Advocacy Initiative: Economic Community Participation must be open to All

Restrictions and disincentives to economic participation on Persons with Disabilities, the Elderly, Legal Immigrants, and working persons receiving rent assistance or welfare* are counterproductive and perpetuate dependency.

• INSURANCE IS NOT welfare. Eliminate paternalistic policies. Focus on ability, not current employment as a measure of disability. Many are able to be economically engaged in society, though more limited or alternative capacity when disabled. Simple math.
• Dismantling the Poverty Trap: Disability Policy for the Twenty-First Century - Bonnie L. O'Day, Cornell University Institute for Policy Research, bo29@cornell.edu   
•  Asset limitations perpetuate and reinforce the cycle of dependency and have been proven ineffective and demonstrated counterproductively. 
• A Deadly Poverty Trap: Asset Limits in the Time of the Coronavirus - Azza Altiraifi is a research and advocacy manager for the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress

 

That's Great, but How can a disabled person improve their situation NOW?

Are you receiving SSI? Would you work if you could keep 100% of your SSI payment to continue to live on, and 100% of what you earned went towards:

Are you receiving SSDI? You could be eligible to receive an additional $794/mo if you save 100% of your SSDI payment towards things that would help you work:

New car, new computer and adaptive controls, new phone, wheelchair desk, assistive technologies, environmental controls, deposit on a new apartment or condo, or whatever you need to start your own business?

PASS is for you! (Plan to Achieve Self-Support )

There is NO penalty if your plan is not successful.