Question
I am a 47 year old male receiving permanent disability benefits. This is a permanent situation so this will be my status. What is a good answer to the question that comes up about "What do you do for a living or what do you do etc." This is embarrassing for me to have to say I am on disability,but I do not want to lie about it. I am not much of a conversationalist. What I'd like to be able to do is say I am on permanent disability and go on to something else conversation wise,but usually this statement stops the conversation it seems-like people do not know what to say next and neither do I. I don't want to go into the whole thing and I doubt they do either.
Thanks


Answer
So sorry it took so long to get back with you, family decided to drop by this weekend! Ah!!

Well, this can be a tough situation.  Many people press the issue when someone answers honestly that they receive disability payments.  Many people will question why this is the case and you may not want to go into details; or on the flip side, you could into details and quite possibly change someone's misconceptions on "disability".  
Is there any hobby you have?  Anything that interests you? Something you've always wanted to do?  You could bring that up, for example: Nice to meet you Randy, what do you do?
You: Well, I've always wanted to do ____.  So, currently, I am looking into making that a reality.  
OR something to that effect
This could change the topic without being obvious, because 99% of people will then proceed to tell you what they have always wanted to do and then the situation becomes less awkward.  I hope this helps, if you have another question or want clarification, I would be happy to help!