Monday, October 19, 2009

Changes in Social Security for 2010:

Changes for Social Security for 2010: 

Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits will not automatically increase in 2010 as there was no increase in the Consumer
Price Index (CPI-W) from the third quarter of 2008 to the third quarter of 2009.  

SSDI: SGA (Non-blind) will be $1000.

           SGA (Blind) will be $1640 - No change due to no COLA (See above).

           TWP will be $720/month. 

For changes go to:
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pressoffice/factsheets/colafacts2010.htm 

Obama looks to increase hiring of disabled workers

By Alex M. Parker
aparker@govexec.com
October 9, 2009

The White House and the Office of Personnel Management this week announced hiring initiatives aimed at halting a decline in the representation of disabled
employees in the federal workforce.

President Obama earlier this week said he hoped the government could become a model for other employers.

"Across this country, millions of people with disabilities are working or want to work, and they should have access to the support and services they need
to succeed," Obama said in a statement. "As the nation's largest employer, the federal government and its contractors can lead the way by implementing
effective employment policies and practices that increase opportunities and help workers achieve their full potential."

The White House and the Office of Personnel Management announced they would hold a daylong, governmentwide job fair targeted at people with disabilities,
and would offer federal hiring managers online seminars on attracting and retaining disabled workers.

Obama is not the first president to use the federal government to promote workforce diversity. In 2000, President George W. Bush signed an order calling
for the government to hire 100,000 people with disabilities within the next five years. Despite that order, representation of disabled workers decreased
steadily. The percentage of federal employees with targeted disabilities such as blindness or deafness fell from 1.12 percent in fiscal 1999 to 0.88 percent
in fiscal 2008, according to an
annual report
from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

In fiscal 2008 the Commerce, Transportation and Treasury departments were the only Cabinet-level agencies that experienced an increase in representation
of disabled employees. And only four agencies with more than 500 employees exceeded the government's goal of participation rates higher than 2 percent.
EEOC had the highest participation of employees with targeted disabilities, at nearly 3 percent.

Christine Griffin, acting vice chair of the commission, attributed EEOC's success to attention from top officials. "I think there's been a commitment from
people in leadership positions that this is important to us," she said.

Griffin said Obama's announcement was the first step toward a renewed focus on hiring the disabled. "Ultimately, it doesn't matter what package the person
comes in," Griffin said. "If you've got the skills and qualifications that they need, that's what they want."

As part of the initiative, the White House and OPM will work with the Labor Department's Office of Disability Employment Policy to raise awareness of a
hiring authority that allows agencies to recruit disabled workers noncompetitively under Schedule A, subject to a two-year probationary period. According
to a
March report
from the National Council on Disability, agencies don't use the Schedule A hiring authority enough. Only 326 of the 1,298 people with disabilities who
joined government in fiscal 2006 were hired using Schedule A, the report said.

OPM will hold online training sessions to educate hiring managers on the Schedule A authority beginning in November. "This should be a core objective of
the federal government because it works," said John Berry, director of OPM, in a statement.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Disabled Governor “Disses” New Yorkers with Disabilities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 18, 2009
Contact:

Disabled Governor “Disses” New Yorkers with Disabilities

(Albany, NY): New York’s disability community has denounced Governor Paterson’s recent veto of two critical pieces of civil rights legislation. Both bills, passed by a vast majority in both houses of the state legislature, would simply require state law to conform with existing federal requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Outraged disability advocates are calling on the state legislature to override the governor’s vetoes to ensure the civil rights of people with disabilities in New York are upheld.

One bill, A. 584 (Cahill)/S.1058 (Addabbo), would require all polling sites to comply with the accessibility guidelines of the ADA. Across the state, polling sites are rife with ADA violations disenfranchising people with disabilities in their right to accessible voting. The new law will update state election law to be consistent with long-existing federal requirements, eliminate outdated waiver language, provide clear instructions for compliance, and finally create a means for oversight and enforcement in the state. Inaccessible sites can either be moved, consolidated, or modified using pre-existing state and federal HAVA funds for costs incurred.

In his veto message regarding the polling site access bill, the Governor asserts, “The time frame that would be imposed by this bill is simply too onerous. It is not possible …that it be achieved in the period contemplated by the legislation…” His rationalization is ridiculous in the face of long-established legislation still in the process of being implemented. The purpose of the 36 year-old Rehabilitation Act (1973) is to “empower individuals with disabilities to maximize…independence, and inclusion and integration into society, through the guarantee of equal opportunity.” Title II of the ADA (1990) itself almost twenty years old, also “requires that State and local governments give people with disabilities an equal opportunity to benefit from all of their programs, services, and activities” including voting. “Neither law is flawlessly and thoroughly adhered to; it has taken years of committed effort to see them recognized let alone implemented,” said NAME, ORGANIZATION. “The ADA lacks weight here in New York because our state laws do not adequately reflect the federal mandates. Saying there isn’t enough time is preposterous. Claiming fiscal constraints as an additional reason to veto is absurd when right now in the state’s coffers are several million dollars in HAVA funds specifically reserved for making polling sites accessible. Time is relative and money is available. The Governor’s veto makes no sense.”


The other bill vetoed, A.781-B (Paulin)/S.5396 (Huntley), adds federal ADA Title II language into state statute, clarifying the obligations of government officials and strengthening the civil rights protections for people with disabilities. Title II of the ADA protects people with disabilities from discrimination on the basis of disability in services provided by public entities, including state and local governments. In the proposed bill, public entities would be required under state law to make reasonable accommodations—the same accommodations already required by federal law—and individuals with disabilities would gain critical access to the administrative enforcement mechanisms through the State Division of Human Rights. This bill imposes no new or additional requirements upon local governments or businesses. Governor Paterson’s opposition to this bill rest on definitions that do or do not appear in the legislation’s text and he fears a possible “broader interpretation” might expose the State to lawsuits.

“In effect,” said NAME, ORGANIZATION, “Governor Paterson is reminding New Yorkers with disabilities they will remain disenfranchised, marginalized and discriminated against.”