More 411 on the ABLE Act

In May, I posted "ABLE Act - Savings For People With Disabilities" which explains what the ABLE Act is and why it's so important to the disability community. I just came across this other article that also explains what it's about in very real terms. I wanted to share it because I can't stress enough how important it is that this piece of legislation become a reality! Here's the link to "How Medicaid Forces the Disabled to be Poor"

Sheltered Workshops: A Good Thing Or A Bad Thing For People With Disabilities?

Workforce Investment Act

Currently, most students with disabilities are referred to sub-minimum wage jobs (often times substantially less than the $7.25 minimum wage rate) at workshops when they graduate from high school. There is new legislation under consideration in both Houses of Congress that would alter their pathway into the workforce. Under Section 511 of the Workforce Investment Act, people under 24 years of age could not be employed by workshops unless they have sought employment in other settings first. This legislation also requires that state vocational rehabilitation agencies provide “pre-employment services” to students at schools in their area.

Pros/Cons 

There are many who are supportive of passing this legislation. They believe it will re-route youth into more fulfilling career paths who may have otherwise been automatically steered toward subminimum wage employment. Christopher Danielsen, a spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind, is quoted as saying that this proposal is an “important first step toward eliminating wage discrimination against people with disabilities.”

However, there are those who fear the passage of this legislation will only hurt the disability community. Parents and caregivers of individuals with severe cognitive and developmental disabilities feel that sheltered workshops are the only option for certain individuals because of the limitations their disability puts on them. By taking away the option of workshops, Congress is taking away these individuals’ ability to “have something to do”, be out in society, make friends and have a sense of self-worth.

Desegregation

Forward RISE Logo

I’d be interested to see exactly how this would work. In my opinion, this proposal has great potential for getting people with disabilities into society in a very real way. At Forward RISE, we are committed to inclusion, and the passage of a proposal like this is a great step towards this goal. There is a significant segregation between the two communities of people with and people without disabilities and the only way to fix this is through real inclusion. State vocational rehab agencies can begin their work with students when they reach high school age so that they can prep for transition to life after school. This school in New Jersey has a great program for its students with developmental disabilities that offers real-life skills and industry certifications to help them land a job or to succeed in college. 

When I was in high school, I remember taking a questionnaire that narrowed down my interests into possible career paths. There could be a modified version of this for people with disabilities. If a person only has one option – sheltered workshops – they will never learn if they have the potential to do something different.

Why is this so important? We have to consider the bar that we set for people with disabilities. Are we setting the bar too low by assuming that the best place for anybody with a disability is a sheltered workshop? I say yes! Too often, assumptions are made on people with disabilities. It is presumed that they are incapable of making decisions, keeping a schedule or following directions, let alone having higher-thinking qualities needed for employment. Destination Desserts changes the game by assuming that people with disabilities do have the ability to hold down a job outside of a sheltered workshop. 

But we also have to realize that there are certain individuals for whom sheltered workshops would be the best environment. Taking away that option completely would devastate many individuals and families who rely on these places.

As with anything, change can be scary and difficult, especially when we are talking about a community with such a varied group of people. This proposal can be the beginning of the desegregation of disabled and able-bodied people. I can’t wait until the word “inclusion” is no longer a part of our conversation because at that point, it will just be.

Bullied Boy Gets Charged After Recording Bullies In Action

A 15-year-old boy with a comprehension delay disorder, ADHD, and an anxiety disorder complained to his school and parents that there were bullies who were intimidating him and physically attacking him yet the school failed to intervene on behalf of their student. He decided to take action and use his school-issued iPad to record an incident with the (rational) thought that if he had proof he could stop the bullying. Boy, was he wrong! Instead what happened was he, himself, was charged with disorderly conduct for secretly recording individuals who didn’t give consent to being recorded! If you’re thinking, “Surely this can’t be happening now, in today’s society” you are very wrong, my friend. He was just found guilty on March 19, 2014. You might also be thinking, “This must have happened somewhere outside of America because this type of unfairness would not be allowed in an advanced country such as ours”, and you would be wrong on this account, as well. This happened in the great state of Pennsylvania, one of 12 states that require the consent of all parties when making a recording. The bullies have never been punished.


Thankfully, the DA eventually decided not to pursue this case and dropped the charges after it gained public attention. But there is something seriously wrong with Lt. Robert Kurta, the officer who made the decision to file a citation against the teen, and the legal system if a teen who isn’t being protected by their school takes matters into their own hands in a non-violent way. You can watch an interview of the teen here.

Thanks to The Mobility Resource for bringing this story to my attention.

ABLE Act - Savings for People With Disabilities

The Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act was introduced in Congress in February 2013 and it has recently been analyzed by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a nonpartisan federal agency that that provides budget and economic information to Congress. If and when it is finally passed, it can make a huge positive impact on the lives of people with disabilities.

ABLE Act – What it means

The ABLE Act would amend the IRS revenue code in such a way that would allow savings accounts to be set up for individuals with disabilities much like the college tuition accounts known as “529 accounts” that have been around since 1996. The money accrued in that account is not considered taxable income to the individual and their eligibility for SSI or Medicaid is not at risk, which are often times the only income and medical coverage people with disabilities have. 

A real life example:

Tony’s sister has a beautiful little girl who was born with cerebral palsy. Little Maggie is the light of her mother’s eye but she has a long road ahead of her. Tony sees how much it costs to get the equipment Maggie needs and deserves in order to be included in the rest of the family’s daily life. Maggie’s mom works very hard but can’t possibly cover all the expenses on her own.  Medicaid only covers the very basics and even those things are often a fight to get. Tony decides to help out by setting up an ABLE account for Maggie’s needs. He knows it won’t count as income to Maggie’s household so there’s no risk that the SSI and Medicaid Maggie and her family rely on will be affected. Family members & friends regularly deposit money in Maggie’s account for holidays & birthdays and Maggie’s mom is able to pay for the expenses that Medicaid doesn’t cover.

Key Characteristics

• Anybody (including the individuals with disabilities themselves) can set up an ABLE account and multiple accounts in different states can be set up for one individual
• Qualified expenses include education; housing; transportation; employment support; health, prevention, and wellness; miscellaneous expenses (such as financial management or legal fees); assistive technology and personal support services
• Earning and distributions from the account would not count as taxable income to the owner
• Contributions would be made using cash from the contributor’s after-tax income
• Assets in these account would be disregarded when determining the individual’s eligibility for most federal means-tested benefits such as medical coverage
• The first $100,000 would be disregarded when considering the eligibility for SSI

ABLE Act – Impact on SSI

In order to quality for SSI, an individual cannot have more than $2,000 in assets (for couples it’s $3,000). If their assets exceed this maximum amount, they must spend down the excess before they can qualify. Think about what this means! A person with disabilities cannot have a “rainy day” fund or a savings account for fun vacations like the rest of society. Doesn’t every financial expert say that we should have at least 6-8 months of expenses saved in case of an emergency? I guess people with disabilities don’t have emergencies like people without disabilities! Why would they need to have money saved up? The reality is, people with disabilities have higher medical expenses but are expected to live in poverty before they can qualify for government assistance which covers the very, very basics! And I hope that you, dear reader who doesn’t have a disability, will not become disabled due to an accident or illness because any money you’ve worked so hard to save up until then will have to be handed over until you have almost nothing left.

Another real life example:

Joe has always been a hard worker. He got his first job as a cashier at age 16 and was taught to save by his parents. By the time he turned 26, he managed to save over $15,000 in a savings account. For his 27^th birthday he and his friends decided to go bungee jumping. That decision cost him his legs. After a freak accident, Joe became paralyzed from the waist down. He had to stop working because of his injuries and no longer had medical coverage. He applied for SSI and Medicaid but because he had so much money saved – money he was saving to buy himself a home – he didn’t qualify. Joe had to spend all that money he worked so hard for before he could find any assistance. A man who was independent and always worked for the things he wanted now had almost no money left and had to depend on the government for what little they could do for him.

Support is growing

Thankfully, the list of people and organizations that are behind the ABLE Act is steadily growing. The passage of this Act is crucial to people with disabilities and their loved ones.  

Congressman Crenshaw states it well: 

"No longer would individuals with disabilities have to stand aside and watch others use IRS-sanctioned tools to lay the groundwork for a brighter future. They would be able to as well, and that's an accomplishment we can all be proud of."

To see if your state’s Representatives and Senators support the ABLE Act you can check the following websites:

House of Representatives 113th Congress (2013-201

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Senate113th Congress (2013 - 2014)

It’s time for the government and certain populations in our society to expect those with the least to give the most!

Equality for all, ALWAYS!

Be sure to Like me on Facebook at theSeed and at Forward RISE

Fundraising Event in NY - Proceeds to Benefit People With Disabilities

Forward RISE, a nonprofit committed to the inclusion of people 

with disabilities, is sponsoring a fun afternoon of 

bowling at East Islip Lanes (NY). 

Check out our website at Forwardrise.org

Like us on Facebook at Forward Rise Facebook

WHEN:    May 17, 1 pm

WHERE:  East Islip Lanes                                                    

               117 East Main St.                 

               East Islip, NY 11730 

COST:     $25 for 2 games & shoe rental, lunch, 

               unlimited soda and coffee & dessert

There will also be a 50/50 raffle and the highest score wins a prize!

All proceeds will go towards workshops and events that 

promote the acceptance of people with disabilities.

Tickets are now on sale!!

New York Gets Inspired - Work Incentive For People With Disabilities Passes the Senate

GOOD JOB NEW YORK!

Inspire NY is a tax incentive spearheaded by Senator David Carlucci (D) that encourages businesses to hire people with developmental disabilities. It just passed the Senate! This legislation helps thousands of New Yorkers gain a sense of belonging and inclusion in their own community. Businesses will receive up to $5,000 for hiring each full-time employee and up to $2,500 for hiring each part-time employee.

Follow Senator Carlucci on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/davecarlucci

Disability Awareness Month - 5 Influential People of the Civil Rights Movement For People With Disabilities

For Disability Awareness Month I’ve put together a list of five influential people of the disability rights movement in the United States. This is just a short list of some people who have made a tremendous impact on how people with disabilities are able to live today.

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Hellen Keller

 1. Hellen Keller – Born in 1880, Helen was struck by a mysterious illness called “brain fever” by a family physician at 18 months and became deaf, blind and mute. At the age of 7, her parents found a young teacher who would teach Helen how to communicate and they would become life-long friends. Helen graduated from Cambridge School for Young Ladies and went on to become a well-known speaker doing lectures and working on behalf of people with disabilities. She testified before Congress, advocating for an improvement in the welfare of the blind. She co-founded Helen Keller International to combat the causes and consequences of blindness and malnutrition. In 1920, she helped found the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Helen tackled many social issues including women’s suffrage, pacifism and birth control. She traveled to 35 countries on five continents, including a five month trip across Asia at the age of 75 in order to improve the lives of people with disabilities. She died in her sleep in 1968, just a few weeks before her 88^th birthday.

Gini Laurie

2. Virginia “Gini” Grace Wilson Laurie – She is considered one of the “grandmothers” of the independent living movement. A year before her birth in 1913, two of her sisters died from poliomyelitis and her brother was left severely disabled. As an adult, she volunteered with the Red Cross in the Cleveland Toomey Pavilion rehab center during the 1949 polio epidemic. In 1958, she took the unpaid job of editor of the Toomeyville Gazette, a newsletter put together by patients who recovered at the rehab center after contracting polio. The Gazette published articles on legislation, activism and what would become known as the independent living movement. In 1970, Gini wrote an article in the newly-named Rehabilitation Gazette where she stated plainly that for people with disabilities, the most important thing “is the right to freedom of choice to live as normal a life as possible within the community…Segregation is unnormal.” In 1977, she wrote Housing and Home Services for the Disabled: Guidelines and Experiences in Independent Living”. It pointed to the fact that it is more cost-effective for people with disabilities to live in their community than being put into institutions or nursing homes, an important point still being driven in the disability movement today. She died in 1989 of cancer.

Ed Roberts

3. Ed Roberts – After contracting polio at age 14 and living in the hospital for two years, Ed was finally able to move back home. But things were very different. Because of the polio, he was only able to move two fingers and slept in an iron lung. His struggle against discrimination began immediately when school administrators did not allow him to attend school with his classmates. They felt it was best to have teachers instruct him privately at home. The family fought back and they won him the right to attend school with his classmates. After graduating from a junior college, he had to go through another battle in order to be allowed to attend the University of California in Berkeley. He eventually won this fight as well and went on to study Political Science. Because of Ed, more disabled students were allowed to attend Berkeley and they eventually formed a disabled student organization on campus. Their focus was to make the university more accessible and provide trainings on daily support techniques. In 1972, Ed helped the group form the first Center for Independent Living which was considered radical at the time because it was run by people with disabilities rather than medical professionals. He became the first person to serve as the Director of California’s Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. In 1981, he and Judy Heumann and Joan Leon started the World Institute on Disability (WID) which studies legal rights issues for people with disabilities around the world. Often referred to as “the father of the disability rights movement”, he was president of WID until his death in 1995.

Justin Dart

4. Justin Dart – At the age of 18, Justin contracted polio which left him unable to walk. He came from a wealthy family in Chicago and in 1967 he and his wife devoted their lives to helping people with disabilities. On his own dime, they travelled the across the United States in the early 1980’s which was quite an undertaking because many places were not wheelchair accessible. Universal design was just beginning to be implemented in larger cities but in smaller ones, it was practically unheard of.  What was learned through conversations during this tour was the basis for a policy that called for national rights for people with disabilities. It would eventually become the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. Because of the national dialogue that took place during this time and the subsequent passing of the ADA, Justin Dart is considered to be “the godfather” of the ADA. In 1995, he founded the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) along with others. At the age of 71, he died in 2002 from congestive heart failure related to complications of post-polio syndrome.

Wade Blank

5. Wade Blank – emulating the great Dr. King, Wade began a movement in the 1970’s within the disability community in Denver, Colorado that would give rise to ADAPT, a national grass-roots community that organizes disability rights activists to engage in nonviolent direct action. A former minister, he saw the sad living conditions of individuals with severe disabilities in nursing homes and took it upon himself to make changes. He not only moved people from institutions into independent living centers but these very same people became co-protestors in his fight against the discrimination built into the public transportation system. They waged the first sit-in of their kind and surrounded a bus with their wheelchairs in Denver. The group quickly expanded to other cities around the US, holding demonstrations fighting for accessibility in public bus systems. His group’s national recognition paid off as accessible public transportation was included in The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a landmark law passed in 1990. He continued to be a leader in the civil rights movement of people with disabilities until his death in 1993.

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Without these role models and others like them, people with disabilities would not have the right to a free and public education, public transportation and barrier-free public places, among other civil rights. Although there is still much work to be done, it is uncontestable that the foundation laid down by these pioneers sparked a movement that is still growing today.

Can you think of any others who have made a major impact on the lives of people with disabilities?