NCD Calls for Immediate Changes to Get People with Disabilities Who Receive Federal Benefits Back to Work

NCD Calls for Immediate Changes to Get People with Disabilities Who Receive
Federal Benefits Back to Work

WASHINGTON - The National Council on Disability (NCD) today released its
report The Social Security Administration's Efforts to Promote Employment
for People with Disabilities: New Solutions for Old Problems, calling on
Congress and the Social Security Administration to make immediate changes
that will get more people with disabilities who receive Social Security
benefits back to gainful employment.

According to NCD chairperson Lex Frieden, "Our nation's current disability
benefit programs are based on a policy principle that assumes that the
presence of a significant disability and lack of substantial earnings equate
with a complete inability to work. Americans with disabilities remain
under-employed, despite the fact that many are willing and able to work.
This scenario is alarming. Although the Social Security Administration (SSA)
has instituted a number of incentives to reduce the numerous obstacles to
employment faced by its Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social
Security Disability Insurance (DI) beneficiaries, such efforts have had
little impact because few beneficiaries are aware of these incentives and
how they affect benefits and access to health care.

"In recent times there has not been a comprehensive, research-based
examination of the practices that are most likely to support the employment
of SSI and DI beneficiaries. NCD undertook this study to address that
absence and found that the complex obstacles to employment faced by SSA
beneficiaries require a comprehensive set of solutions. New approaches must
be identified that emphasize beneficiary control of career planning and the
ability to access self-selected services and supports.

"Public and private health care providers must develop new collaborations
and new approaches to combining coverage from multiple sources to improve
program efficiencies. SSA must continue to work with the Rehabilitation
Services Administration and the Dept of Labor to improve implementation of
the Ticket to Work program and identify new approaches that will overcome
the traditional inability of SSA beneficiaries to benefit from services
provided by the nation's employment and training programs. Secondary and
post-secondary educational institutions must emphasize benefits counseling
and financial management training as the foundation for beneficiary
self-direction and economic self-sufficiency. Federal agencies and the
business community must realize that collaborative approaches to
incorporating beneficiaries into the workforce are needed as a way to reduce
dependence on federal benefits while simultaneously enhancing the
productivity and competitiveness of large and small business," Frieden
concluded.

The recommendations discussed in this report need to be addressed in policy
and procedural modifications by both Congress and the Social Security
Administration to significantly address the continuing number of SSA
beneficiaries who never leave the SSI and DI rolls, and to increase the
number of beneficiaries who enter, or reenter, the US workforce.

For more information, contact Mark Quigley at NCD, 202/272-2004 or
202/272-2074 TTY

Source: Natl. Council on Disability, 11/30/05

The Social Security Administration's Efforts to Promote Employment for
People with Disabilities: New Solutions for Old Problems




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