For some receiving disability benefits, the desire to work will never cease

Not an ideal treatment of the issue, but way better than the standard take.....

https://goo.gl/YqJTKj

ast year, The Washington Post explored how rural American communities have been reshaped by the significant growth in disability programs over the past two decades.
As the series of articles progressed, we heard from readers nationwide about their experiences with disability benefits. A common theme emerged from their stories.

One of the most misunderstood aspects of the federal disability programs — Social Security Disability Insurance, for those who work, and Supplemental Security Insurance for the disabled poor — has to do with working. Some recipients subsist on benefits alone, unable to work at all because of their disability, and some find paid part-time work. (Both programs come with health care — Medicare with SSDI and Medicaid with SSI.)

Above: Nancy and Richard Lamb travel a path in Snoqualmie, Wash. Richard has myalgic encephalomyelitis, a disease that limits his energy. He once had an active lifestyle but now tries to regulate how much energy he expends. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post)

Others work for pay up to modest income limits allowed by the programs or are seeking employment. Many others perform unpaid volunteer work. Yet whether they work for money or not, disability recipients are often stigmatized in our work-obsessed culture.

We spoke to five recipients around the country about how they maintain active and fulfilling lives. Read their stories below.

YOUR MONEY, YOUR GOALS: Focus on People with Disabilities

https://diigo.com/0b9j93

About Your Money, Your Goals

Your Money, Your Goals is a financial empowerment toolkit, not a curriculum,
consisting of a set of modules that organizations may integrate into their daily work
with the people they serve. These modules function independently of one another,
can be used in any combination or order, and are appropriate for a wide variety of
client populations, as well as for staff or volunteers who may benefit from financial
empowerment in their own lives.

Financial empowerment is about giving individuals information and tools that help
them understand the risks and benefits of financial products, services, and actions
so they can control their own financial situations and make their own choices.

Your Money, Your Goals for people with disabilities

This companion guide—Your Money, Your Goals: Focus on People with Disabilities
—contains information, tips, and tools based on the insights from people with
disabilities and from organizations that serve the disability community. It is based
on the core philosophy that everyone has the right to control their money and make
their own financial decisions.

Update: Wage Reporting for People who Receive SSDI

https://goo.gl/TyGPVx

As we've discussed in the past, reporting your wages is important to avoid overpayments from Social Security. An overpayment occurs when Social Security sends you a benefit payment higher than what you're eligible to receive. You can learn more about wage reporting and overpayments in Wage Reporting: Myths, Tips and Ticket to Work.

Social Security recently released a new tool to make it easier for SSDI beneficiaries or their representative payees to report wages securely online. When you sign up for a my Social Security account, you'll be able to report your wages online from your computer or mobile device. After you report your wages, you'll be able to save or print a copy of your receipt for your records.

At this time, the tool is only available for people who receive Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) benefits. If you receive SSI benefits, you may continue reporting your wages through Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Mobile Wage Reporting, SSI Telephone Wage Reporting, or by visiting a local field office.


disABLEDperson.com, a national job board for people with disabilities

https://www.disabledperson.com/

Frequently Asked Questions

1) Who should sign up for disABLEDperson.com? disABLEDperson.com  a national job board for people with disabilities who are looking for work and for employers who are proactively looking to hire people with disabilities.

2) How do I sign up? Click on the Sign up Now button on the right. Fill in all of the information and click submit. Wait! You are not done. Our system will send you an email to activate your account. Simply open it and click the hyperlink and your account is activated. Some email services will not allow live hyperlinks. In that case, simply copy and paste the link into a browser and that will activate your account.  

3) I didn’t receive my confirmation email, where is it? Depending on your security settings sometimes the confirmation email goes into SPAM folders. Take a look there. If you still do not see it, send us an email at support@disabledperson.com   

4) I’m an employer and I want to post jobs on your site, how do I sign up? Click the Sign up Now button on the right. Look at the bottom of the window that opens up there is a check box that says “Register as a corporation to post jobs”, check it. It will expand the window. Fill in all the information and click submit. Please read #s 2 and 3 for the rest.  

5) I’m confused, how did I get to your site? Because of the population we serve, many job aggregators, public and private agencies take our jobs and post them on their respective site to serve people with disabilities who are on their site. You probably started there and clicked over to us.  


Dozens of Companies Are Using Facebook to Exclude Older Workers From Job Ads

Very ingenious. It's tough to file a discrimination complaint when you never know that there was a job posting in the first place. Now, if they can just figure out a way to do the same thing to African-Americans, Women, and People with Disabilities, they can recreate Jim Crow digitally...

https://goo.gl/YwbF7R

A few weeks ago, Verizon placed an ad on Facebook to recruit applicants for a unit focused on financial planning and analysis. The ad showed a smiling, millennial-aged woman seated at a computer and promised that new hires could look forward to a rewarding career in which they would be “more than just a number.”

Some relevant numbers were not immediately evident. The promotion was set to run on the Facebook feeds of users 25 to 36 years old who lived in the nation’s capital, or had recently visited there, and had demonstrated an interest in finance. For a vast majority of the hundreds of millions of people who check Facebook every day, the ad did not exist.

Verizon is among dozens of the nation's leading employers — including Amazon, Goldman Sachs, Target and Facebook itself — that placed recruitment ads limited to particular age groups, an investigation by ProPublica and The New York Times has found.

The ability of advertisers to deliver their message to the precise audience most likely to respond is the cornerstone of Facebook’s business model. But using the system to expose job opportunities only to certain age groups has raised concerns about fairness to older workers.

Several experts questioned whether the practice is in keeping with the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, which prohibits bias against people 40 or older in hiring or employment. Many jurisdictions make it a crime to “aid” or “abet” age discrimination, a provision that could apply to companies like Facebook that distribute job ads.

“It’s blatantly unlawful,” said Debra Katz, a Washington employment lawyer who represents victims of discrimination.

Facebook defended the practice. “Used responsibly, age-based targeting for employment purposes is an accepted industry practice and for good reason: it helps employers recruit and people of all ages find work,” said Rob Goldman, a Facebook vice president.

The revelations come at a time when the unregulated power of the tech companies is under increased scrutiny, and Congress is weighing whether to limit the immunity that it granted to tech companies in 1996 for third-party content on their platforms.

Facebook has argued in court filings that the law, the Communications Decency Act, makes it immune from liability for discriminatory ads.

Airlines settle multimillion dollar return-to-work case

https://goo.gl/EdkkiA

American Airlines and Envoy Air will pay $9.8 million in stock, currently valued at over $14 million, and provide other relief to settle a nationwide class disability discrimination lawsuit. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which brought the suit, claims the airlines unlawfully denied reasonable accommodations to hundreds of employees. Envoy Air is described as the largest regional carrier for American Airlines.

According to the EEOC, the carriers illegally required their employees to be completely free of restrictions before returning to work following a medical leave. Under this policy, any restrictions would permit the airlines to refuse a return to work. The policy also failed to address the requirement to identify reasonable accommodations that would allow employees to return to work with restrictions.

EEOC says these actions violate provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If employees with disabilities are not able to perform their current job, even with reasonable accommodation, employers are obligated to look for another position for them.

“This matter highlights the critical role of the Americans with Disabilities Act in getting people back to work as quickly as possible,” said EEOC acting chair Victoria A. Lipnic. “The parties deserve credit for working diligently to bring this matter to resolution.”


Observations from the 2017 Harkin Summit

https://goo.gl/eH36zh

On November 2nd and 3rd, hundreds of people from around the world gathered at the Second Harkin Summit on Global Disability Employment to listen, network, and discuss the continuing employment challenges faced by people with disabilities, as well as to share the many inclusionary promising policies and practices initiated by policy makers, employers, and organizations supporting the aspirations of people with disabilities. We should all be very grateful to retired Senator Tom Harkin for continuing his passion to ensure the independence of people with disabilities through employment. This event enabled various constituencies who are passionate about this topic to convene and set a goal of substantially increasing the labor force participation rate of people with disabilities worldwide over the next ten years. While the challenges and models being developed internationally are important to us all, I have chosen to speak primarily to our domestic issues.

On the demand side, many private and public sector employers (EY, Merck, MicroSoft, J.P Morgan Chase, Scotiabank, Comcast, Walmart, New York City’s Office of the Mayor) known for their inclusive workplaces and for hiring, retaining, and advancing people with disabilities discussed their internal and external challenges. Examples of some of the challenges faced by these employers included: educating risk aversive lawyers about inclusion; understanding the value of various service providers for people with disabilities; circumventing the limitations of a placement-focused employment model; creating a process and culture where applicants and candidates with disabilities are comfortable disclosing; and the perennial question of where to source highly qualified candidates for specialized jobs. One thing I heard clearly is that employer needs are quite varied. The company’s size, culture, leadership, and hiring needs are determinates in moving the enterprise forward along the inclusion continuum. This also has implications for replicating successful practices – what may work for one employer may not easily be adapted for another employer.

On the supply side, an increased number of young people with disabilities are earning advanced degrees and graduating with the skills and knowledge needed for employment. However, transitioning from school to work is particularly challenging for many young people with disabilities who may not have the soft skills expected by employers. Others may have such low expectations of themselves that work seems unachievable. While these barriers are significant for young people transitioning to work from college or university, transitioning young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities also face difficulties. The transition from sheltered workshops to competitive employment has been and continues to be a challenge. More choices need to be available for people with intellectual disabilities. New models need to be developed and programs known for their promising results need to be expanded.


Annual Contributions to ABLE Accounts Increased to $15,000 in 2018

https://goo.gl/ie5t54

The ABLE National Resource Center is pleased to share that the total annual contribution limit to an ABLE account will be increased from $14,000 per tax year to $15,000 per tax year beginning in 2018.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently announced a multitude of tax year 2018 annual inflation adjustments, including an increase to Section 2503, the federal gift tax exclusion. Section 529A(a)(2) of the Stephen Beck Jr. Achieving a Better Life Experience (“ABLE”) Act (PL 113-225) specifically ties the annual contribution limit for ABLE accounts to section 2503(b) of the federal tax code, therefore any inflation adjustment to this section automatically adjusts the annual ABLE contribution limit.

“Tying these sections together was done by design, so that periodic increases to the federal gift tax exclusion will automatically result in a greater annual contribution limit to ABLE accounts” says Michael Morris of National Disability Institute. Beginning in 2018, each ABLE account will be able to accept up to $15,000 in aggregate annual contributions.

For more information about ABLE accounts, please visit the ABLE National Resource Center at www.ablenrc.org. 


New financial empowerment tools for people with disabilities

https://goo.gl/99h6Pp

This year marks the 27th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act . This is a time for us to celebrate the leaders in the disability rights movement past and present who have worked tirelessly to ensure equality of opportunity, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for all people. Despite much progress, millions of people with disabilities continue to face significant obstacles as they go about their lives, including full participation in the mainstream financial marketplace. 

We’re excited to announce the release of Focus on People with Disabilities . This is a companion guide to our Your Money, Your Goals financial empowerment toolkit that’s based on the idea that everyone has a right to control their own money and make their own financial decisions. Your Money, Your Goals consists of a set of modules that organizations may integrate into their daily work with the people they serve. 

We want every person to have the chance to participate in the financial marketplace. The disability community proudly affirms “nothing about us, without us,” and we take that advice to heart. For this reason, our guide contains information, tips, tools, and skill-building resources based on insights from people with disabilities and from organizations that serve the disability community. The Your Money, Your Goals: Focus on People with Disabilities guide includes information on how to: 

  • Identify financial abuse and exploitation. Individuals may be reluctant to say anything about abuse and exploitation that is happening to them. People often don’t speak up due to embarrassment, shame, or fear. 
  • Set up an Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Account and build savings. For many people with disabilities, saving may not seem possible. This may be because some benefit programs have asset limits caps. These limits cap the amount of money people can save to maintain eligibility for that type of assistance. However, there is a new savings option for some people with disabilities that does not count against these asset limits. 
  • Pay for assistive technology. Assistive devices can help some people with disabilities achieve independence so they can reach their goals. 
  • Understand how income from work impacts Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. Some people think that getting paid at a job will stop their SSI check, but that’s not necessarily true. In fact, the more you work, the more you make overall, even on SSI. 

We created eleven new tools that are fully dynamic and accessible along with a guide to help organizations, their staff, and volunteers implement the toolkit and training. This specialized information equips staff and volunteers to adapt trainings, provide accommodations, and use the toolkit and other resources to meet the needs of people with disabilities.