Demonization by politicians
Demonization of people with disabilities is not rare in the UK but it is becoming more popular with the Republicans in the United States of America. They claim half of beneficiaries are for anxiety and back pain implying that they don't really need the benefits.
While I do not have any actual percentage data, the consensus is it's very hard to get on disability benefits. Implying that lots of people are getting entitlements for minor back pain is dishonest. The fact is there are a number of medical tests that you have to go through; it's extensive and strict. Additionally the agency's watch dog put fraud at just 1%.
I heard a speech by a US senator saying that disability benefits lead to Heroin addiction. Once again this argument is not based in facts. The uptake of Heroin is linked to doctors prescribing addictive pain killers. When patients can no longer get these pain killers, it's then that they turn to Heroin. The same senator implied that soon lots of people will go on disability and corporations will have to move as they won't be able to find employees. Some politicians live in a fantasy world. It is worth nothing that the benefits are just above the poverty line and the majority of people will not be satisfied with this
If politicians were actually serious about getting people off disability benefits they would make sure the appropriate technology is available for them to work. They would make sure work places are accessible. They would do more to enable the private sector to want to hire people that experience disabilities. If you complain about employment, you should propose things to reduce this instead of using our situation to fear monger so you can save a few dollars in the budget. Enabling employment will save more in the long run.