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Recent Blog Posts
SSA and Disability Update
On December 16, 2009, President Obama signed an appropriations bill into law for the fiscal year 2010. As expected, the bill increased the Social Security Administration's (SSA) budget by 10%, providing a final appropriation of $11,446,500,000 for their administrative budget. There has been a lot of talk questioning how SSA would allocate their spending for the upcoming year. Obviously, the increase could be put into good use, considering the terrifying backlog of Social Security disability cases at ODAR and the significant increase in total disability claims.
The National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives (NOSSCR) recently issued the latest SSA plans for 2010. The plans include opening 13 new hearing offices, 3 new satellite hearing offices, and another National Hearing Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Where are these offices planned to open? The following is a recent list in alphabetical order of the planned new hearing offices provided by NOSSCR:
*Anchorage, AK
A Father's Love For His Son
I watched the video below yesterday and it is a truly remarkable tale of love and dedication between a father and son. It is the story of Rick and Dick Hoyt, a father and son team who have been an inspiration not just the disabled community, but for people everywhere. You will have to watch the video to see for yourself.
Shepherds College: A Post-Secondary Educational Program For Individuals With Disabilities
In early January, I came across the Shepherds College Twitter page while reading a disability posting and immediately began following their program. Prior to discovering Shepherds College, I had never heard of a post secondary educational program designed specifically to help people with disabilities. Shepherds College is so unique that I almost immediately wanted to spread the word about their program. They were kind enough to make the following post on my blog:
For years Shepherds’ staff has continued to ask, “What more can we do for people with intellectual disabilities?” In response to this question, we discovered gaps in services to young adults with intellectual disabilities. Once they aged out of the public school system, they found few employment options open to them. Many floundered at home without purpose or direction. Their parents were equally confused and felt frustrated by the lack of information available to them.
Our solution was Shepherds College. Launched in 2008, the Union Grove, Wisconsin college was designed to help people with intellectual disabilities make a successful transition from school to work, and from home to independent living. We created a three-year program that centered on each student’s development of Appropriate Independence™ - a level of self-sufficiency that is aligned with individual strengths and guided by religious values. This program includes several important components: life skills training, specialty majors and spiritual formation.
Look For Healthy People 2020
In my last blog post, I discussed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) disturbing report analyzing the significant increase in the number of people with disabilities in the United States. In that report, the CDC found that nearly one in five adults reported having a disability. Although the amount of disabled individuals is alarming, something I questioned in the previous blog post was why there was not a finding explaining that increase. With the number of disabled individuals growing and a poor healthcare system in place, this begs the question, what is the government doing to improve the overall health of the citizens in this country? One answer to that question is the Healthy People 2020 initiative.
The Healthy People initiative was established in 1979 by the United States Surgeon General's "Report on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Healthy People." Upon its inception, Healthy People has set and monitored national health objectives to meet a very broad range of health needs. A new set of objectives is created every decade to account for changes in the health of the nation's citizens and affects all of the segments of the health care community including: treatment to numerous conditions, raised awareness activities, prevention, and community involvement. In order to improve its objectives, Healthy People seeks input from hundreds of health organizations, scholars, doctors, stakeholders, and communities across the country.
Adults With Disabilities On The Rise
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a disturbing report about the number of people with disabilities in the United States. According to the report, more than one in five American adults is reporting that they have a disability. While the CDC does not give an age range for any of its figures, nor does it specify the difference between reported versus unreported cases, it does indicate that the number of adults that reported having disabilities grew 3.4 million between 1999-2005.
The enormous growth in the number of adults with disabilities has reached a staggering 22% of the population. The most common complaints according to this report are rheumatism, heart disease, arthritis, and back and spinal problems. The CDC report also found that approximately 24.4% of women reported having disabilities compared with 19.9% of men, regardless of age. What the CDC report failed to specify on was why the number of adults with disabilities has grown so rapidly in recent years. Other articles on their website, which can be found at http://www.cdc.gov, describe the vast increase due in part to the aging baby boomer generation and the American diet. However, there was no real data to explain the reason for the significant increase in the number of disabled adults in the U.S. Stay tuned for my next blog post, which will discuss the Healthy People 2010 objectives for helping improve the lives of those in the disabled community.
Best January Social Security Disability Blogs
For the fourth Best Social Security Disability Blogs of the month, there was a lot of competition in the month of January to make it to the Top 6. My favorite January blogs were:
Comparison of Denial Rate of Social Security Judges -Texas lawyer Bob Kraft on his P.I.S.S.D Blog
SSA Reports Improvement in Processing Disability Claims through New Health Information Network -Freedom Disability on Freedom Disability Daily Blog
Importance of Specialist Care When Experiencing Chronic Pain -Delaware lawyer Steven Butler on Delaware Disability Blog
Disability Technology Update -Illinois lawyer Aaron Rifkind on Social Security Blog
Can adopted children receive Social Security benefits because of parents disability? -Colorado lawyer Tomasz Stasiuk on the Social Security Insider Blog
Immigrant gets prison time for stealing from the SSA -Atlanta lawyer Jonathan Ginsberg on his Social Security Disability Blog
Drug Addiction and Alcoholism: The 6th Step of the Five Step Disability Evaluation Process
In order to be adjudicated as disabled before a Social Security Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), an attorney or claimants representative must follow and complete what is called the five step Social Security disability evaluation process. The evaluation process asks the individual seeking disability benefits five separate questions: (1) Are you working and are you performing substantial gainful activity; (2) Is your condition severe; (3) Does your condition meet or exceed a listed impairment; (4) Can you do previous work; and (5) What work can you do. If a claimant meets each of the five steps of the evaluation process, then an ALJ will usually find that individual to be disabled. One exception to meeting the five step evaluation process and qualifying for disability is if the finding was materially effected by a drug addiction or alcoholism.
Drug Addiction and Alcoholism (DA&A) is often referred to as the silent "6th step" of the five step Social Security evaluation process for disability benefits. The Social Security Administration's regulation 20 C.F.R. Section 404.1535 governs DA&A and states, "If we find that you are disabled and have medical evidence of your drug addiction or alcoholism, we must determine whether your drug addiction or alcoholism is a contributing factor material to the determination of disability. The key factor we will examine in determining whether drug addiction or alcoholism is a contributing factor material to the determination of disability is whether we would still find you disabled if you stopped using drugs or alcohol." If DA&A was material in the disability determination and you would not be found disabled but for the use of those substances, SSA will not find that you have met the 6th step.
Products For Children With Special Needs
In the spirit of the holiday season, this post attempts to answer a very unique question sent in by Jennifer from Boston regarding shopping for children with special needs. She asked, "Do you know of any kind of rating system that can make it easier for me to know what gifts to buy a very young girl with autism?"
To answer Jennifer's question, the National Lekotek Center has created what they call the AblePlay rating system for individuals with special needs. There are so many toys out there that it can be daunting to try to find the right one even for your own child. To help parents, special educators, therapists and others make the most informed toy purchase, AblePlay has created a rating system that measures each toy's cognitive, sensory, communications, and physical ability level. You can go on the AblePlay website and create a toy search based on the special needs and abilities of the child. To answer Jennifer's specific question, when I conducted a search for toys for children with autism, several games came up including: Milton Bradley's Candy Land, Melissa & Doug Locks & Latches Board, Fundex What's in Ned's Head?, and many others. AblePlay is a great tool that can be used to pair up each child's ability with the appropriate toy.
Disability Technology Update
For anyone who has an arm, wrist, or hand condition typing on a computer keyboard can be a frustrating and difficult experience. Typing requires a combination of different muscle movements and continuous motion that can place a significant amount of stress on the user. The keyboard can also prove to be difficult for people with autism, as the different quick movements required to type words can prove to be distractions that lead to cognitive confusion. To make keyboards easier to use, Blue Orb, Inc. has recently come out with what they call Orbitouch, a keyless computer keyboard. While computer keys require a range of muscle movements, the Orbitouch has two domes that slide in different directions enabling the user to type without actually pushing any buttons. Blue Orb published the video below two weeks ago and has already played a significant role in making computers more accessible for all users. For those who have difficulty accessing the video, feel free to view it here.
Best December Social Security Disability Blogs
For the third Best Social Security Disability Blogs of the month, there was a lot of competition in the month of December to make it to the Top 6. My favorite December blogs were:
Parkinson's Disease and Social Security Disability -Texas lawyer Bob Kraft on his P.I.S.S.D Blog
Social Security Disability Problems -Tim Moore on My Disability Blog
Importance of Healthcare Debate for Social Security Disability Applicants-Delaware lawyer Steven Butler on Delaware Disability Blog
How Does the Social Security Administration Determine Whether Someone With Autism Is Disabled? -Aaron Rifkind on Social Security Blog
How much will the expenses be in a Social Security disability case? -Colorado lawyer Tomasz Stasiuk on the Social Security Insider Blog
Q&A: Who is responsible for calling upon and compensating the Medical Expert witness? -Atlanta lawyer Jonathan Ginsberg on his Social Security Disability Blog
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