22-Year-Old Woman With Spina Bifida Seeking Government Disability Or Student Loan Grant

by Claire Beth Bednarski
(Minneapolis, MN, USA)

I successfully attempt a hike.

I am a 22-year-old woman with Spina Bifida seeking government disability or student loan grant assistance.

I graduated from college this past spring on a Saturday and had my health insurance provider drop me on the Sunday following my graduation.

I have been jobless and without income for about six months and live at home with my parents.

My mother is also unemployed after a lifetime of working. Our days consist of hours of the two of us applying for jobs. My parents found a "risk" type health insurance that covers me for catastrophic care, but not for my lifelong "pre-existing" condition.

I am living day-to-day hoping that this disability that I have learned to live with will not rear its ugly head and force myself or my parents to lose everything.

It is important to understand that I have lived 22 years without asking or taking financial help from anyone. My parents defied all odds and at times covered me medically with three separate insurers.

I took out student loans for my education and now face $100,000 of debt that will come due in two months. Neither I, nor my parents who cosigned will able to make these payments if the situation continues.

This letter is a hard thing for me to write as I want to hold my head up high with pride about the 29 surgeries, the social impact I've experienced, and the day to day medical difficulties that I have endured and still endure.

Dismay has never been an active word in my vocabulary and truth be told I have lived as if I haven't got a severe disability. For the first time in my 22 years I realize how hard my life has been on my family and on myself.

I would like to request a government grant to help pay off my educational debt and supplement my health insurance premiums. I now know that I did not overcome all that I have overcome with financial ruin as the eventual final statement.

I will still continue to secure a fulltime job. I will still aspire to move out of my parent's house. I will still hold my head in pride that Spina Bifida has not defeated me.

Please consider my request and know that I did not intend to have you pity me but to invest in my future so that I can continue to hope for independence. Thank you.