How disabled is DISABLED??

Another one is "How poor is poor?" because I know a family, husband disabled and wife was a secretary, that lost their home and most of their possessions. When they were relocating and having to come up with money to have to find another place to live they went to the gov't to get some aid, foodstamps. The gov't denied them help because the wife made "too much money", $19000/yr. These were people that really needed a helping hand in a time of need but were denied. Another lady I know needed some istance. The gov't said they would help her only if she signed some papers that declared her mentally incompetent. Its sad when we have to put conditions on our generosity.