Why Does Disability Have to Equal Poverty?

Disability equals poverty – most of the time.  The system created by disability policy perpetuates this status.  Why does that have to be?

First of all, having a disability is expensive.  We know that.  Wheelchairs, guide dogs, special transportation, personal care assistants, etc. are part of what make our lives work.  These are expenses over and above what the average person needs to pay in order to survive. 

In order to get any assistance with these additional expenses, it is required that a person “go on disability”.  If it is Social Security Disability that we are talking about, there is a six-month waiting period between work and the payment of benefits – if there are no delays.  Six months of extraordinary expenses and no income are not the stepping stones to wealth. 

For assistance with some benefits, you are required to have income below what is necessary to live.  And you have to remain there.

To be sure, there are what are called work incentives.  These would allow a person with a disability to return to work and temporarily maintain some of the necessary benefits.  Sometimes, it’s even possible to buy into a system that will provide these critical services.  But, there is a hitch.  There is a ceiling, a very low ceiling, below which your income must remain.  Reach or exceed that limit and all benefits disappear, whether or not you really have the income to cover them.  Since assets must also be limited, it is extremely difficult, even for the most motivated person to make that transition.  Poverty reigns and the system makes sure that it does.  There is no way out for most.

There are those who believe that this is a conspiracy perpetrated by government employees so that they may remain employed.  I have another view. 

We have a system that was designed to support persons with disabilities when employment and the technology that supports it were not available.  If persons with disabilities lived at all, they were often in residential settings and certainly not living full lives.  As life, technology and potential improved, the system did not keep up.  There have been band aids added to try to fix one aspect or another, but the system itself is the same.

For those who have already been pulled down into the system, changing disability policy could be adding insult to injury.  But, creating a new disability policy that would take effect at a defined time and would cover all new disabilities, whether incurred through birth, illness or injury,  needs to happen.   Soon.

Annette Bourbonniere

www.accessing-ability.com

401-846-1960

Fax:  401-846-1944

Twitter:  @AccessInclude

Parents Protest Protecting Girl with Peanut Allergy

Parents are protesting the requirement that their children wash their hands and rinse their mouths twice a day to protect a six-year-old student with an exceptionally severe peanut allergy.  They feel this child should be home schooled since these measures infringe on the rights of their children.  You can find the story at http://www.huliq.com/10473/parents-insist-girl-peanut-allergy-florida-be-home-schooled.

Frankly, if this had been April 1, I would have thought this was an April Fool’s joke. 

First of all, some of the parents who are protesting because they feel that these protective measures take 30 minutes a day away from their children’s education have pulled their children out of school in protest.  Really?  At the very least, let the children get as much education as is available while mounting this protest.  Maybe the parents are really concerned that their children will be exposed  to too much kindness.

Second, none of these parents seem to take into account that the extra hand washing may be protecting their children from colds and other germs that could be keeping them out of school for illnesses.  These absences could add up to more than this supposed 30 minutes a day.   It sounds to me like this procedure has a protective effect for their children too.

Third, there is nothing stopping these protesting parents from taking their children out of the class and home schooling them.  Although, to be honest, I don’t see these parents as healthy examples for their own children.

The federal Americans with Disabilities Act is civil rights legislation that is intended to provide services for persons with disabilities that are equal to the services provided to anyone else.  Education in a public school is one of those services. 

I am aware that persons with disabilities face a great deal of discrimination still.  And, there has always been a concern on the part of persons without disabilities that any accommodation for a disability is a privilege that they lack.  (If you doubt this, why is it so difficult to enforce accessible parking?)  If this had been a single individual mounting this protest, I would not have been the least surprised.  But, to have this great uproar over a single youngster’s need to be protected is outrageous. 

This is a truly shameful, ignorant response to a human situation.  This is the kind of bias that leads people to act as though any kindness toward another takes away from them.  This is sad.

Annette Bourbonniere

www.accessing-ability.com

401-846-1960

Fax:  401-846-1944

Twitter:  @AccessInclude

Words Do Make a Difference

Words do make a difference. How we refer to persons with disabilities is a reflection of how we view those same persons. How we view people with disabilities will definitely determine how we treat them.

When I hear professionals in the diversity field refer to persons with disabilities as "the disabled" I cringe. When I hear the media refer to someone as "handicapped" I get angry. Other terms, like hearing-impaired, wheelchair bound, confined to a wheelchair all make me realize how far we have to go.

I don't think there's much of an excuse for diversity professionals or persons working in the disability arena to not know the proper terminology. And, while I'm at it, don't even think of calling it politically correct. That just diminishes the importance of proper terminology.  If you respect someone, you refer to them properly.  Professionals in the disability field or in diversity have an obligation to know and use the proper terminology in order to inform others.

Similarly, reporters and other related media professionals are there to inform the public. They too have an obligation to use appropriate terms. After all, they certainly know better than to refer to other minorities by terms that they find offensive.

So how are these terms so offensive?

Having a disability is a statement of fact. It is something that exists but it doesn't define a person. Being disabled is an attitude or a condition that is the result of something else. For example, I have a disability but if I want to go to a restaurant with stairs I become disabled for that event. The term "handicapped" is particularly offensive. In the sports world, handicapped is a way of leveling the playing field. Believe it or not, having a disability does not do that. There is also the belief that that term comes from a time when persons with disabilities would beg cap in hand. Could anything be more offensive?

Some people are afraid to refer to people as having disabilities, so they use euphemisms like "challenged" or "differently abled".  Really?  We are adults.  We have abilities and we have disabilities.  No need to skirt the issue.  It’s where you focus that is important.

Person-first language avoids all that nonsense.  The emphasis is on the person, where it should be.  Why is this so hard to understand?

Annette Bourbonniere

www.accessing-ability.com

401-846-1960

Fax:  401-846-1944

Twitter:  @AccessInclude

Hiring Persons with Disabilities in Healthcare

How can we eliminate the medical model definition of disability? 

Disability itself is not a medical problem.  Its cause may be and some complications are medical issues, but the disability itself is not.  It just is.  Yet, with this model of disability, the person with a disability is viewed as broken and in need of repair.  That results in a low expectation of what the person with a disability can do. How does that expectation affect the person trying to apply for a job, especially in the healthcare system?

Every time I speak with hospitals about hiring persons with disabilities, someone asks the question, “This is a hospital.  What can we hire persons with disabilities to do here?” 

Since I know physicians, lawyers, professors, chemists, writers, database administrators, and people in all sorts of professions who have disabilities, this question makes me shake my head.  The reality is that this is the wrong question for a hospital or any other employer to ask.  After all, when you focus on the disability, you are less inclined to hire someone. 

Disability is a social construct.  The medical definition just doesn’t fit when talking about employment.  Look at the job skills that you need to hire and then hire a person who has these skills. 

Focusing on what the abilities are will help you raise your expectations.  Accommodating the disability then becomes a simple matter of providing the employee with the necessary tools to do his or her job.

So, raise your expectations, hire the ability and accommodate the disability.

Annette Bourbonniere

www.accessing-ability.com

401-846-1960

Fax:  401-846-1944

Twitter:  @AccessInclude

Should 4-Year-Old Have Service Dog in School?

There have recently been a number of lawsuits regarding service dogs, particularly in the schools.  Most recently, the parents of a four-year-old with fetal alcohol syndrome have sued their North Carolina school district because it won’t allow their child to have his service dog in school.  http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/mar/14/parents-disabled-boy-sue-want-schooldistrictallo/?fb_xd_fragment#?=&cb=f28bab22d7f2d06&relation=parent&transport=fragment&frame=f2d60a3887b626c.

Service dogs have been specially trained to actively provide assistance to persons with disabilities and, according to the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, are allowed to go wherever the person with the disability goes.  That includes schools.

In most of the recent cases, the issue has been defining the difference between service dogs – which are allowed by law to accompany their owners – and therapy dogs, which are not covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act.  The major difference between the two is that service dogs are trained to actively provide a service, whether that is guidance, assistance, signal, intervention or other service, and therapy dogs passively provide comfort. 

In the North Carolina case, the question is primarily whether the 4-your-old can manage his dog.  I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know that separating the dog from the boy for long periods of time will have an adverse affect on the dog’s training, making him less effective as a service dog when the two are together.

My opinion – and that’s all it is – is that the parents of this boy have sought the best possible way to equip their son with the tools necessary to manage his disability and grow.  It sounds to me like that effort needs to be considered.

Annette Bourbonniere

www.accessing-ability.com

401-846-1960

Fax:  401-846-1944

Twitter:  @AccessInclude

Is Charlie Sheen Facing Discrimination?

Like many of you, I feel we've heard more than enough from and about Charlie Sheen. But, if you will, please indulge me with one more perspective.

I am neither a lawyer nor a psychiatrist, and I guarantee you I would never be mistaken for one of his goddesses. The perspective I'm going to put forth is not fact, but rather a series of possibilities that are worth considering. My interest isn't just in this one person, but in how we look at similar situations in others.

So, for the purpose of this exercise, let's start by supposing this is not Charlie Sheen, but rather a stage hand on the set. There would be a lot less publicity but we would be able to see the issues more clearly.

When Charlie was charged with assault, which I believe is a felony, his employer continued his employment. There was concern about what would happen to the show if he were sent to jail, but there was no talk of firing him. The criminal charge did not bother his employer as much as his potential absence from work.

When Charlie was actively doing drugs, he was not fired. No employer needs to tolerate active illegal drug use, but his did.

Later, when Charlie was ranting on television, apparently quite delusional, he was fired.

Again, I am not a psychiatrist -- I don't even play one on television -- but this man certainly appears to be ill. It's even possible that his mental illness has led him to self medicate with illegal drugs. This is not uncommon.

So, what do you think? Fire him or treat him with compassion? Is this a case of discrimination covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act? Should his employer, who did not fire him for other bad boy behavior, fire him now? If you took away the fame and viewed him as an employee of any large corporation, is he being discriminated against for mental health issues?

Annette Bourbonniere

www.accessing-ability.com

401-846-1960

Fax:  401-846-1944

Twitter:  @AccessInclude

Is Medicaid Collapsing?

Over the past 10 years, Medicaid enrollment across the 50 states has grown by approximately 50% according to a study by the Kaiser Commission. (http://www.kff.org/medicaid/upload/8050.pdf)    Of course the economy has contributed to this, as has the rise in health insurance costs, leading many employers to drop health insurance as a benefit.  However, disability policy has played a significant role in this as well.

Current disability policy dictates that persons with disabilities declare themselves unable to work and impoverish themselves in order to qualify for Medicaid, which will cover critical services that are not covered under private insurance policies.  The problem with this is that people who may be able to work are removed from the employment – and tax –rolls and become dependent on public support. 

In an economy that is as stressed as our current one is, this makes no sense.  To make matters worse, many states are now cutting the services provided, leaving many persons with disabilities with no recourse – No money and no support. 

There are programs that attempt to patch this system, but it’s like playing Whack-A-Mole.  A bandaid on one problem creates another problem in the system.  It’s time to face the reality that the current system is unsustainable. 

Building a new system from the ground up will require courage, but maintaining the status quo has no future. 

Annette Bourbonniere

www.accessing-ability.com

401-846-1960

Fax:  401-846-1944

Twitter:  @AccessInclude

Diversity Inc. Publishes Top 10 Companies

Diversity Inc. has published its top 10 Ten Companies for Recruitment and Retention http://www.diversityinc.com/article/8326/The-DiversityInc-Top-10-Companies-for-Recruitment--Retention

These companies all include disabilities in their diversity plan.  But, how do they recruit persons with disabilities when identification of persons with disabilities is not clear. 

It’s easy to identify persons who use wheelchairs or who are blind and some others, but what about people with perceptual problems or behavioral health disabilities or cancer or HIV/AIDS?  Many persons with disabilities do not disclose their disabilities because of their realistic concern that they will face discrimination. 

Another question is for what kind of jobs are persons with disabilities recruited?  Are they specifically recruited for call centers and other low-end jobs or work-at-home situations or are they recruited for all jobs?  What are the opportunities for advancement for persons with disabilities?

I’m not saying that these 10 companies fail in these areas because I honestly don’t know.  These areas are issues that many companies fail to address and these questions are questions that all companies should ask of themselves.

Annette Bourbonniere

www.accessing-ability.com

401-846-1960

Fax:  401-846-1944

Twitter:  @AccessInclude

Why Are Healthcare Providers Responsible for Disability Issues?

Why do we insist on making doctors or anyone in the healthcare system responsible for disability issues?

The reality is that disability is not a medical issue. The cause of it may have been and complications may also be medical issues, but the disability itself simply exists. Except for the very temporary kind of disability, there is not much that health-care providers can do to change the existence of a disability itself. Nevertheless, we require medical documentation to collect disability benefits, to get parking passes and bus passes, to prove the need for subsidized housing or to qualify for government health benefits and some employers require medical documentation when employees request job accommodations.

Health-care providers, for the most part, have a very poor understanding of what a disability is and what the disability system is. There is nothing in their training that prepares them for this. They often believe that the compassionate response to requests for documentation is to encourage persons with disabilities to apply for Social Security and stay home. They have no idea that this type of response could doom their patients with disabilities to a life of poverty and boredom.

How can this system be right?

Annette Bourbonniere

www.accessing-ability.com

401-846-1960

Fax:  401-846-1944

Twitter:  @AccessInclude

Has the ADA Improved the Lives of Americans with Disabilities?

The Kessler foundation and the National Organization on Disability released its survey looking at quality of life measures for persons with disabilities. http://www.2010disabilitysurveys.org/pdfs/surveyresults.pdf

The survey shows where the ADA has generated progress and where there are still significant gaps between Americans with and without disabilities.  Employment of persons with disabilities still lags far behind employment of persons without disabilities.  Consequently, household income and those areas where income significantly affects participation also lag behind.  According to the report the gaps between Americans with and without disabilities show that persons with disabilities were much more negatively affected by the economic recession.  No surprise there!

Disability policy in this country mandates that persons with disabilities impoverish themselves in order to qualify for critical services that are not covered under traditional insurance.  In order to regain financial independence, we have a longer way to go than those without disabilities.  While there are well-intended patches to this system, there is little likelihood these patches will result in great changes.  A total overhaul of disability policy is in order.

The survey did show a couple of areas of progress;  There has been improvement in the numbers of Americans with disabilities who have attained educational levels that should result in improved employment outcomes and there has also been an improvement in political participation by persons with disabilities.  Both of those areas of improvement bode well for the future.

Read the full study to see where the ADA has been effective and where we still have lots of work to do.

Annette Bourbonniere

www.accessing-ability.com

401-846-1960

Fax:  401-846-1944

Twitter:  @AccessInclude

Spread the Word

Today, March 2, 2011, is the day to Spread the Word to End the Word.

Because the use of the word “retard” or “retarded” has devolved into a derogatory term, what was once a useful word in clinical settings is now a very hurtful term. Join the campaign to end the use of the R-word and replace it with respect by taking the pledge at http://r-word.org/.

Annette Bourbonniere

www.accessing-ability.com

401-846-1960

Fax:  401-846-1944

Twitter:  @AccessInclude