Tom's Views

I recently had an opportunity to help a dear friend obtain psychotherapy at a much-reduced rate. I’m including a letter I sent to my therapist, asking if he’d take on this case, and was overjoyed when he agreed! What a generous and compassionate soul. We need many more like him in society.

I wanted you to see this because it illustrates the extensive financial hardships with which many blind and visually impaired folks must live throughout their lives. Hopefully, you’ll see, as I do, that the blind need more financial and social services help than they get. A person cannot improve his social standing too much, much less come to terms with a recent blindness or dysfunctional family issue, when all he receives from the government is barely enough to pay rent, eat, and have basic utilities. As a nation, we ought do more to provide for our handicapped citizens, because it is not good enough that they just be able to exist. They need to prosper too as does any human being. So read the letter below, and see if you don’t agree.

I’ll call my friend Sandra.

——

Dr. Therapist,

Per your recommendation, Sandra contacted your colleague Dr. Roshawn today and got a $50 per session quote. We both believe this to be quite generous on Roshawn’s part. However, at this rate, Sandra cannot afford weekly sessions. Why not? Well, bear with me as I outline her financial situation, and you’ll see what I mean.

Her regular monthly income is approximately $710, which is comprised of Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a yearly rent rebate check, and a few dollars in food stamps. Plus my family and I help her out when she runs short.

Her monthly expenses are $200 for rent, $300 for groceries, and $100 for phone, Internet, and cable. This only leaves $110 per month in discretionary funds for clothing, bus fare, medical co-payments, entertainment, and such. We’ll gladly provide supporting documentation if needed for all this.

She could afford $50 to $75 per month for her individual therapy at present. But this is not very much; to be sure. But it reflects nonetheless, the hard reality of her limited resources. There’s no better example of a hard-luck case than Sandra’s.

However, I don’t believe Sandra communicated to Dr. Roshawn the full extent of her difficulties. Dr. Roshawn does not know for example, that Sandra is totally blind in addition to suffering from severe carpel tunnel syndrome. She’s aware that Sandra is unemployed, but does not know why. The two have talked on the phone but have never met face-to-face. Sandra gets bashful revealing these “complications” to strangers.   Thus, she omits key facts when describing herself.  So I think Dr. Roshawn might have based her per-session rate quote on incomplete information.  Had she known all of this, Dr Roshawn might have given us a more affordable rate.

Since you know Sandra a bit, would you mind speaking to Dr. Roshawn on her behalf to obtain a more manageable rate? Feel free to forward this email to any and all interested parties in your organization if you think that could help line up quality therapy for Sandra. Or if Dr. Roshawn can’t help us, would you take on Sandra’s case yourself? She responds well to you and I think she’d get much benefit from seeing you individually. If you can’t assist, we certainly understand, and appreciate all that you’ve done so far.

I hope that between us, we can arrange for the assistance that Sandra needs in a way that satisfies all involved.

Take care.

Tom Hesley

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