Song from Judy Small | Propublica Article on cuts to SSI | Care for people with disabilities
Friends,
A quick trip to Vermont to visit family, leading racial justice training, a workshop in New Hampshire for a small church. My neighborhood is offering "Give Your Stuff Away Day" which has become a community wide event. So much to get done.
Pause and enjoy your neighbors.
-Liz
Care for people with disabilities
I'm pretty good at wishful thinking.
When one of the wars of my young adulthood happened I started thinking that one of the results might be more resources for people with disabilities. My thinking was this: people care about veterans, veterans get wounded, so we'll develop better care for wounded vets. That would lead to better care for all people with disabilities. I was imagining a silver lining in the dark cloud of war.
I was naive. (Sometimes I still am.)
I should have realized we don't care that much about veterans. We like the super hero and the parades and the stories of glory, not so much the ordinary struggle of making life work.
My wife had an aunt who was developmentally delayed. Linda remembered her fondly, because she generally acted 10-12 years old, so was great fun when family got together. She sent us pot holders she made for Christmas every year.
When Linda's mom was young, her sister didn't got to school because of her disability. So she taught herself to read. Imagine what she could have done if allowed to go to school.
We have come a long way from that time.
Today the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, 1990) assures that every child with a disability will be part of the school system, and that they should get the right education for their needs. It's not perfectly executed, but is rare for a child to be refused education.
The ADA introduced the requirement that people with disabilities should be educated in the "least restrictive environment." That is, they should be included with other students in every way possible. If appropriate, they are in a regular classroom. If needed, they have times they are moved out for additional instruction. If the student needs mostly separate instruction they should have some time in the regular classroom.
The goal here is to avoid segregation. To avoid separating children with disabilities from the other students.
The anti-segregation parts of the ADA aren't as clear for adults with disabilities. Many of the services and payment systems do not do a good job of supporting adults with disabilities who want to live in their own home, live with a partner, or live with their parents into adulthood.
And now our present administration is ready to make it even more difficult to do that. They want to reduce Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits by the value of the bedroom offered by family.
This is not the first restriction on benefits for those living with others. But lets back up.
Since 1956 people with disabilities qualify for Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) if they have paid into Social Security for 40 quarters. Or, if diagnosed before age 18, they can qualify based on their parents Social Security payments.
In addition, in 1975 we added the supplemental security insurance (SSI) to cover those who have not paid enough social security. The max payment is just under $1000 per month--less if the person is married.
These are good, important programs.
But our fear of paying someone too much means both of these systems have significant barriers to get started, and a slew of ways that payments can be reduced if you get too much help from others. Benefits are reduced for getting married and for receiving even small financial gifts.
Now the present administration is proposing to cut benefits further by treating the offer of a bedroom in your home as a financial gift someone on SSI. The essential result of this is families either living on much less, or the person with the disability needing to move to an institutional setting.
What is absurd about this is that it would cost all of us more if we require people with disabilities to live in an institutional setting. So the proposal is to make services for people with disabilities more expensive and less personal. It's a lose-lose proposal.
Speak out for those who cannot speak,
for the rights of all the destitute.
Speak out; judge righteously;
defend the rights of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31: 8-9.
What is your church doing to serve people with disabilities? Reply to this email to let me know what's happening.
Here is the Pro Publica article on the proposed cuts to SSI benefits.
Singer Songwriter Judy Small with Speaking Hand Hearing Eyes (3:25).
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