The following was submitted by Robert from Illinois in response to “What Are Your Issues”:
“I am disabled. I hate saying it because it makes me
recognize what every day I try to forget. I am a T -10 complete paraplegic
and will never walk again. But I hold hope and it rest solely upon your
shoulders. I am a son and a brother to someone. I worked and now face an
uphill able to be able to do so again. I am furthering my education to be
able to make myself more of person of interest than viewed as a burden. I
will never be able to help truly be able to have a future that would be
equal to your own unless health care reform is achieved and people with
disabilities are not so ostracized but rather raised up and appreciated. If
you don’t know a family or someone with in your community who live on their
SSI or SSDI benefits or is forced to stay within the impoverished level of
society due to their need for Medicare medical aid. Than please meet a
family or know a person form church or your child’s school who child or
brother who uses what is being given for their betterment but could live a
life like yours if given the opportunity for more with reform and coverage.”
There is no need to be a “burden” on society as a person with a disability. I too, am a person with a disability, I work, own a home and conribute to society.
It pains me when my peers with disabilities think there are no options if they are receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and work. One of the biggest misconceptions about these benefits are that you will lose your medical if you lose the cash benefits connected to these programs. It’s simply not the case. If you want to work, you can navigate your benefits and work. One with a disability can still be eligible for services, like their waiver programs and maintain their Medicaid/Medicare while working. There are even Medicaid Buy-In programs that allow people to maintain their benefits with higher resource limits and work.
Every state has a Work Incentive Planning and Assistance (WIPA) program that helps people receiving SSI/SSDI manage their benefits while going back to work.
To learn more about how you can work and navigate your benefits attend a Work Incentive Seminar Event (WISE) in your local state. Here’s a website with information on Ticket To Work and Work Incentives. http://www.cessi.net/WISE/
Over my 20+ years of working with persons living with spinal cord injury, I have learned, as Michelle mentions, that there are tools and programs to help each person become ncreasingly independent and live am improved quality of life. In my work for NSCIA, I constantly encourage persons to find resources such as a Center for Independent Living, a community support
group or a wheelchair sports group where each can find and/or fulfill his or her potential.
Each person’s potential is measured only by one’s own imagination, goals and desires. My former patients, through encouragement, support and personal determination, have gone on to complete higher education, started a disability awareness group on a college campus, been on Medicare/Medicaid and either been able through waiver programs to continue working and receive benefits or through the P.A.S.S. Program [http://www.ssa.gov/disabilityresearch/wi/pass.htm ] to eventually become self supporting, have become a physician, a government worker, started one’s own business and more. Don’t let a ‘label’ prevent you from achieving your
highest dreams, desires, potential and goals!