finest


Iceheart
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I got an email back from the governors office that theyre having UI call me. Thats nice. My state reps office has tried that multiple times in the past month, and I have not received a call from UI. Lets see if the governors name has any more weight, but I doubt it.

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Flashback for context: turns out extended periods of high stress (for me, this is year 2.5) plus a neurological disorder compounded with a mental illness or three turns your brains to mush. I started noticing at work last year that I have absolutely zero long-term memory in stressful situations. Like, that job was so bad that I basically lost 9 months, and my perception of time is still off because of it. And they had me doing a lot of math (I'm pretty sure I have undiagnosed dyscalculia) and learning really complex software in a high-stress, deadline focused environment (not to mention the rancidly toxic culture), so you can imagine how easy it was for me to retain their excessive training (which contributed to the depression, which contributed to the fibro flares, which contributed to the... you get the idea).

 

I applied for unemployment fresh off of this situation, and the whole death plague atmosphere and lockdown + recovering from trauma + stress of all this unemployment bull**** has made it downright impossible for me to learn to navigate the website properly. And you can't blame me when you hear why I'm having difficulties - you would expect that when you send a government agency a message via their contact form and you provide your email, that the reply will go there, right? Or at least that you'd get an alert by email that you have a message? Not to mention, when you log into a website or app with a messaging system, you expect to have some kind of an indication when you've received a new message, right? A little red badge, or gold star, or number indicating unread messages next to the button? Nothing. After literal decades of being conditioned to check your messages only when you see a new message icon, the State of Michigan expects us to remember to check the "correspondence" tab on a regular basis despite there being no indication of activity. Not to mention every other action that requires a response is put into a "to do" list for you. I can barely keep all of the tabs straight, since they'll send you the same re-determination in pieces to different tabs. And six months in, my brain just refuses to process how this website works, it's just too stressful and my brain shuts down.

 

Which means this has become an accessibility issue. I just realized this today when I found the answer to why my payments have been delayed - a MONTH after it was sent to me. And the answer was so vague that I had no idea which re-determination they were referring to, so I protested the first one I saw without even knowing if it's the right one, just to get something moving again. I replied to the message asking for a call, and again emailed my rep and governor (explaining that this is now a disability issue). I also asked the governor why she opened the Secretary of State back up by appointment, but not the unemployment office right across the street?

 

My mom has been suggesting I find other victims for a class action lawsuit. Frankly, if after being informed it's disability issue, if they don't act quickly, I'm going to see what Disability Advocates recommends and lawyer up through them.

 

This ain't small potatoes, as I'm sweating over the smallest bill, and putting off the medical care I need to treat this problem before it gets worse because I can't afford any co-pays, they're holding on to some $10,000 they owe me. I'm just... ugh.

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That all sucks, but Im glad that you have some kind of answer, even if its totally shitty. Now you have actions that you can take, and hopefully it just goes well and gets resolved.

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Yeah, disability options should open up things for you. Quote the ADA requirements law.

 

One of my friends has been unemployed since March and still no unemployment. He worked for the Tobin Theater which is San Antonio's premier music and opera and orchestra theater. It's beautiful and also not covid friendly.

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I just sent unemployment a message directly notifying them that this is a disability issue, since I realized that I had already replied to them before I realized that it was me, not them and wrote my rep about it. And I took a screenshot before submitting it to show the date and time if I need to prove anything. Let's hope I get a call sometime soon.

 

 

One of my friends has been unemployed since March and still no unemployment. He worked for the Tobin Theater which is San Antonio's premier music and opera and orchestra theater. It's beautiful and also not covid friendly.

 

I'd ask if he wants to join my class-action lawsuit, but I don't think that would work since unemployment is run by the state.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Woohoo! Good news is good, but itll be better once the money is in the account for sure. Sounds like between this and the interview, things might be turning around for sure.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The sad thing is, if you were a scammer you would know better how to work the system to get what you want.

Making bureaucracy so difficult makes it harder for people to get a “hand up” when you’ve fallen on hard times.

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Morning news reported just now on a fire chief who had someone fraudulently certify him for UI, and the state is now trying to get the 7K+ they paid out before they realized the fraud out of the chief.

So, a fraudster can get paid, but I’m still in limbo?

And whenever I say I get told to be mad at the scammers and not the system, but when a scammer can get money and an honest disabled person can’t? It’s really the system.

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