Michigan Disability Resistance

http://bit.ly/2KfhzbL

We all know that managing your money can be tricky and complicated at times. But what about if you are on Social Security benefits programs, such as Supplemental Security Income, or SSI?  How do you ensure that you are receiving your money and benefits after you turn 18 and select the best option for your situation?

Watch as our latest Storyteller, Yolanda Vargas, explains the process of how she gained control of her money, gives tips on the different options available that may work for you, and how to approach the SSA.  

Resources

Understanding Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Overview – 2018 Edition
https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-over-ussi.htm

Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) Information
https://www.ssa.gov/cola/

Focus on People with Disabilities Companion Guide
https://www.consumerfinance.gov/practitioner-resources/your-money-your-goals/companion-guides/

“What if I no longer need a representative payee?”

https://www.ssa.gov/payee/faqbene.htm

https://thebea.st/2Kb0kZ4

Through a series of national security legislation, the CIA is exempt from doing things it decides would jeopardize national security. On disability issues, they wear those exemptions as both sword and shield—something I watched play out throughout my entire career.

My first job there as an intelligence analyst was everything I hoped it would be—exciting, fast-paced, and important, covering issues I loved but had only ever studied in text books. However, there was not an accessible restroom near my office and it took six months for the agency to install an automatic door opener for me. Each time I went in and out of the office, I had to ring the doorbell for someone to open the door. I had been warned on my very first day that my reputation mattered almost more than anything else in the tight-knit agency community and I worried that my dependence on other people would quickly label me a nuisance. 

The few fellow employees with disabilities I met in those early days confirmed my fear, warning me that I needed to downplay my very visible disability if I did not want it to affect what we at CIA call my “hall file.” Best to ask for as little help as possible, they advised, or else be seen as a problem-child. This became a theme in my career. I could either speak up or have a successful career, but not both. 

https://pewrsr.ch/2qTs6jP

Public trust in the government remains near historic lows. Only 18% of Americans today say they can trust the government in Washington to do what is right “just about always” (3%) or “most of the time” (15%).

When the National Election Study began asking about trust in government in 1958, about three-quarters of Americans trusted the federal government to do the right thing almost always or most of the time. Trust in government began eroding during the 1960s, amid the escalation of the Vietnam War, and the decline continued in the 1970s with the Watergate scandal and worsening economic struggles. Confidence in government recovered in the mid-1980s before falling again in the mid-1990s. But as the economy grew in the late 1990s so too did confidence in government. Public trust reached a three-decade high shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but declined quickly thereafter. Since 2007, the share saying they can trust the government always or most of the time has not surpassed 30%.

Currently, 22% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say they can trust government, compared with 15% of Democrats and Democratic leaners. Throughout Obama’s tenure, more Democrats than Republicans reported trusting the government, though that has flipped since Trump’s election. Since the 1970s, trust in government has been consistently higher among members of the party that controls the White House than among the opposition party. However, Republicans have been much more reactive than Democrats to changes in political power. Republicans have expressed much higher levels of trust during Republican than during Democratic presidencies, while Democrats’ attitudes have tended to be more consistent, regardless of which party controls the White House.

https://www.public-disabilityhistory.org/

Although I have been blind for two decades, I am new to academic Disability Studies.  

For a number of years my primary area of interest has been North American Indigenous peoples studies.  My main areas of focus are Show Indian culture and transnational material culture.  I was introduced to Disability Studies by Dr. Miguel Juarez when he approached me to participate on a Panel at the October 2018 Western History Association Conference to be held in San Antonio, Texas. Our panel will research and present papers focused on Ageism, Ableism, and Advocacy. Dr. Miguel Juarez from the University of Texas at El Paso will serve as our Chairman; Dr. Robin Henry from Wichita State University will serve as our diversity expert; and Dr. Bonnie Lynn-Sherow from Kansas State University will serve as our Commentator.  

I will offer my insight of what I can contribute to the history profession as a blind senior citizen just entering the field.

And many more articles.....

http://bit.ly/2vygoAK 

On October 17, 2017, the American Association of Suicidology issued a statement announcing that physician assisted suicide is not “suicide”. The Executive Summary states:

“The American Association of Suicidology recognizes that the practice of physician aid in dying, also called physician assisted suicide, Death with Dignity, and medical aid in dying, is distinct from the behavior that has been traditionally and ordinarily described as ‘suicide,’ the tragic event our organization works so hard    to prevent. Although there may be overlap between the two categories, legal physician assisted deaths should not be considered cases of suicide and are therefore a matter outside the central focus of AAS.”

“Welcome to your new sleeker AAS,” wrote Not Dead Yet research analyst Stephen Drake in a flyer distributed by disability activists at the Association’s annual conference held at the Hyatt Regency at Capitol Hill today. “For the first time, this organization has formally begun to narrow its mission – accomplished by declaring the suicides of some people to not be suicides at all.”

The leaflets were distributed as Association members arrived for a moderated debate about the statement. The flyer asks, “Shouldn’t this debate have happened last year?” and raised several issues for psychiatrists, psychologists and other professionals to consider.

One of the activists, former certified crisis worker Sheryl Grossman said, “How can it be that the organization that trained me that any statement of desire to harm oneself is a cry for help, can now turn around and say, oh, but not for terminally ill, disabled, or chronically ill people? I am deeply disappointed and ashamed of the AAS and urge them change their position.”

Disability advocates who have been following and opposing assisted suicide advocacy claim that the suicide prevention community has been determinedly silent when it comes to so-called “aid in dying” – whether we’re talking about legalization efforts or hundreds of news stories about the Final Exit Network facilitating the suicides of people with nonterminal disabilities using such means as helium “exit bags”. They attribute the silence to a combination of moral cowardice, ageism, and ableism.

Advocates urge the Association to reverse the position statement and embrace the idea that all suicides are preventable tragedies, including those of older, ill and disabled people.