About a year ago, I accompanied my friend to an orientation in order for her to receive Section 8 Housing Assistance from the County of San Diego. She is in a wheelchair due to rheumatoid arthritis and has a hard time getting around. I was really shocked to see the punitive attitude of the county staff members. Most of the people in the room at the county administration building on Ruffin Road were in wheelchairs and/or were elderly and didn't seem to deserve the pounding, threatening attitude of the speaker who was a huge guy, fit to be a bouncer.

The whole meeting revolved around what would happen to the participants when they were caught cheating as if they were criminals. While I'm sure some low-lifes pass through the doors, I didn't see any of them on that day.

One woman, who was probably in her 20s, asked a question I don't remember. What struck me is that she mentioned she was a full-time student and eligible for housing assistance. My friend, Veronica, had been on the waiting list for eight years. How could this girl qualify and be so young? She would have gotten on the waiting list as a minor unless there is a short cut I don't know about.

Why are some students able to get housing benefits while in school when most students or their parents pay their way for living expenses? Plenty of kids today can't afford to go to college and have to work instead.

I was watching Judge Judy the other day and a plaintiff in a case said she was on disability for bipolar disorder and was a full-time student. If you can't work, how can you go to school full-time? If you get a degree, are you going to be able to do an even harder job than the one you can't do now? Why is the government funding the education of people unlikely to work, when news reports say that caretaking funds are being cut for a young man with MS? With his disability, he isn't even capable of going to school.

I do believe that people on disability should be able to take a community college class or two and have it subsidized by the government. Their checks are too small for them to shop, go to the movies, eat out, etc, and taking a class will keep them busy, motivated and possibly out of trouble. After all, they have to have something to do.

But it seems like a bad investment to pay to prepare someone for a career who has already been proven incapable of holding a job. If the disability will eventually go away, recipients should have their benefits cut if they are capable physically or mentally of attending school full time.