I was, however, baffled by your implication that the way things are now (you making an average of $12 an hour with ad-hoc work, instead of some larger amount) is the best things can be.
I do not assume that is the best things can be. You appear to have done so in your first reply to me and are apparently still doing so. I spelled out in substantial detail how I can and am improving my earnings, both in absolute terms (total take) and relative (hourly wage). You haven't engaged those points at all.
Edit:
I apologize if I sound snappish. It isn't intentional. I am currently mired in an argument with someone else who is, in fact, being very dismissive. It is possible that is negatively influencing my remark here, without me consciously realizing it.
I don't mean to intentionally misunderstand you. I really do appreciate your patience, though, and willingness to engage, too, and am sorry if I come across as thick or willfully being a jerk.
I actually think it's great how much you're doing, outside the patched-together work, to get your own business/content marketing stuff going.
I wish some of the people I knew who were in a similar situation to you (i.e. some disability or another that prevents them from taking regular employ) had your ability to get things done. I wasn't even thinking about them until now, but I just got a linkedin connection request from one of them (and it's like, I know there's no point in them doing it like this, because regular scheduled employ is not in the cards for them, they're just tired of being so poor) and it got me thinking.
Let's say, it's not you I'm worried about, it's more for them that I'm concerned. $12 isn't much, but you're already doing stuff to do better. If my friends could do better, though, given their constraints, their lives would be a lot better off for it. Maybe a basic income isn't the answer, but an extra hundred dollars or two a month would go a long way toward improving their quality of life.
Most people like me feel hopeless. They feel it is pointless. They don't see that there will be a payoff. It takes a long time to see a payoff and most of the social messages around them only reinforce the idea that it is hopeless, there isn't really a solution. The American mindset currently is that poor people need basic income or welfare or to win the lottery.
I am angry and frustrated and I feel it is taking too long and I don't really want to do this anymore. I spend a lot of time cussing at the sky about how hard it is, how unfair it is, how I deserve better and so on.
But I also know what my fate was "supposed to be." I am supposed to be getting about $100k in medical care annually while I steadily deteriorate. My ability to be productive is supposed to be declining, not improving. I am supposed to be either dead or dying a slow gruesome death from problems that doctors do not know how to fix.
You might consider checking out my websites and possibly forwarding selected links to the people you are concerned about. I have a homeless blog. I have a food blog where I talk about using food as my medicine. Those might be the most immediately relevant to your concerns.
There are things disabled people can do to exercise agency and get small gains in the short term that can be gradually leveraged for larger gains down the road. But they have lost hope. So do not talk to them about big gains down the road and do not talk to them about the scope of their challenges. It only makes them depressed. Instead, if you find an article with concrete small, doable solutions that can benefit them in the here and now, share that in a non pushy way. Then be patient. It may be months before you see evidence of results. But if you get into the habit of forwarding them useful bits periodically, it can slowly change.
I apologize if I am overstepping my bounds. I woke up with a fierce headache. Trying to be helpful is a longstanding habit and it is sometimes the wrong thing to do.
I was, however, baffled by your implication that the way things are now (you making an average of $12 an hour with ad-hoc work, instead of some larger amount) is the best things can be.
I do not assume that is the best things can be. You appear to have done so in your first reply to me and are apparently still doing so. I spelled out in substantial detail how I can and am improving my earnings, both in absolute terms (total take) and relative (hourly wage). You haven't engaged those points at all.
Edit:
I apologize if I sound snappish. It isn't intentional. I am currently mired in an argument with someone else who is, in fact, being very dismissive. It is possible that is negatively influencing my remark here, without me consciously realizing it.