[Ray] Good afternoon, everybody. This is Ray Cebula from the Employment and Disability Institute at Cornell University. I want to welcome you to today's webinar. Okay. Apparently, we are working. Okay, good. There was just a little bit of a technical difficulty, and I want to apologize for starting late. Apparently, our technical team in the background has fixed it, because I am seeing a bunch of people jumping in the background here. Once again, this is Ray from Cornell University, and I want to welcome you to today's webinar event. We have a great event for you today with some wonderful speakers who will talk to you about the process of returning to work, when you are receiving benefits, and what services you might be able to use to assist you in making that transition. What I want to talk to you today about is the technology that we have here. Jeff, if I could get you to move the slide ahead. All right. Today you have been connected through your microphone and speakers on your computer system. If you have any problem with that, as we were having, you will want to connect through your telephone. Remember that if you do dial in on your telephone, it will be a toll call. What you will need to do is click on the plus sign in the console up in the right-hand corner of your screen. It will open up a box and show you today’s dial-in in number, access code, and audio pin. Okay. Next slide, Jeff. Now, we want your questions. Some of you have figured out how to use the question and answer box already, so we have questions coming in now. If you do have a question during today's session, what we want you to do is click on the + “plus-sign” that is in front of the word “Questions” in your console. It is going to open up the box that you see now on your screen. Type in your question, hit send, and Jamie will be monitoring that question box. We generally take questions near the end. If something is of importance at the moment, Jamie will interrupt one of our speakers. We will also try to collect your questions afterwards, because they do not expect to have time to answer everybody's questions, and we will get all of the questions and answers off to everyone who participated today. Next slide, Jeff. All right. Accessibility is always an important subject to us. We want this webinar to be accessible to everybody. If anybody out there has any issues with accessibility of today's presentation, please let us know. You can feel free to type in a comment in the question box or afterwards sends us an email and let us know what difficulty you had. More importantly, if you are aware of some kind of system or steps we can take to make sure it doesn't happen again, please let us know. Now, before I turn this over to Jamie and our speakers, we've got a couple questions for you. Just to let us collect some information so we know who and how many of you are out there right now. I am going to launch this first question. It is simply asking you to indicate your age range. If you could make a selection and hit send. We have boats coming in. [Waiting for all responses…] All right. We are getting very, very close to everybody. And we are going to close that one down. We will get you another question. We want to know what your gender is. [Waiting for all responses…] Okay. [Waiting…] Perfect. Now, the last question we have right now is, how many people do you have with you in the same room for those of you who may be looking at the screen as a group. Please make a selection and let us know. That would be very helpful. This way we get a good idea of how many actual people are participating in today's session. [Waiting for all responses…] And you guys are real quick. This is good. It gives you more time to get the information you came for. All right. Thank you for that. That being said, I am going to ask Jeff to advance the slide and turn it over to Scott. [Scott] Thank you, Ray. Good morning and good afternoon, everyone. It's a pleasure and honor to join you this afternoon or this morning depending on where you are at and where you are calling in from. My name is Scott Hoover. I am the Community Work Incentives Coordinator, one of the Community Work Incentives Coordinators for Disability Rights in Idaho. I am going to be presenting the majority of the slides to give you an idea of how going to work will impact your benefits if at all. The title of the presentation is “Making Work Incentives Work for You.” That is the idea behind this whole thing today is to make sure that you understand that going to work is an opportunity that you can take advantage of at some point if you choose. So joining me today we have several other presenters. The vocational rehab presentation portion would be from Jane Donnellan who is our Region Seven Manager here in Idaho with the Idaho Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. Say hello, Jane. [Jane] Hello. [Scott] Would you mind just taking a minute to say something about yourself and how you joined the business that you are in? [Jane] Absolutely. As Scott indicated, my name is Jane. I've been with the Idaho Division of Vocational Rehabilitation for nearly 17 years. I started as a counselor working with the special ed population group and worked with individuals with chronic and persistent mental illness for about 8.5 years and worked as a general caseload counselor and have been serving in my current position as regional manager for the past 5 years. I serve in the southwest area of Idaho, if anybody out there is familiar with that area of the state. I came to vocational rehab based on my own personal experience. I am a paraplegic and was able to benefit from vocational rehabilitation services in Colorado. [Scott] Thank you. [Jane] Thank you for having me. [Scott] Thank you, Jane. You are a very important part of today's presentation. Thank you for agreeing to sit in the office here with me. We are in Boise, Idaho for those of you listening. Jane is the only one sharing the office with me today, but we do have on board Glen roach. Glenn is the Chief Operations Officer for a company called WITCO Inc, which is an employment network. Glenn, can you say hello and say a few words about yourself, please. [Glenn Roach] Yes. Thank you very much, Scott. I am Glenn Roach. I work for a not for profit organization. We have seen the value of “Ticket to Work” and became an employment network. We have been an employment network for approximately 4 years. I started working in the field that I am in with people who have disabilities since 1987, two days after I graduated from college. I am excited to be here, and I think “Ticket to Work” is a great program, and I appreciate you for having me. [Scott] Great. Thanks, Glenn. Glad you are with us as well. Our next presenter toward the end of the presentation today will be Therese Varela who is an Advocate Supervisor with the PABSS program. Those of you listening may want to write that down. It stands for Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security. I didn't get an agenda as far as who is listening, but I imagine that the bulk of your actual participants in the program and are receiving benefits, so you would want to know that the PABSS program is a benefit to you. Therese, can you go ahead and introduce yourself and say a few words about yourself and how you got involved in how long you been with disability rights, that sort of thing? [Therese] Thanks, Scott. My name is Therese Varela. As Scott said, I'm the Advocate Supervisor and the Coordinator for Disability Rights Idaho. I have actually been with Disability Rights Idaho for about 26 years now and I've come to this field from personal experience. I have family members who have disabilities as well as children who have disabilities and I myself have a disability. I've been providing advocacy services to the state of Idaho for 27 years. I've sort of found this as my calling and probably will do this until I retire. I do coordinate the PABSS program and provide direct answers to make advocacy for individuals who are eligible as beneficiaries of Social Security. [Scott] Super. Thank you, Therese. Thank you so much for your part in Idaho here. For those of you listening, the other resources will be listed toward the end of the presentation. There will also be a chance at the end to go ahead and ask questions – I guess you are doing it throughout the presentation and will get to your questions at the end of the presentation. A little bit about myself. I got involved -- I am a newbie. This list of folks participating today is quite impressive. Everybody has years and years of experience. I as the Community Work Incentives Coordinator just started my calling with Disability Rights Idaho as a Community Work Incentives Coordinator just last year. So I am fresh to the program, but I am not fresh to your issues as beneficiaries. I come from a background where I have been helping the particular individual, a friend of mine, for the last 12 years, worked through getting on benefits and then trying to go to work and not knowing if it was going to work and then falling out of grace with different programs that he qualified for, one of which was Section 8 housing. He found himself arrested and had to get through that process. Now he is back in housing and just last week, as a matter of fact, I moved him into his apartment. So I come from a consumer side as well as a lot of folks listening today. I was an advocate before I was ever paid to be an advocate, so my background experience comes from your side of the house in trying to help see your way through the complex maze of Social Security. If we could begin, we will go ahead and get started with the actual program. Could you advance the slide? Great. Thank you. So about WISE. I like the title. WISE stands for Work Incentives Seminar Event. In my opinion, it's a great way of using an acronym, because I hope that you folks after listening to this presentation today will end up a little wiser based on the information you receive. WISE is a program of the Social Security Administration. It is sanctioned by them. As such, the folks that you guys have participating in the program today are all partners with Social Security. We partnership with them in order to allow them to do a better job for you, the beneficiary. If you are a third-party participant, in other words, you are not a beneficiary but you're actually listening in as a third-party service provider, let me just say that this information will also prove very valuable for you as well. As service providers for folks who need this information, listen carefully. We will try to get as much information in the short amount of time as we have this time today. The purpose of the WISE event is to provide SSI and SSDI beneficiaries and their families the opportunity to learn how to take advantage of work incentives including the “Ticket to Work”. If any of those terminologies are unfamiliar to you, please hold the line and we will get to define what the “Ticket to Work” and all that is as we go. Okay. Next slide. Okay. So what can you expect from this seminar? Well, that's an excellent question. The primary thing I hope to cover today is to answer a couple questions. One of which is, can you work and keep your benefits? The unequivocal answer to that is typically yes. We will get into the detail of that when we get through the program. The main thing that the government and the Social Security administration has done is they have put in place various work incentives so that folks who are disabled or who find themselves disabled have either they have left the workforce or are planning on returning to the workforce and don't know how to go about that process. Hopefully, you will get some good tips on how to work that out and make that happen for you. The third thing I want you to know is that there are work incentive partners. Obviously, the speakers representing that, the vocational rehab portion, the employment network side of the house, and then also the protection and advocacy program. Every state in the union should have in place a protection advocacy agency. If you are a beneficiary listening today, I encourage you to start your homework assignment from this seminar. I encourage you to do a couple things. First of all, when we finish this seminar, I hope you will be able to get off-line and get on whatever resources we present today and find yourself your protection advocacy office in your state. The second thing I would like you to do as homework is to locate your WIPA office. WIPA stands for Work Incentives Planning and Assistance. Those offices are available to you in each state as well. It is a program put together by the Social Security Administration to allow you to tap into those resources to not only protect your benefits but also protect you as an employee of a particular agency or company, where ever you choose to work. There are some disability protections in place for you from the federal government. Okay. Next slide. What are your reasons to go to work? Well, everybody has their own reasons. I am sure everybody listening would like to speak up maybe at this point and say, I go to work because I need more money or I go to work because I just like to get out of the house, or I need to go to work and I want to learn some new skills. All of these are very good reasons to go to work. Working is -- well, it's part of the American Way, right? As a person with a disability, sometimes you feel like you may not have much to contribute or you may feel like your employer or potential employer may overlook you for a particular job based on your disability. You know, times are changing. Folks are picking up -- I mean, it's difficult to get work right now anyway right no with the economy and such -- but if you have the motivation and drive and oftentimes folks out there have the experience to do a job, then this presentation is for you because you are going to learn that those are maybe some reasons that you hadn't thought of for why you want to return to work. I encourage everybody here listening to do that if you have that access and are thinking along that line. Okay. And to meet new people. That's always fun. I am a talker and I enjoyed meeting new people all the time, so that's why I'm here because I get to meet new people at a job I do. Next slide, please. So some of the questions you may have. We have picked a few for this slide presentation. Will I lose my benefits? Of course, considering benefits, most folks have two different types of benefits coming in when they are a beneficiary. One is obviously the cash payment that they receive every month. The secondary benefit is always health care and covering those expenses that can get way out of control very quickly. How do I get the skills and experience I need? That's another question that you are going to have. What if I have to stop working? Those are all really, really valuable and important questions to address today, because I can assure you that once you get those questions answered, just even in its generic form today, you can contact your local agencies and then get those specifics as to how they might apply to you individually at that point. Okay? Next slide. Thank you. Okay. Disability benefit programs. This is where the rubber meets the road for a lot of folks coming in the door to a project like ours, the WIPA project. People come in and they say, well -- the first question to them will be, what kind of disability benefit are you on? I'm on SSI or I’m on SSDI or I am on all. And it is difficult because they are two very distinct programs. SSDI is Social Security Disability Insurance. The other program is Supplemental Security Income or SSI. I am just going to take a minute here to briefly describe the difference between the two, because it is so very important. The Social Security Disability Insurance is a benefit that if you have gone to work and if you have paid into -- remember everybody pays that little FICA – when you get your paycheck and you made $500 but get $380 or whatever it is. Well, that portion that is withheld pays for that Social Security Insurance. Typically, that money is held until you retire. When you retire, at the full retirement age, whatever that age is for you, you are able to collect on that money. If you find yourself disabled before retirement age, then you can tap into that SSDI insurance. That is why if you are out there listening today and you say, well, that's me when I get $1100 a month on disability insurance. Great. But my neighbor only gets $780. Why the discrepancy? Well, your neighbor probably didn't work and pay into the system as much as you have. Therefore, everybody's disability insurance amount differs based on how much they paid into the system. Now, along with disability insurance comes Title 2. Because it is federally funded, it comes with your Medicare coverage. Typically, there is a 24 month waiting period. Once you qualify for disability insurance in order for that coverage to kick in. Once it does, then you got medical coverage. So, Social Security Disability Insurance is something you paid into by working and it comes with Medicare coverage after the first 24 months, typically. The other side of the coin is supplemental security income, SSI. SSI is Title 16 comes with a separate program altogether. It is still administered by the Social Security Administration, but it is a separate program. Typically, SSI recognizes folks who probably haven't paid into the work environment and haven't paid any disability insurance. Therefore, they qualify for Supplemental Security Income. The federal benefit rate right now is typically $674 per month if you are an individual or $1011 if you are a married couple and you are both receiving SSI. So that program is based -- we call it needs-based program. It means that you are of the lower income, you haven't paid into the system, yet you need a benefit. Each state then monitors the amount and coverage. The reason I say that is the state then, whatever state you are calling in from today, will cover the Medicaid portion. Here in Idaho, if you receive one dollar of SSI benefit income, then you are fully covered with Medicaid or State Medicaid program picks up your medical costs. So that's a very good, important distinction to make. Now, some folks, and you may be out there listening, you may be what they call concurrent beneficiaries. Concurrent beneficiaries mean you both receive SSI and SSDI. Perhaps he worked a little while and were able to put in to the Social Security Administration a little bit and you find yourself unable to work. The amount you collect isn't quite enough to make that federal benefit rate of $674. Typically, the government recognizes that and picks up the difference. You may get a small check like a $300 check from SSDI and a different sized check from SSI. The total should come up to about $674. My second homework assignment to you today is to find out what benefit you are on. If you are out there and you are a beneficiary and you don't know if you are a SSDI recipient or SSI recipient or both SS I and SSDI recipient, contact your Social Security Administration and verify your benefits. If that is a complication for you and you need help with that, we are happy to do that. That is part of our job as Community Work Incentives Coordinators. We help you look into that and find that out. If you do need help, we are here to help you with that. Your first assignment is to make sure that you know what benefit you are on so that we can properly advise you when you go to work. Next slide. Okay. How can Social Security help? Well, this is where the good news starts. The good news is the federal government recognizes the value every person has in each of their communities and whether you are disabled or not doesn't really matter. You have a value. If you want to go to work and contribute to your community or your workplace, then they have put in place various work incentives so that we can ease you into or transition you from being unemployed or not working and not knowing what you want to do to be a productive member of the workforce. The second program, and I will be going over a lot of those work incentives today. The second program is the “Ticket to Work”. Some of you out there have received this ticket. It is a little piece of paper that comes in the mail to beneficiaries receiving benefits, and it is introduced as a “Ticket to Work”. I believe it is the next slide. Not yet. I will be explaining the “Ticket to Work” here in the next couple slides, but it's a program put together by the Social Security Administration to encourage you to tap into what resources you have available to you. I'll be going over those shortly. Next slide. And please type any questions you may have on your webinar browser. If you have any troubles with that, let us know. Okay. Next slide. Okay. Will I lose my benefits? SSDI work incentives. Now, these are rather complicated in entirety, so we won't be going over them in detail today. Just keep in mind the first one you are entitled to as an SSDI beneficiary is a nine-month trial work period. What that does is allows you nine trial work months where you can work and still receive your benefits. The beautiful thing about that is it is any amount. You can earn any amount and still receive your full SSDI benefits. Now, anything over $720, however, is a benefit amount that they are going to look and make that a trial work period not count. So, the thing is to keep in mind that the $720, even though that is kind of a number out there that they look for, any nine months, once you start to work and any amount is a benefit for the trial work period. Immediately after that is what they call the extended period of eligibility, and that's an automatic reinstatement for the first three years you are trying to work. So should you get a job and earn more? Is that you are no longer entitled to cash benefits. All of a sudden you lose that job and you can go back to the program with automatic reinstatement for the first three years. The other beautiful thing is there is an additional five years of reinstatement if your work stops and there is no medical improvement. So keep in mind that the federal government wants to recognize that if you have any reason for working and you are still not medically improved, you can reinstate for the following five years. Very, very important. Okay, next. On the other side of the house is the SSI. Remember, I said they were two different programs. SSI is a separate entitlement program. When you are working on the SSI side of the house, remember, this is a needs-based program. So, once you start working and reporting your earnings, then you do need to consider the fact that you might lose some of your cash benefits. I say cash because your medical benefits usually stay in place. They give you an example here on the screen that says that if you were to go to work and you are an SSI recipient, let's say you're benefit rate is $674 and you have $885 in actual wages, well, great. That's yours to keep. The problem runs into that when you counterbalance that against your benefit, you end up with $400 counting against your SSI, so you end up still getting a small check but it wouldn’t be the full $674, typically. I see a problem, but it really isn't a problem because if you do the math on this particular equation, you end up ahead. Instead of living on $674, you end up with a $1000 or $1200 to live on. That's the benefit of going to work even though you're counterbalancing your SSI benefits, your wages will still be a better benefit for you because you will end up with more money in your pocket. The other thing to keep in mind is certain impairment related work expenses can also be deducted from your gross wages. They have to be impairment related. We can go into that if you contact your local office; they will explain that to you. So your question on the SSI’s side of the house is, “What happens if my earnings are so high that my SSI stops?” Well, typically benefits can start again if you stop working or your earnings decrease, so that is one direct benefit. The second thing is if your earnings are so high that your SSI payments stop altogether, which can happen -- you know, if you keep in mind that the minimum wage is now $7.25, and if you work a full-time job, that can put you in the $1200 a month range in earnings. The potential is there that your SSI payments might stop altogether, but keep in mind your Medicaid will continue until you earn above a certain threshold. That is a very, very important concept to grasp at this point in the presentation, because a lot of folks say, well, “I need my Medicaid or I need my Medicare. I'm not going to go out and try to find a job.” Please do. Even if you find a job and you get working and you have an income, keep in mind, your Medicaid continues on the SSI program until you earn above the threshold. That threshold I believe in Idaho for us folks is $38,495. So that is a pretty good threshold to be able to make and earn and still keep your Medicaid portion in place. The other thing to keep in mind is folks with high medical costs are allowed to earn even more. I would encourage you to contact your local WIPA office if you find you're in that category and have a lot of medical costs and you still want to work. So keep that in mind. Okay. Next slide, please. Okay. So how do I get the skills and experience I need? This is where we start to bring in some other agencies and start talking about who the Social Security Administration has put together to help with this process. It's a beautiful thing that they have done this. Next slide and I will go into the details. So the employment team consists of several different agencies and support services. Social Security wants you to know that we have a group of people ready and able to help you find your work employment and your niche in life, so-to-speak. The first one is on the list as an employment network. These aren't in any necessary order, but the first one is employment networks. Employment networks are agencies that are private agencies, typically nonprofit agencies that allow you to find that ticket I was talking about earlier. You can assign your ticket to the employment network and they provide very good work opportunities. They help you find work, they help you do resume writing, and they will go into more details when Glen gives his presentation. A work incentive planning and assistance is part of what I am part of. It’s WIPA.I am a Work Incentives Coordinator. I will help you once you find work to evaluate what going to work is going to impact your benefits, whether it is housing benefits, Medicaid, Medicare, your income levels and all that sort of things. We take a full comprehensive look at your package of benefits and kind of help you place where you want to go to work and if working is a benefit to you. The third one is Beneficiary Access and Support Services. BASS is a new agency to the Social Security Administration. They are taking over the information and referral services for Social Security. They are a national agency that will help you and get you line out with what agencies in your particular state will be applicable to you and how you can access that. The fourth one down is State Protection Advocacy. That is every state in a union, as I mentioned, has an agency to protect an advocate for folks with disabilities. You are encouraged to find out who those people are in your particular state. The last one is Social Security employees. Those folks that sit in those offices would love to have you drop by and visit. I know it seems tedious to go and take the number and sit there and wait for your turn, but every experience I have had so far at least here in Idaho has been a wonderful experience. They are usually very helpful and try to accommodate whatever concerns or questions you have. Those are your direct line access. The rest of us kind of just support them. They are available at any time, of course. Next slide. Well, not anytime. You know what I mean. They do have their hours. Okay. “Ticket to Work.” We are going to start talking about what that means and what it is. Some of you have already received one. Some of you have me even applied one to an agency or employment network. Next slide. Okay. What is “Ticket to Work”? It is, basically, a ticket you can use to get free employment services. The screen there shows you a sample of what that looks like, and it is, basically, a tool for you to use to apply to an employment network or vocational rehab agency or a school or any public organization that accepts -- anybody basically under contract with the Social Security Administration. You can apply that ticket, and it protects you. I will go into that in the next couple slides. Go ahead. Okay. Who will take my ticket? This is where I was just talking. The employment network is an excellent resource for you. There are many of them throughout the nation. Idaho doesn't have very many of them. Unfortunately, if you know of our geographical situation, we have northern Idaho and central Idaho which has nobody in it, and then we have Southern Idaho. We kind of have an unusual situation with our employment networks. We probably have, I don't know, more than half a dozen, but that’s about it in the state of Idaho. We only have a million and a half people. Some of the states like New Jersey or Florida, you may have hundreds of employment networks available to you. I encourage you to tap into that resource and find out which one works best for you. Private companies, public organizations, your state rehab agency can be a place you can look at your ticket and employment agencies and anyone else under contract with the Social Security Administration. Okay. Next slide. So why use your ticket? Well, that's a very good question. There are several very good reasons why you should use your ticket if you have one. The first one is on the right-hand side. It is free. Please feel free to use it. There is a couple good caveats to using your ticket. The first one is right up top. Typically, the Social Security Administration does periodic medical reviews when you are receiving benefits. If you are of that caliber or you are afraid that the medical review might cancel your benefit, if you apply your ticket, you won't have a medical review. That is a really good resource for you to be able to protect your benefits if you are afraid of a medical review. The second one is, obviously, the program is totally voluntary. You do not have to; you are not required to in any way apply your ticket anywhere. That's a total voluntary program for you. The third one is you are in charge. Self advocacy is so important these days. No one knows better than you what your situation is and whether or not you can work, how much you can work, based on your disability and so forth, so it puts you in charge. Next one is that you can select the employment network. You are not required to apply at any particular employment network, but you can only apply at one network at a time, so keep that in mind. Once you select the employment network, it is yours to use. They will work with you and get things going for you. That is the next line, actually; it says an employment network works for you. They will work on making your employment experience a good one. And the bottom one says you can change your employment network if necessary, so if you run into issues or the employment network is not working for you, feel free to change it because that's available to you. So lots of benefits to using your ticket. Okay. Next slide. Okay. Selecting and negotiating with the employment network; this is a rather subjective part of this presentation, because only you know your capabilities and what you bring to the work force. It will be up to you to explain that to the employment network and allow them to facilitate finding new employment. That is a really tough one to call because you'll have to have a relationship, an ongoing one, with the employment network you choose. That's why it's important for you to move it around. If you find that your personality matches or your vocational goals are different than what they say, you are welcome to move the ticket around. That is pretty important. Okay. Next slide. Examples of services from an employment network. Skills testing. If you're unsure of what skills you might have better still valuable in the workforce, they will help you with that. Interest testing. A lot of people say, I don't know what I want to do. They will help you with that. Resume preparation, very important. These days, resumes can get you in the door at a particular position that you want to get. Helping you prepare an applicable resume is important. They will help you with interview skills training; they will help you with job search and placement services; they will line in you out and placement services and see if we can get you a feel for where you want to work. They will also provide work incentives counseling. Hopefully, they will give us a call, WIPA Office, because we can go into much more detailed typically than in the employment network does on that side of the house. They will also provide job coaching and other ongoing services as needed and as recognize. That's really important because a lot of folks need that special someone to say, okay, you have the skill and you need to better it by doing this. It's a great tool for you to be able to apply those to the employment network. Next slide. So when you contact the employment network, it's very important that you are in charge and you feel some very important questions. You want to discuss your work goals and your disability, particularly as it relates to reaching your work goal. That's an important thing. If you are disabled and you want to be a pilot, let's say, and you know your skills won't match, they will help you figure that out and recognize your disability. Hopefully, it will be of benefit to you rather than a hindrance. It's very important that you discuss that with them right upfront. You want to ask about their success rate, what type of help they have given others and what type of jobs that they allow them to get. Are they just getting general McDonald's jobs? Are they allowing some folks to pursue engineering type things? And what will they do for you and what is expected of you? That's also very important, because it's a two-way street. You are not just going in the door, and they are handing everything to you, and you are not going in the door demanding they give everything to you. You want open communication and allow them to tell you what they can do and they will also expect some things from you as the process proceeds. Okay. Next slide. Okay. As we mentioned, selecting an employment network to work for you. A couple things to keep in mind. Did you feel welcome and comfortable? How do they assign a counselor? Did you develop the plan together? Can both you and your in follow-through on the plan? Those are all really important concepts to keep in mind when you think about applying that ticket at a place that will work for you. Okay. And now that ends my portion of the presentation at this point and I will turn it over to Jane who is our rehab specialist, and she is going to take over from here and go through the next section. Thank you very much for your time, everybody. [Jane] Thank you, Scott. It's going to be a hard act to follow here. He certainly provided some very significant information as it pertains to Social Security recipients who are interested in returning to work. I am going to speak in regard to state vocational rehabilitation services and how a participant who has a ticket may work with us as an employment network. Just a brief overview of Vocational Rehabilitation. We are a state agency.We are in every state. Our funding is both state and federal funds, and we are under the Rehab Services Administration. We are based on an eligibility criteria, and that includes disability barriers to employment, ability to work, and ability to benefit. I will refer to those who are not in a state of Idaho to their local VR offices for further specific information as it relates to process, but being a program, a federally funded program, we do have uniform standards. For those coming into vocational rehabilitation who are Social Security recipients, either SSDI or SSI recipients, under our program, we presume you eligible for our program. We do substantiate and get information that you are a Social Security recipient and what are those benefits. Sorry. Next slide. Sorry. Sorry about that. Backing up a little bit. The role of ticket for vocational rehabilitation. We presume individuals who are SSDI or SSI recipients to be what we consider presumptively eligible for Social Security or for vocational rehabilitation. We do verify that they are receiving benefits. At that point, we make them eligible for our program. Once an individual is eligible for vocational rehabilitation, we still need to substantiate their eligibility based on that medical information. Part of the reason behind that is in order for us to provide that guidance and counseling and to identify an appropriate vocational goal, we need to understand what their disability is and where their strengths are in order to return to work. Scott certainly touched on a number of areas in which we look at -- we can consider skills testing, interest testing, any type of work evaluation that might lead an individual to return to work. Once an individual determined eligible for vocational rehabilitation, the individual will work with their counselor and develop an employment plan, and that employment plan is going to identify services in order to return to work. That is very individualized. Again, working with a counselor is essential in this process to determine what is appropriate and applicable to you as an individual. While the ticket is in use, that is when the plan is signed with vocational rehabilitation. We consider that ticket in use. Next slide. Ticket incentives. While in plan with vocational rehabilitation, there is a couple of incentives that we note while being involved with vocational rehabilitation. One being continuing disability reviews are exempt while the consumer is making timely progress toward an employment goal. At that time, benefits would be protected as long as that participant is participating and involved in the process. We also will refer to the Community Work Incentive Coordinators so that individuals who need to review benefits or impact of work on benefits can have a clear understanding of how work might impact those benefits. So as Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors, we would make those referrals. Next slide. Great. When employment begins. A couple of areas I want to review in terms of when employment begins. Consumers and counselors discuss the opportunity to have an employment network provide employment support when the VR services end. So at which time, we look at closing the case because the person is successfully working. We would provide them with a list of employment networks that they could work with ongoing to help them support themselves in that position if applicable. Secondly, the consumer and counselor will decide on an employment network such as the community rehabilitation provider, a one-stop agency, or employers; and that will be discussed with your counselor. Lastly, a partnership plus referral is made to an employment network for a warm hand off from VR when employment is stable. Next slide. Vocational rehabilitation's end goal is employment; therefore, we don't keep cases open beyond a certain point. At which time the person is stable in their employment, and it has been agreed upon with the individual and their counselor, VR will close their case. At which time, the consumer can assign a ticket to an employment network for follow up employment services and support. Again, the vocational rehabilitation counselor will discuss the options in terms of employment network with the participant and the appropriateness of those referrals. Next slide. Lastly, vocational rehabilitation has a provision. Once the case is successfully closed, we have what we refer to as post-employment services. If an individual requires VR services after the case is closed in order to maintain their employment, the consumer may come back to the VR for services if necessary. This ticket will continue to be assigned to the employment network in which they had chosen. Again, I would refer you to your local vocational rehabilitation office for any further information. And that concludes my portion. Thank you. Great. [Scott] Can everybody hear me? Okay. The next section then will be going to Glenn who is our representative from the employment network part of the house. Glenn, take it away. [Glenn] Okay. Can everyone hear me? [Scott] Yes, we can. [Glenn] Okay, great. My name is Glen roach. I work for WITCO, a not for profit organization that was established in 1974. Our mission is to provide vocational and developmental health, residential services for adults and children with disabilities and for individuals who are disadvantaged. We really started getting involved with “Ticket to Work” about two or three years ago, and I would like to just take a few moments to talk with you about employment networks, and if I could just go to the next slide, that would be great. Great. If you are interested in the “Ticket to Work” program, BASS can actually provide you with a list of employment networks or you can find a list online in the employment network directory. There is a website address right underneath that: www.yourtickettowork.com. I would encourage you to call up a few employment networks in your area to determine which one is a good fit for you. It's very, very important that whoever you work with you are comfortable working with so that you can have the best employment experience. Next slide, please. Great. If you're committed to working up to your fullest potential and perhaps willing to eventually terminate from cash benefits, an employment network will meet with you in person. If you're not sure how much you can work, the “Ticket to Work” is designed so that you can take small steps, including starting at part-time employment, employment network agencies understand that it may take some time to adjust to working, and we certainly want to make sure that you have a full understanding of how earned income will impact your benefits. So we really believe in providing a sound benefits analysis. Next slide, please. The employment network should explain how the ticket program works in the services it provides. Once you contact an employment network, that agency should be able to sit down with you, take the time to tell you about the services that they can offer, and the employment network should discuss your work goals and intentions that you have about work. Are you wanting to start part-time and work your way up into full-time employment? Do you want to work full-time from the start? Ideally, the employment network should talk with you about any fears that you may have. Hopefully, through good benefits counseling, those fears can be alleviated. Next slide, please. When you work with an employment network, one of the things that you will be doing is sitting down with the individual, the counselor that you select to work with, and putting together a plan that defines your ticket to an employment network agency. It is very important that you understand that the ticket is not assigned until the plan is actually approved by Maximus. Once the plan is approved, your ticket is assigned and that protects you from having medical reviews. The employment network may have some other routine forms for you to sign allowing you to work with you on your case with Social Security and possibly other service providers on your behalf. One of the things that we like to do is really teach individuals the importance of reporting wages to Social Security Administration and working with individuals in regards to what they need to plan for once they start earning money. You can un-assign your ticket at any time if you change your mind, or you decide the employment network that you are working with is not providing you the services that you desire. Next slide, please. Great. Some of the services that employment networks can provide: helping with resume development, providing you with advice on how to complete an application, setting up opportunities for you to participate in mock interviews, teaching interview skills, working with you to determine what job accommodations will help you succeed in the place of employment, talking with you and employers about tax incentive information, and automatic referral to your local WIPA office. In addition, there are other things that can be done: wide range achievement tests can be done, career assessment just to ensure that each person understands what his or her ability is or his or her interests are before the development of a plan. Next slide, please. Job leads and information on employers who are hiring, job fairs and recruiting events, these are some of the services that employment networks can offer as well. Access to other resources, computers, Internet, email, phone, and facts, job development on your behalf, trained specialists who go out and talk with employers to help you get your foot in the door, referral to agency partners and continuity of your ticket assignment with a state-of-the-art office. As Jane was talking about earlier, when a person goes through the division of vocational rehabilitation and has a ticket to work, that ticket at that point in time is considered to be in use. Therefore, it can't be assigned to an employment network until the individual reaches employment after, I believe, 90 days. Then that ticket can be assigned in the employment network can continue to work with you and provide that benefits analysis and ongoing support in the employment setting. Next slide, please. At this time I would like to turn it over to Teresa. [Therese Varela] Thank you, Glen. As Glen said, I'm Therese Varela. I host the Protection and Advocacy System and I am the Coordinator of the Protection and Advocacy Preventive for Beneficiaries of Social Security. Could I get next slide, please? I think I need one more slide. Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security or the PABSS program provides a specific set of services that could help individuals who are interested I going to work for the first time or returning to work after they have been out with a disability. It's available in all U.S. territories and states. The specific goal is designed to help Social Security and SSI beneficiaries with disabilities go to work. Next slide, please. PABSS services are free to everyone who receives Social Security benefits or Medicare based on his or her own disabilities. Free to anyone who receives SSI or SSI based on his or her own disability. Next slide, please? The purpose of the PABSS services is to assist beneficiaries to identify different needs that they may have in order to return back to work successfully. Examples could be advocate for workplace accommodations, advocate for vocational services from employment networks or state vocational rehabilitation agencies, provide information, referral, and advocacy around the Social Security benefits that they may receive, or beneficiaries to remove barriers that they may see that's prohibiting them from either returning to work or maintaining work that they currently may have. Next slide, please. I think that concludes my portion of this, oh, I guess I do have one more slide. “Do need to use my “Ticket to Work” in order to access PABSS services?” PABBS services are designed to eliminate the work barriers. You are eligible, however, even if you choose not to your “Ticket to Work”, or your “Ticket to Work” is not assigned at this point. Our services are available to you if you're a beneficiary of Social Security and you believe you have barriers to either obtaining employment for the first time or retaining employment that you are currently in. We would encourage you to contact your local PABSS provider in your state for any specific questions that you may have concerning your returning to work or the barriers that you may have while you're there. I believe I need this turn this over back to Ray for other resources. [Ray] Yep. Here I am. If I could have the next slide, Jeff. We have some other resources for you to help you locate services in your area. These two websites are very, very helpful: www.chooseworktw.net, or www.yourtickettowork.com All of these websites we're giving you are ways into the system and ways into this team that Glen and his colleagues discussed to help you get information that you need to get back to work in the most painless way possible. If we could have the next slide, Jeff. The Work Incentive Information and Referral Center, the work center is a call-in center. Two “1-800” numbers: 866-968-7842 for voice, and for TDD: 866-833-2967. These are toll-free national numbers.This is a great place to start. If you have no idea where to begin or how to locate a service provider near you that can help you with this journey to work, this is the place to call. They can make sure that your initial questions get answered, and they will refer you to the services in your area. As you can see, Social Security and PABSS and WIPA and the employment networks are attempting to make a no wrong door policy. Every door will lead you to the services that you need. Before we turn it over to Jamie for some questions, I do want to ask you a couple of more polling questions. Just so we can get information. Now based on what you've learned today, do you plan to follow-up with a WIPA, a benefits planning organization? Please make a selection and hit send. [Waiting…] We're getting very, very close. All right. Thank you for that. And our last question, do you plan to follow-up with an employment network? [Waiting…] All right. Thank you very much. Now, once again, this Work Incentive Information and Referral Center is a great place for you to start to make contact with any of those agencies that you may want to contact to start the return to work effort. Jamie, why don’t you pose some of the questions to our presenters? [Jamie] Thank You very much, Ray. We are going to answer some of the questions that were asked in the question console today. We will not be able to answer all of them but you can contact the work center, whose phone numbers are listed on the screen now, or your local WIPA or employment network. To get in touch with those folks, you can either call the work center or visit www.yourtickettowork.com. The first question is, “I can no longer do the job I originally trained for, what kind of training is available to me?” Scott, I'll let you go ahead and start with that, but I have a feeling a couple other people may want to answer as well. [Scott] Sure. They'll probably want to chime in. That's a good question. You're not alone in that question to tell you the truth. Depending on the type of job you've done and depending on your disability as it stands now, you need to explore your options, I guess, at this point. The starting place would be if you haven't checked into your voc rehab office, I would start there because they do a pretty comprehensive analysis of your medical condition right from the start, from the get-go. Knowing what disability impacts your work environment would be a good thing to know before you re-address what type of job you want. I would recommend going in there with an idea of what you want to do. I call it your dream job idea, you can start there. If there's something you wanted to do or too afraid to do it and mainly because you're on benefits, throw that idea out the window. Get going and explore because there's tons of opportunities. I know this is a down economy but don't keep that as a hindrance to you. Let me turn it over top Jane real quick and see if she has other comments and also to Glen. [Jane] Thanks, Scott. When individuals come to vocational rehabilitation, a majority of the individuals we are working with can't return to their previous type of employment, so we do a lot of up front assessment. In fact, that's part of our process to do so: identifying a vocational goal that would be appropriate on the individual's disabilities as well as abilities. We look at transferable work skills from previous employment or other opportunities they had. We use assessment tools. As indicated earlier, our program, although, we have guidelines to it, becomes very individualized. When you start talking about services provided in vocational outcome, it really is a partnership. We emphasize that part of it. I always encourage individuals to come in who need to look at alternative types because of disabilities. What kinds of things interest them? Look around your community, and we can't negate the economy at this point. Certainly, if an individual comes in and starts talking about a vocational goal and there's no market in the area in which they live, and they don't want to leave, we'll speak to that as well. Again, that's part of the process of. This there may be some formal testing; there may be a meeting with the counselor ongoing. Again, that partnership is really important. You doing research and homework. We send people out to do assignments. Sometimes we ask them to go it their local Department of Labor Office to see what kinds of listings are actually out there. We gather that information and we get back together and talk about where we need to go vocationally. We're about employment and about positive employment outcome based on the individual and what they can do, and looking at their disability as well in the process. Again, partnership, I can't stress it enough. [Scott] Great, thank you. Glen, did you have anything to add? [Glen] I believe that both you and Jane answered that question very, very well. I would just stress that it's very, very important to understand what your disability is, how it impacts you, and just making sure that you understand whether working with an employment network or vocational rehabilitation, that you have a lot of input into the development of your plan that you are not there just to be told what to do but to really come to the table and work with the agency that you choose to work with to develop a plan for employment and to receive the supports that you need just to become successful. [Scott] Super, thank you. Jamie, do you have another question for us? [Jamie] Yes, a bit of a follow-up question to that. Are there any educational programs or help available out there? [Scott] Good question. There are. On the SSI side of the house if you're an SSI recipient you can take advantage of the Student Earned Income Exclusion. This is applied up to age 22. So whoever asked that question is over than 22 that doesn’t count. But if you're under 22 and still a student, you can go ahead and go to work and earn an earning and take advantage of the Student Earned Income Exclusion. On an annual basis it's $6600 that will not count again you. You can earn up to $6600 a year and not being tagged for it. In other words you can keep that. It's $1640 a month. So there are a lot of folk who are students and going to school who can take advantage of that particular program. There’s also, under the same provision, a Plan to Achieve Self Support. It's called the PASS plan. If you go to the SSA.gov website, and type in PASS under search, you can find all kinds of information about the PASS plan. While that’s not a completely education program, you can have education as a portion of your goal. PASS plan is primarily designed to be a vocational goal, not an educational goal. By that, I mean that you can actually use it to set aside money to go to school or start a business, but if going to school is your ultimate goal and it isn’t leading to a vocation, then the PASS plan won't be for you. The idea is: “Yes, I want to go to school, but I want to be an RN or yes, I want to go to school, but I want to be a whatever”, fill in the blank, so that plan is available and that provision allows you to set aside certain money that will go into a separate savings account that you tap in to pay for your school and will allow you to acquire your vocational goals. Those two plans are available for anyone put together from the Social Security Administration. [Jamie] Thank you, Scott. Does the ticket to work itself provide educational possibilities? [Scott] Not directly. I wouldn't say the ticket itself price any educational possibilities? Ray, can you address that? Do you know how this works? [Ray] How you would achieve it obtaining an education through your ticket would be working with your EN or vocational rehabilitation program in your state. Again, it could be part of the PASS plan, or it could be part of that Return to Work plan. If somebody needs to be re-educated and need a two-year degree, that could be worked into the plan by using the ticket. There's nothing directly that will require any given school to accept a ticket unless that school happens to be an employment network. Certainly, education is available through this Return to Work program under the right circumstances. [Jamie] Okay. Thank you both, another similar question. I'm a full-time student, and I'm on SSI, and I have within year left until I get my bachelor's degree, how can I avoid taking out more student loans. Can the ticket help with this? Ray, do you want to answer that one? [Ray] You know the ticket might be able to help with this. Some of the networks and even the VR agencies who would be helping you to plan your vocational goal could assist you in applying for various grants, could assist you for scholarship applications, things like that. There's also this item called an Individual Development Account. Now it does require you to have some money that's set aside every month, but they're matching bank accounts where you would put $2 in and an institution would match you with another $2 or $4. Those accounts can be used as a great way to grow money real fast to pay for schooling. Again, you have to have money to put into that account. That could be paired up with the Student Earned Income Exclusion that Scott talked about earlier, and be able to pile up some money real fast. You'd have to talk to your local WIPA program to find out about an IDA program that's available near you. [Jamie] Okay, Thank You Ray. Our next question is: How do I know if I have the “Ticket to Work” and how can I get one if I don't have one? [Scott] Good question. Typically, every beneficiary receiving either cash or medical benefits is eligible for the ticket. If you haven't received one in the mail, don't let that dissuade you from checking into one of the service providers. The Social Security Administration recognizes you as a person with the benefit coming. That in and of itself allows you to be a recipient of the ticket. The actual ticket is more of a marketing tool in my estimation; it gives you something tangible to take. If you say, hey, I'm a beneficiary and I know that this ticket concept is out there, how do I apply it? If you were to walk into the voc rehab office or an employment network and say I think I have a ticket and the WIPA office as well could help you with that. My understanding is everybody's who's on benefits is a qualified recipient of a ticket. [Ray] Yes, everyone between the ages of 18 and 64 will have a ticket. There's one caveat with the younger folks. Somebody who is 18 would have been required to be reviewed as a disabled adult before that ticket would issue. As Scott indicated, it doesn't matter if you have that piece of paper or not the WIPAs, VRs and ENs can find out very quickly whether you have a ticket out there or not. [Jamie] Can I use my ticket for a part-time job? Or do I need to work full-time? [Scott] Part-time job is probably the best place to begin. Once you -- if you're using the ticket per say, you would talk to your EN or a voc rehab and say I'm not sure I want to work full-time yet. Can I work part-time? I think the unequivocal answer is absolutely. Based on what your disability is and what you feel you can do. Again, self-advocacy: nobody knows better than you what your capabilities are at this point in your life. Now that goes without saying, so you are in charge. If you want to use your ticket to try to get part-time employment then check in with an EN or your voc rehab office and let them know. If you want to try to go out and get a job on your own and you feel that your disability isn’t that much of a hindrance to you, and you don't need any of these services, then you don't need to apply ticket. The only thing that comes with the ticket, however, is protection from medical review. So if a medical review is of concern to you, then you'll want to go through an employment network or through the VR services provided but if you are out there and your disability is such that you don't want to use any of these services, then, again, self-advocacy is the mantra around here. If you feel like you can go to work at a movie theater or as a truck driver or whatever vocation you choose, then feel free. Again, part-time -- a lot of folks understand that part-time-- 20 hours a week is pretty substantial sometimes, depending on what your disability is. I know I am part-time here and 24 hours a week for me is substantial, so that goes without saying that some folks just can't work a 40-hour week. Don't feel intimidated by that. Don't feel you're lesser for not being able to work a full-time job. Part-time jobs are there and if you need to, you can get two of them. Don't feel like a part-time job is something that will hold you back. [Jamie] What happens if I do find my own job? Do I have to talk with a WIPA? [Scott] Thank you for asking that question. If you're beneficiary and you find your own job, absolutely. That's your last homework assignment. You must talk to a WIPA. I say that because we have such valuable information to avoid you getting into some sticky widgets. When I went through training last year, they said if it's Tuesday and a hamburger for lunch and you didn't have onions, yet you had pickles, then this rule applies. If you think you can maneuver yourself through the Social Security Administration on your own, God bless you. I had to have a six-week training to do it. Contact us. Contact your local WIPA office. Get in touch with us. Also, get in touch with your Social Security Office. The other slide that we missed was after you start work, you will be expected to provide pay stubs to the Social Security Administration because they didn’t. A lot of folks overlook that huge issue, and they end up finding themselves in an overpayment two years down the road. They went out and got a job, collecting their SSI for 674 and their other paycheck from part-time job. Then, a year or so down the road they get letter saying dear beneficiary, it has come to our attention you have $6,000 back pay. That's simply because they didn't report the earnings. So, if you do go out on your own, and I encourage you to, you don't have to check in with us but if you do go out on your own and get a job, make sure the Social Security Administration is kept up to date. Sometimes the Social Security Administration itself is negligent in talking to itself, so the Title 16 portion of the house may know you're working, but the Title 2 portion may not. Those records may not cross. You may say, “I turned in my pay stubs into the SSA.” Did you turn into both the SSI and SSDI? If you didn't, you could end up with an overpayment situation. Those are the types of things we help work you through the maze because it is amazing. [Jamie] Thank you. Can I use my ticket more than once? [Scott] Ray, you want to answer that? [Ray] Gee, thanks, Scott. [Scott] I assume you can. [Ray] There's one ticket that can be used per period of disability. Now I know that sounds very technical, but basically you can use that ticket once to reach your goal. If you mean can I change employment networks or vendors that I'm using, then most certainly you can change the person who you're receiving services from, but basically, you've got one ticket. As Scott said, this is a maze. Where there's education involved and where there may be part-time work involved, we could be talking about a ticket that is in use for many years, you know four, five, six years is not going to be a long time for someone to get themselves retrained from part-time into full-time. That ticket will last awhile. You can change vendors, but you only have one ticket. [Jamie] And, Ray, how do I change vendors? How do I reassign it to an employment network? [Ray] If I am the ticket holder, and I have my ticket assigned to Glen and Glen and I are working very nicely together and all of a sudden have a disagreement about services, if I intended to become, you know, an RN, and I get hooked up by Glen with an LPN program, I can tell Glen in writing, along with telling Maximus in writing, that I no long are want services from Glen. Then I would have a 90-day period in order to find another employment network to assign the ticket. It's important to remember not only can you pull your ticket from an employment network, if I were to fail to corporate with Glen, Glen can show me door as well. This is a voluntary program on both party's parts. [Jamie] Okay, thank you Ray. Another question, are there services available to help someone become self-employed or start a small business? [Ray] Oh, I think Scott should take that one. Self-employment is a very unique world when it comes to benefits planning. Yes, you can. And given the economy right now, very often self-employment or working out of your home is one of the best options. However, it requires a lot of planning, and you will definitely need to contact Scott to help with that process. [Scott] There's a whole bunch of caveats you need to know. The Social Security Administration recognizes self-employment. There are certain stipulations that have to be regarded when you are self-employed like 80-hour work months. If you dedicate yourself to self-employment, a lot of people say I worked all hadn't but didn't make money. How much did you work? An 80-hour month that you commit to working as a self-employed individual equals what they call substantial gainful activity. They equate it to about $1,000 a month of income even though you may not have made any money. If you've dedicated 80 hours a month to that, that counts as an SGA. Those are the types of things that you need to be in touch with us about. I have recently signed up for an internal class on self-employment. There are probably other folks listening who are WIPA providers who are signing up for that class because there is so much to know. It's a great trend. When you can't find other work and maybe your disability precludes you from going out into the normal work environment, then staying at home is an option. Keep in mind, the Social Security Administration wants to know what you're doing at home. So contact your local WIPA Office who will help guide you through the self-employment contingencies because it is a whole separate bag of tricks, so to speak. [Jamie] Thank you both. We are coming up on the end of our webinar, and I want to remind everyone that if your question was not answered today, we do encourage you to contact the Work Incentive Information and Referral Center. Their number is 866-968-7842 or 866-833-2967 if you need to reach them by TDD. Ray, I'll and this over to you to wrap it up with this final question. How do I get started? [Ray] How do I get started? Anyone of the providers that we have talked about today can help you get started. If you are in Idaho, call Scott or if you are not in Idaho, call the Work Center, that number that Jamie just gave you: 866-967-7842, and they will connect you with a provider in your area. Some states have more than one project, and you need to contact a project that serves your area. That Work Center is a great place to find out. Remember, folks, even if you're looking to explore the possibilities, that Work Center can get you that information. You don't know what you don't know until you ask and these programs are truly wonderful and are all looking to enhance your well-being. That being said, if you give us about a week's worth of time, today’s webinar will be posted to the website and you can listen again. If you need more information, that will be great. Jamie will also be sending out more invitations to our webinar next month. So I would like to thank the presenters. You all did a great job and thank Jamie and we will see you all soon.