Diversity Role Written Assignment Analysis

Diversity Role Written Assignment:
A Person Receiving Welfare
Fundamentals of Human Communication

Take a Step Out!

My name is Mae Jones; I am 16 years old and the oldest child of three. My mother is a stay at home mom with only a high school diploma, and my father was the primary provider for our family until recently when he was laid-off. We are currently receiving government assistance due to my father’s unemployment. The total number of Americans on welfare is 12,800,000 out of 316,800,000 people roughly living in the United States. That is about 4.1 percent of everyday Americans living off of government assistance daily (Welfare Statistics). Many people have the wrong impression of what welfare
programs do for citizens in need. Most believe that welfare programs are a failure, the programs are a burden on working class Americas, and that everyone receiving welfare is an addict or lazy, which is a stereotype I have had to encounter much of late. (Question 1) A typical day for me has drastically changed since my father has lost his job.
We have down sized in terms of living space from a family house to a small two-bedroom apartment where my Mom and I share a room and my Dad and brothers share a room. I wake up every morning and walk to the bus stop to go to school, since we sold the family car to pay off bills. During lunchtime I sit with one friend because the others look down on me. When I get home I have to make dinner and help my brothers with their homework while my parents are at their minimum wage paying jobs. Family dinners are not what they used to be. My parents are always arguing which is starting to affect my brothers and me. (Question
2) I was looking for a job to help my parents with financial issues, but decided it would be best for me to be there for my brothers while my parents are away at work. Also a job would take time away from my studying, and I really need to keep my grades up to receive a scholarship. I have plans to go to college so I won’t fall into the same dilemma as my parents. (Question 3) The hardest part is adapting to this new lifestyle and not being able to get involved in school activities like sports, clubs, or dances because we don’t have enough money for equipment, dues, or dresses for the dance. Also I need to be there for my brothers after school while my parents are away, and daycare isn’t an option due to money issues. I don’t get to do normal teenager activities anymore and I’ve had to grow up pretty quickly to help my parents out. (Question 4) At school people don’t treat me the same anymore. The friends I thought I had all turned their backs on me; but the teachers are really helpful and understanding of my situation. I have always been into cheerleading ever since I was little, and I made a lot of friends during my time as a cheerleader but when I had to quit due to the fact that I wasn’t able to pay, my so called friends quit being my friends. I hear people talking behind my back saying that my family is just a bunch of freeloaders, which really hurts my feelings because those assumptions aren’t true. My parents must work a full-time job or show proof of looking for a job to even “qualify for food stamps, subsidized housing and other forms of ‘welfare’.” (Freeman) Aside from the teasing, my teachers always pull me aside after class to make sure I’m okay and ask if I need help getting supplies. This is really helpful because at the moment obtaining new school supplies is difficult. My brothers and I have to use our old worn out supplies and sometimes we have to ask to borrow. We see other kids with new gadgets and it’s a little disheartening, but we understand why we can’t have expensive supplies like the others. (Question 5) People will often say that my family will be stuck in poverty for the rest of our lives, but the truth is that the government-assisted programs have succeeded and continue to succeed in getting the poor and homeless out of poverty.
They will ask why families like mine have to be such a burden on taxpayers, but citizens receiving assistance help circulate money to the economy and small businesses. Another prejudice people have is that all citizens receiving welfare are addicts and lazy. This is saying that only the poor are alcoholics or drug addicts, which is untrue because we hear about celebrities going into rehab every other day. Also like mentioned before a person receiving government assistance like food stamps must work a full-time job (Freeman). (Question
6) One thing that I love to do is make crafts out of items people see as trash or worthless. It is something I do to manage extra time and lets me escape the hardships of what my family is going through. This is also a way that I can get something new without having to spend any money whatsoever. (Question 7) Ultimately I have learned that we need to appreciate what we have in this world because in a heartbeat it could all be taken away from us. Stereotypes do not define who we are as person is because we all go through difficult times in our lives it just takes effort to go out of our comfort zone to understand what someone is going through. We are not deemed failures, burdens, or lazy because we asked for help. We all need help every once in a while. That’s what diversity is all about. Take a step out every once in a while.

References

Freeman, Anitra L. "Eight Great Myths About Welfare." Eight Great Myths About Welfare. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2013.
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"Welfare Statistics." Statistic Brain RSS. Seth Harden CEO, n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2013. .