Thirteen Things Nick Kristof Should Know About American Families “Profiting From Iliteracy”
This weekend Nick Kristof wrote a column called “Profiting from a Child’s Illiteracy” in which he suggested — without evidence — that a significant portion of American children who are receiving Social Security disability are doing so because their parents find it “easier” to collect government checks than to find and keep gainful employment. Describing their disabilities as “fuzzier” and “less clear-cut” than those of past generations, Kristof claimed that it is SSI, and the “huge stake in their failing” that it gives their parents, which “condemn[s]” them “to a life of poverty on the dole.”
Thirteen facts on those children, courtesy of the Social Security Administration:
Thirteen facts on those children, courtesy of the Social Security Administration:
- Fewer than thirty percent live with both parents.
- Half live in a household with at least one other person with a disability.
- Almost seventy percent had seen a doctor three or more times in the previous year.
