REMEMBRANCE
Remembering 9/11 at AIDS Memorial
Folks tell stories, pay tribute to loved ones 20 years later
PHOTO ESSAY BY DONNA ACETO
A 9/11 remembrance
event at the New York
City AIDS Memorial
commemorated the
20th anniversary of the attacks.
Storytellers gathered with locals
in a somber event, where folks paid
tribute to those who lost their lives
in the attacks. Art2Action Inc.,
Greenwich House, the Rattlestick
Playwright’s Theater, and Village
Preservation AIDS Memorial were
involved in the event.
➤ MARRIAGE, from p.10
again with a wonderful woman
named Renee (name changed to
protect privacy), and they’re engaged
to marry in October 2022.
“I suffered a traumatic brain injury
in 1996,” Jacob explained to
Gay City News. “I broke my neck,
and the entire left side of my body
was totally messed up. I was in a
coma for three months, I fl atlined
three times in the coma, and they
pronounced me dead. They tried to
take me off of life support, but my
mother wouldn’t let them. When I
came home from the hospital on August
6th of 1996, I was a vegetable.
I could speak a bit, but I couldn’t
move my hands or anything. I had
a medical halo on my head…”
Jacob improved throughout that
year and by February, he was discharged
from operation therapy.
But he eventually suffered a second
accident: He broke his neck when a
drunk driver struck his car.
“I prayed on it and took pain
pills that lasted about 20 minutes,
but I was, and am, in excruciating
pain,” he said. “And need my SSI.
Just because two becomes one
when you marry, it doesn’t mean
two can support one.”
Renee, Jacob’s fi ance, who currently
lives in a separate dwelling
and works as a paraprofessional
within a special education classroom,
added: “I went online to research
ways for him to keep his
benefi ts. It said if you get SSID,
it doesn’t matter how much your
spouse makes, you’ll lose your benefi
ts because they’re considering
household income once you marry
— even if you don’t earn very much.
When you get married, everyone
has to have something to contribute.
It doesn’t matter how big or
how small; it just matters that you
contribute. Taking away that contribution
is sad and humiliating.”
There’s an assumption that while
a single person with disabilities requires
full benefi ts to survive when
living alone, a person who marries
another can securely share a
home for less than if two individuals
were apart. However, that isn’t
necessarily true. Disabilities have
a high cost, and the loss of Medicaid
or Medicare can entirely destabilize
a couple’s fi nances.
Flexible and consistent coverage
is a human right and is essential
for individuals with disabilities,
particularly those whose disabilities
change over time. Knowledge about
penalties ahead of marriage often
means many choose not to get married
or “marry well” — thus handing
off the responsibility of care from the
government to the spouse.
“My dream for SSI would be that
it would be available to any and all
disabled people regardless of our
employment status, income/assets,
or marital status,” Guin said. “Living
with a disability is expensive.”
Until improvements come to
fruition, all dependents living with
disabilities can examine personal
income, assets, and resources, and
calculate potential loss by contacting
representatives at a local Social
Security fi eld offi ce.
Are you HIV+ and have
Peripheral Neuropathy?
Research study aimed at reducing neuropathic pain
You may be eligible if you are:
- HIV+/AIDS
- have pain, numbness, aching, burning,
or “pins and needles” in lower legs
or feet for greater than 3 months
- 18 years of age or older
Qualified participants will receive round trip Metro Cards
and compensation up to $220
212-365-0346
GayCityNews.com | September 23 - October 6, 2021 11
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