[Nfbc-info] I need a lawyer

Sun Jul 9 08:30:12 UTC 2017

Lauren, 

I'd like to congratulate you on your article in the July Braille Monitor. I have some thoughts about your dental insurance predicament. If you'd like, please feel free to contact me off-list. My Email address is, peacefulwoman89 at cox.net. 

Hugs to your trio of kitties. 

Lisa Irving  

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBC-Info [mailto:nfbc-info-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Lauren Merryfield via NFBC-Info
Sent: Sunday, July 09, 2017 12:05 AM
To: 'NFB of California List' <nfbc-info at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Lauren Merryfield <lauren at catlines.com>
Subject: Re: [Nfbc-info] I need a lawyer

Hi,
I am not aware of any other dentists who would allow me to make payments because my credit is poor. I've been Googling, but haven't found any others yet. I personally think dentistry is a racket. 

I wish there was an ER I could go to just to have those teeth extracted. I mean, three of them, next to each other, are causing quite a discomfort. I feel like I have an earache but I know it is my teeth doing it. 
Thanks,
Lauren

Blessings in Jesus’ name!  
Deuteronomy 32New Living Translation (NLT)
32 “Listen, O heavens, and I will speak!
    Hear, O earth, the words that I say!

2 
Let my teaching fall on you like rain;
    let my speech settle like dew.
Let my words fall like rain on tender grass,
    like gentle showers on young plants.

3 
I will proclaim the name of the Lord;
    how glorious is our God!

4 
He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect.
    Everything he does is just and fair.
He is a faithful God who does no wrong;
    how just and upright he is!
Advice from my cats:"Meow when you feel like it." 

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBC-Info [mailto:nfbc-info-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Lisa Irving via NFBC-Info
Sent: Saturday, July 8, 2017 2:32 PM
To: NFB of California List <nfbc-info at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Lisa Irving <bernieslife at cox.net>
Subject: Re: [Nfbc-info] I need a lawyer

Lauren,

If I recall correctly, you are a member of Kaiser Permanente. Is that right? I believe I posted on this list serve contact information for Meredith Weaver who works with Linda Dardairian and attorney that is been handling issues with Kaiser Permanente

I am not an attorney so anything I'm about to say should not be construed as legal advice. I'm going to share with you what generally works when I have to deal with medical entities and paperwork both verbally and in writing make your request for reasonable accommodations known. I generally ask to have paperwork emailed to me. Sometimes it is fully accessible and often it is semi accessible. For example western university I clinic has emailed me a huge packet of information it took doing and talking to cure for people to get the paperwork so I can fill it out using jaws. Personally, I prefer staff not read paperwork to me. Occasionally there is a language barrier or a reading challenge. Also I don't have the greatest memory and I want to be able to retain documents just like a sighted person does.

I am wondering if you could ask the dental staff to please explain to you in writing their concerns and their reasons for wanting you to have a caregiver. I'm not suggesting that they're right but this gives you something to work with.

I am also wondering, do you have other options for dental care? Some fights just aren't worth fighting.

From, Lisa Irving

Voice over was used to compile this message please contact me if you need clarification Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 8, 2017, at 1:13 PM, Lauren Merryfield via NFBC-Info <nfbc-info at nfbnet.org> wrote:

Hi,

I just keep having one discriminatory experience after another. We need to do something about Western Dental. They are refusing to see me unless I come in with a “caregiver.” They insist that I can’t sign papers, even though I’ve told them I can and do. They say I wouldn’t know what I was signing to which I say they can tell me. But that  isn’t good enough for them. The managing dentist is relaying to the receptionist that there are legal issues when I come in alone. I told her there are legal issues if I am required to bring someone in with me. 

In the meantime, I have 3 teeth that are infected and one is abscessed and they’re refusing to do any treatment. They magnanimously said they had set me up with a surgeon on July 20 but that I have to bring someone with me or they can’t do the procedure. 

Tim? Chuck? Anyone else? Can you puh-leez help me? I don’t think it says in the ADA that we are required to have someone with us. I wonder if it says that we are *not* required to bring someone with us. 

This Judith said it was like the deaf, who bring in an interpreter; I need to do the same. I said that there was nothing wrong with my mind and that I didn’t need anyone to “interpret” the paperwork; that they can tell me what it says. She said there are legal ramifications to that.  

I got the name of the problem dentist and the receptionist’s name in case I need them. I don’t know if we need to do something with this particular office of Western Dental or go to the top. 

In the hospital, although I was ambulatory, they would not allow me to get up out of bed unless someone was with me. When I got up anyway, they wrote a report on it. I had so much trouble getting discharged both times I was in there in April due to infections. 

Please, will someone help me with this? I am getting tired of various entities requiring me to have someone with me for this and that. That isn’t how I live. I don’t have anyone at my beck and call. I don’t have a live-in caregiver. I don’t need all of that; it isn’t how I live. It isn’t how most blind people live that I know of. I know that many blind people have family, friend or hired caregiver to accompany them, but I only have someone come in once a week. We run errands and sometimes do dr. apts, but I don’t usually set up my apts to coincide with her being there. 

I told Judith that other offices were not requiring me to have someone with me; that office staff read the forms, or tell me what is on them and that I sign them. 

She just repeated her litany, not even listening to me at all. They are assuming that if you are blind, you are also mentally retarded, or whatever they call it now. 

I’ve had it with this stuff. So Social Security took my money from me, assigning me to a representative payee, after I was hospitalized because someone told them I couldn’t handle money and I did not have a legal guardian. I fought that and have my SS coming back into my account, but that was humiliating. I had two interviews with ss. The first one was patronizing, custodial and condescending. For example, she asked “what makes you think you can handle your own money when you can’t see?” I told her that I had managed it for years and years. 

At the second interview, the woman, a different one, agreed with me that lack of confidence in the capabilities of the blind was behind all of this and she would do what she could for me to get my money back. 

I feel like I am reinventing the wheel and this wheel is getting pretty worn. 

I don’t think people ought to get away with all of this stuff, one thing after another. Evidently, the climate in the Sacramento area is that of expectations that blind people all have a caretaker or legal guardian or other sighted person who is with them constantly. That isn’t how I live the life I want. I wouldn’t want someone around all the time. And I certainly do not need someone around all the time. 

Thanks,

Lauren Merryfield

Blessings in Jesus’ name!  

Deuteronomy 32New Living Translation (NLT)

32 “Listen, O heavens, and I will speak!

   Hear, O earth, the words that I say!

2 

Let my teaching fall on you like rain;

   let my speech settle like dew.

Let my words fall like rain on tender grass,

   like gentle showers on young plants.

3 

I will proclaim the name of the Lord;

   how glorious is our God!

4 

He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect.

   Everything he does is just and fair.

He is a faithful God who does no wrong;

   how just and upright he is!

Advice from my cats:"Meow when you feel like it." 

_______________________________________________
NFBC-Info mailing list
NFBC-Info at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbc-info_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for NFBC-Info:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbc-info_nfbnet.org/bernieslife%40cox.net

_______________________________________________
NFBC-Info mailing list
NFBC-Info at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbc-info_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for NFBC-Info:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbc-info_nfbnet.org/lauren%40catlines.com

_______________________________________________
NFBC-Info mailing list
NFBC-Info at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbc-info_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for NFBC-Info:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbc-info_nfbnet.org/peacefulwoman89%40cox.net

---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
http://www.avg.com