Psychiatric Disabilities/Mental Illness

How is the state of Kansas working to ensure that consumers can both work and receive the SSDI benefits that they are entitled to? Attached are several examples of studies done in the state of Kansas where individuals with disabilities were surveyed on important information such as why they delayed applying for disabilities benefits and barriers to finding employment. These findings may be beneficial for consumers as well as employers.

Person-centered living (PCL) is a way of life centered on personal preferences and values that stress dignity, choice, self-determination and individuality. In one stop, use this national resource to find important information regarding PCL. Resources are directed towards consumers, caregivers, and professionals. This website also provides ways to connect with other consumers and caregivers.

Launched this spring, this new online community for advocates working to strengthen and protect home and community-based services unites professionals in the aging and disability fields so that they can share ideas with peers, collaborate, and find resources to enhance efforts in their states. Anyone with an interest in these issues is welcome to join.

A growing number of individuals with disabilities are leaving the workforce and obtaining SSDI. Statistics show that the household incomes of these workers are falling behind those of workers without disabilities. This brief lays out a two-pronged approach for bending these curves—increasing the employment rate for people with disabilities, reducing their reliance on federal support, and increasing their household incomes—while preserving benefits for those who are unable to work.

The Community Living Initiative is an effort to give people with disabilities and older adults greater opportunities to live in their communities and achieve their goals. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services identified several issues and challenges in the development and refinement of new strategies to support and promote community living. HHS held four Listening Sessions around the country with state & local officials, consumers, service providers, and advocates.

Iowa's MEPD (Medicaid for Employed People with Disabilities) program allows individuals to earn money for work and maintain their savings in the bank, which would normally put them over the limit to receive Medicaid. Follow this link to find quarterly installments of a newsletter designed to educate consumers on relevant information.

The Stakeholder Partnerships, Education and Communication (SPEC) Disability Initiative aims to educate SPEC partners and taxpayers with disabilities on available tax credits, deductions, and free tax help. Using results for the 2009 Benchmark survey, read this report for an update of the 2007 Disability Report, to better understand the characteristics and services used by taxpayers with disabilities, and to identify possible outreach strategies.

In honor of the upcoming one-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, Family Caregiver Alliance releases this guide which highlights some of the most important developments in 2010 affecting family caregivers, including legislative and policy changes; research focused on caregivers; and media coverage of family caregiving. A great resource for families, researchers, policymakers, and others.

This guide, developed by the Florida MIG program, provides an outline of the most important areas to remember when delivering an effective two-day training seminar. Sections include introduction to Supported Employment, laws and regulations, marketing and teaching adults. Also included are examples and handouts on resumes and job seekers profiles.

When Congress created SSDI in 1956, disability and employability were viewed as mutually exclusive states. As a result, the 1956 law defines disability as the “inability to engage in a substantial gainful activity in the U.S. economy”—in other words, the inability to work. This proposal would assist workers with work-limiting disabilities to remain in their current jobs or to transition to more suitable jobs and would assist employers to accommodate workers to perform their jobs.