Why current perceptions and policy on disability are horrible for the economy

You don't see it in the press much. When cable news network argue about the budget, it's never mentioned. Yet it plays a huge role in our nations economy….. the disability unemployment rate. I believe perceptions about disability play a huge factor in the disability unemployment rate. I realize there's many other facets to Disability Economics other than employment. This blog entry is just the tip of the iceberg.

Bottom line: When it is financially smarter to sit at home rather than work, something is terribly wrong.

There are many ways to change perceptions about disability. A few are: Ask your school to do something for Disability Awareness Month which is October. Molding kids perceptions would be a huge step forward. Read up on disability history. It's out there and (and until recently) it's not too hard to find, though still it's not in most school books. Advocate for Inclusion..... for students with disabilities to be in your child's classroom. I believe when kids are taught together no doubt the disability employment rate will improve.

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Published around the time of ADA's 20th anniversary

It's All About the Money by Bruce Blower

"Little more than two decades ago, once the U.S. Congress realized that it cost taxpayers almost as much as this entire nation’s defense budget to keep disabled persons at home on entitlements, out of the workforce passage of the ADA federal law became a sure bet. Congress had also then seen a Harris poll stating overwhelmingly that disabled people wanted to work."

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People with disabilities DO NOT COUNT.

The US national unemployment rate does not factor in people with disabilities.

What Is the REAL National U.S. Unemployment Rate – Why the Numbers Can Be Misleading

by Kalen Smith

"What’s most surprising is that the existence of this last group is completely ignored by the unemployment rate."

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A reverse twist on medical insurance

September 11, 2011

By Monica Yant Kinney, Inquirer Columnist

philly.com

"I want to work. I'm meant to work . . . but I'm being held hostage by a system that does not want to see me succeed," Curran tells anyone who will listen - a group that so far includes two state legislators, scores of state welfare officials, and a half-dozen advocates equally baffled by his dilemma.

Here is a young man eager to get off Social Security disability and become a productive tax-, rent-, and copaying member of society. And the government's trying to stop him?

This will be a waste of taxpayer money if he doesn't work," gripes Sen. Daylin Leach (D., Montgomery), who intervened for his constituent. Leach called the catch-22 "one of those boneheaded government policies" in dire need of a fix."

Long story short, when this young man switches over to his job's insurance the home care services won't be as good as it is on state services AND there's a wait list his name will be on the bottom of, meanwhile no home care for him. When he earns too much money (by being employed) he'll lose the state run home care.

Sounds like perpetual poverty to me and tax payers are footing the bill.

Why can't this young man continue to have the same level of care no matter what insurance plan he's on?

In my case....

What type of careers would pay a decent wage for home care, the price of a powerchair, the price of home modifications, and the everyday bills? I'm no Smarty McSmart, I doubt I could swing it. If I took out a loan to pay an aide to go to college, I'd have that and college loans to pay back. That's only saying if I could get hired in the first place.

And this infuriates me!

Some political groups say,

"The hand outs have to stop! Screw the freeloaders!"

It's offensive in the context of people with disabilities! Some can work and want to work.

Where is the American Dream for people with disabilities?

So you're telling me, in a capitalistic nation people with disabilities are limited to how much money they can earn. WTF?!

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Imparato speaks on future of disability policy at University of Pittsburgh

www.aapd.com

November 4, 2010

"Though its drafters and champions envisioned the ADA as a road to independent living, equal opportunity, and self-sufficiency, we are a long way from achieving those goals. Twenty years later, we spend 440 billion dollars per year on federal programs designed in the 50s, 60s and 70s to warehouse—not empower—people with disabilities.

Today—20 YEARS LATER—our country still requires 18-year-olds with disabilities to prove to the government that they cannot work in order to get income supports and the corollary acute and long-term care coverage provided by Medicaid. That’s right, 20 years after the ADA, our public policy continues to force young adults with disabilities to retire.

Every time we do this --every time a young person ends her bid for success before it starts—a piece of our civil rights mission fails. Independent living, equal opportunity, and hope for economic self-sufficiency die. We spend 440 billion dollars per year on giving up.

We spent a lot of money implementing that law, but because we didn't deal with the definition of disability the program was flawed from the get-go.

If you spend years proving to the government that you can't work, and they turn around and give you a ticket and say, here, take this ticket and go get a job, most people are going to mistrust that and assume that the government is testing them to see whether they are really disabled. So because of the definition, you have a program that undermines itself.

Until we deal with the baseline flaw in the definition of disability all this other stuff that we do around work incentives is window dressing.”

The Philly.com and AAPD articles can be read in their entirety HERE

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Read the April 2012 Report by The National Disability Rights Network: Beyond Segregated and Exploited - Update on the Employment of People with Disabilities HERE

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Did you know if you live in the USA you can be penalized for saving money? If you're a person with a disability this can happen to you. Currently person with a disability can loose Medicaid if they save too much. In a capitalistic country, people with disabilities can't earn and save like most American citizens. Go figure. 
To put it into perspective, does everybody pay for a power chair and home care assistants? No! 
So why is the freedom to save money being denied for people with disabilities?

The ABLE Act is working to change this. Ask your delegate to support it. Read more about it HERE


You can not have more than $2000 in your bank account on the last day of each month. All paychecks, SSA payments are considered income, even when put into an ABLE Account.

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Tax deductions, etc for hiring…..

Some of this money is a YEARLY payoff. Businesses are fools for not taking advantage. 
Our government can not fix the disability unemployment problem. (and I don't expect them to) The government can throw all the money it wants into this Hire People With Disabilities thing, not a damn thing will change though until attitudes change.

http://www.dol.gov/odep/topics/TaxIncentivesForEmployers.htm

http://AskJAN.org/media/tax.html


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The ABLE Act passed in Congress!

On December 3, 2014 the bill passed the often-fractious House of Representatives, 404 to 17. 

On December 16, 2014 the bill passed the Senate as part of a bigger tax package by the only slightly less impressive margin of 76 to 16.


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At the Annual Meeting of the National Council on Independent Living in July 2014, a delegation of approximately 700 individuals with disabilities passed a resolution urging NCIL to push for a redefinition of disability as it relates to the Social Security Act.

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