There’s this issue called homelessness. There’s a program for food assistance called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Benefits which is also known as Food Stamps. There’s a type of medical insurance called Medicaid.
There’s also this weird concept called a stigma and this social shame has been placed on all three of the subjects that has been stated above.
And the point with that is that the stigma shouldn’t be there in the first place. The fact that being homeless, whether it’s a family, a single person, or even a college student is that the topic itself should not be silenced and talked about in private. The fact that discussing homelessness and living assistance experiences are not normalized and widely talked about is what keeps the stigma alive.
There are people out there who don’t have safe housing and feel as if they can’t ask for help because society will degrade them. People will point fingers and accuse them of being lazy and say that it is their fault that they’re homeless. They will say that if you get a job and work then you could afford to live somewhere and buy food for yourself. They say if you work hard then you can just pay for your insurance instead of mooching off the government.
Medicaid is there for those who can’t afford the high premiums of other insurances. I know I’m on Medicaid because that’s what my mom had in place for me as a child. We were a low-income family and she needed insurance for me to go the doctor for when I’m sick, to the dentist when my teeth when I needed a filling, and to the eye doctor so I could get glasses.
I remember being on food stamps once. I can’t remember if it was before or after my mom died. It was my dad, brother and I at home and we needed some extra help when it came to providing groceries. My dad couldn’t work because he was a diabetic on dialysis and had diabetic neuropathy which is a type of nerve damage — tingling and numbness in the hands and feet. My brother worked on and off, so his income wasn’t steady.
I’m proud to let the world know that I’m on Medicaid. That I’m homeless. That I’ve been on food stamps before and that it should be part of the conversation and not something that people should be afraid to talk about.
People shouldn’t be shamed for asking for help.
I didn’t know until a few days ago that there was a stigma about having Medicaid as insurance. I thought that it was just insurance for kids until they reached a certain age and that most were using it.
Apparently not.
Society has placed this negative view on homelessness and SNAP Benefits which results in people not speaking up when they need help. It’s disrespectful and harmful to those who suffer food and housing insecurity. One would assume that there are some safe spaces where those who are in need can talk about their struggles and ask for help, but they shouldn’t have to hide and ask for help in private.
Once the conversation becomes “normalized” then hopefully others would speak up. The more people talk about homelessness and being in need, the less of a stigma exsits concerning these issues in our society.
