Courageous woman works instead of taking disability, makes less money

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
1/10/2013
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Woman provides food for thought and an idea for reforming disability program.

Not everybody who can be on benefits is on them. Some people have too much pride and too strong a work ethic to live on the dole. Nina Friday is one such person. She works five jobs and still makes less money than on disability. She will not have it any other way.

Nina Friday works as a cleaning lady rather than accept government handouts.

Facebook Delicous MySpace

Twitter Stumble Digg

More Destinations

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The Daily Mail is sharing the story of a UK woman who works five jobs yet earns less than she would make just sitting about on disability. Still, she chooses to work.

Nina Friday, 45, is beset by rheumatoid arthritis, as condition she was first diagnosed with when she was 16. The painful affliction entitles her to disability benefits in the UK, however she has refused them. Instead of taking the money and adding to the 3.2 million people in the UK on disability, she works no less than five jobs, six days a week.

Friday could earn �300 more if she sat at home all week, but she chooses to work. She spends her time working as a cleaning lady, a school midday supervisor, a care worker at a nursing home, and a caretaker at a second school. She also runs a website.

Her work is made challenging by her painful condition. Despite the suffering however, she continues to work telling the Daily mail that she'd rather work than be bored at home. She also said, "There are hundreds of people like me who would be happy to work but don't because they'd be worse off."

All this work, according to the Daily Mail costs her �3,600 per year in income than if she accepted disability.

While Friday illustrates outstanding moral character and fortitude, not to mention the most admirable of work ethics, she also demonstrates that there is need for change in the UK system, as well as systems in the United States.

People should be incentivized to work, even when they are disabled. Excepting those who genuinely cannot work and would suffer too greatly without benefits, those who qualify should be given the opportunity to do what work they can without exacerbating their injury. Those who choose to work could then have any discrepancy between pay and benefits made up by disability payments.

This would be less expensive, and more uplifting than paying out full benefits to someone who would prefer to work but is dissuaded because they would have less money to pay expenses. This is because of the obvious fact that some, if not most, of their income would come from employment.

In fact, the savings might be so great that an incentive payment could even be awarded to those who choose to work, and the disability program would still be better off financially than if they paid workers to remain unemployed.

In a time of fiscal austerity both in the U.S. and UK, such a plan might make sense if it could be implemented. However, finding the political courage to propose and implement such a plan is another matter.

� 2013, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Nina Friday, disability, benefits, work

NEWSLETTERS »

Rate This Article

Was this helpful to you? Very Helpful Somewhat Helpful Not Helpful at All

Would you be interested in more articles like this? Yes, I am Interested No, I am not Interested

Rate Article

1 - 5 of 5 Comments

vance
4 months ago
Poor Nina, she is the most hated woman by the Marxist Democrat Party. This great lady is upsetting their plans. Nobody is suppose to be working. We are all suppose to be on unemployment. That's where we are heading.
Harriet connides
4 months ago
The fact that this lady is able to, and does work, means that she isn't actually unwell enough to qualify for disabled benefits - except for DLA ( Disability Living Allowance), which you can claim whether you are unemployed, holding down 1 job or 100, it makes no difference.

Also, she says she spent the last 12 years claiming benefits before this damescene conversion?

I really dont see what point this is making.
Stefanie
4 months ago
I agree with Heidi. With the health problems I suffer from, it would be extremely irresponsible to work - I would aggravate my condition and be in worse shape, being more of a drain to society than I am now. I currently stay home and can at least cook for my family and do laundry on good days.
However, I do agree that in many Western countries, the disability pay is too high - it makes no sense that it is sometimes higher than what a job would pay. Still many people would prefer to work anyway, simply for the social contacts and the respect you get for it.
Not everyone is lucky enough to be ABLE to work despite having a right to disability.
Carol
4 months ago
I totally agree with Heidi's comments--it is so different to actually walk in someone else's shoes--most can't, won't, and/or don't--but have opinions!!
Heidi
4 months ago
The first paragraph in this article is inflammatory and paints a horrible picture of people with disabilities. While I'm thrilled that Nina Friday has found work and has chosen to work instead of accepting disability benefits, I don't think that is an option for all who are receiving benefits. This article makes it sound like folks who do accept that benefit are without pride or a work ethic, this is simply not true. Many people with disabilities can and do work, but the unemployment rate for people with disabilities remains incredibly high (in the U.S. the unemployment rate people with disabilities of working age is around 60%!). This isn't because of lack of pride or desire, it is because it takes 10 times more applications to get an interview and 10 times the number of interviews a person without disabilities does to get a job. Additionally, many people with disabilities who are receiving benefits volunteer with their church or some nonprofit organization.

This article worked against people with disabilities. Instead of focusing on the wonderful things Nina Friday is able to do, the article focused on what others are not doing. And, this was done using broad generalizations about a class of people that make up 20% of the general population.

Before writing again about people with disabilities, please talk with a disability advocate!

Comments submitted must be civil, remain on-topic and not violate any laws including copyright. We reserve the right to delete any comments which are abusive, inappropriate or not constructive to the discussion.

Though we invite robust discussion, we reserve the right to not publish any comment which denigrates the human person, undermines marriage and the family, or advocates for positions which openly oppose the teaching of the Catholic Church.

This is a supervised forum and the Editors of Catholic Online retain the right to direct it.

We also reserve the right to block any commenter for repeated violations. Your email address is required to post, but it will not be published on the site.

We ask that you NOT post your comment more than once. Catholic Online is growing and our ability to review all comments sometimes results in a delay in their publication.

Name *

Email *

Comment *

Send me important information from Catholic Online and it's partners. See Sample

Post Comment