Op-Ed for the Wall Street Journal

This article is a potential op-ed for the Wall Street Journal that I ghostwrote for public figure Tiffany Smiley in the fall of 2018.

According to the VA, my 100% blind, veteran husband is not “disabled enough.”

In April of 2005, my husband was completely blinded by a suicide car bomb. At 24 years old, this injury would not only change the course of his entire life, his dreams, and all that he had hoped to accomplish, but it would also change the entire course of mine.

There were several instances throughout the course of Scotty’s injury where he was disregarded by the VA. In many cases, the success of his life was limited to how well he could learn to braid leather, or woodwork. Anything that could enhance his quality of life and success as a normal person in society, such as computer and cellular training, was to come last. To be honest, with the VA’s slow pace of “quality care,” I don’t know if we would have ever made it that far relying on them.

What is the purpose of the funds that go towards government issued services if all they’re handing out are cassette tapes and apologies on silver platters for not being “disabled enough?” Money surely isn’t going towards helpful resources such as a website, or employees to help fill out paperwork for well-deserved benefits. That could be a good start, in my opinion.

Aside from the minimal benefits Scotty was able to receive through the VA, as a caregiver, I received nothing. Analyze this: if we care for the veterans’ families, we are in turn also caring for the veteran. Currently, the system is set up based on the veterans rating, productivity, and work, not the caregivers needs, which is directly related to the success of the veteran.

I sense that these issues are resulting from the disability culture that the VA has created. I have been witness to the VA throwing money to “Band Aid” efforts rather than towards quality care and attention to ensure that veterans are the healthiest and most successful they can be, as well as to caregivers and their families to enhance their productivity. Many fraudulent claims have been made in the disability mindset of our veterans and their care through the VA. The system is flawed in that it gives a veteran more benefits for being “more disabled.”

Scotty and I do not “qualify” for caregiver support and the largest home adaptation grant based on the restrictions of the system, which I firmly believe are a result of the mindset that exists within the VA. On paper, Scotty is well over 100% combat disabled, but because he has chosen to work and overcome the limitations the VA tried to instill in him from the get-go, he becomes ineligible for most support.

Surely not everyone can replicate Scotty, but do we not want all of our veterans and families to find meaningful work and continue to be contributing members in society? Veteran success cannot exist without coexisting caregiver success and support. None of it can exist within the system’s mindset. Shouldn’t the VA, as well as the rest of Americans, be coming from a place of empowerment? Do we not fully understand the sacrifice of both veterans and devoted caregivers and only hope that they can succeed to the fullest extent?

The VA should have tangible ways to help support and assist veterans and their caregivers that push them past the limits of disability. We have to change the whole language around this issue. Maybe you’ll disagree, but if veterans and their families knew the VA was there to support and assist them through their journeys to finding health and success, wouldn’t we save a lot more money than threatening to take away benefits if they work or seek opportunity?

What does it do for any of us if we continue to encourage disability among veterans? I think it would be a wonderful thing to have less people reaping benefits, some even fraudulent claims, from the government and have more veterans comfortably incorporated back into the pace of the rest of the world, contributing to the success of businesses and the country as a whole.

In all my experience with the VA, I believe that creating a commission within the VA that consolidates and elevates issues that empower veterans, through education, employment, physical and mental rehabilitation, would be highly beneficial to our country. This commission will ensure that the necessary resources and benefits are received by each veteran and their caregivers, providing for a better future and greater economic security in our country.

Developing a commission for these purposes will put veterans, patriotism and respect at the forefront of our country. As a government, we need all of American behind our mission and this begins with the president and his devotion to the cause. Creating an empowerment culture through this commission and in turn, the VA, will save the government money, increase the health of injured veterans, give veterans more opportunity, and create jobs.

We live in a unique time where technology and access to resources are so readily available. The people who understand sacrifice and selfless service better than anyone else should not be laid to waste or discouraged to lead a normal, capable life.