>> Good afternoon everybody. This is Ray Sabula [assumed spelling] from Cornell's employment and disability institute and I want to welcome you to today's Webinar. Today we're talking about the ticket to work. It provides free support services for people who have a disability and are ready to work. We've got a great presentation for you and we hope you get lots of information out of today's session and begin your own journey back to work or to work for the first time. Today you have been connected by our Go-To Webinar system. What you have in front of you is the connection information. You've been connected automatically through the mic and speakers in your computer. If for any reason during the course of the Webinar you have a problem with your computer and want to dial in, all you need to do, what did I do? Let's go back. Okay, there you go. All you need to do is open up the audio box by clicking on the plus sign in from of the word audio in your Webinar console. That should be appearing in the upper right hand corner of your screen. It will open up this box and will provide you with today's dial in information, access code and audio kit. And you'll be able to listen in via telephone. Remember that if you do decide to dial in by telephone you may be dialing a toll call. We want to hear your questions and we want you to participate in today's session. We can't open the phone lines because there are hundreds of you out there and that just results in chaos. So what we have is a question box for you. If you open the question box by clicking the plus sign in front of the word questions, this box is going to open up for you. You'll be able to type your question here, hit send and Ashley will be getting those questions on her desktop. I can assure you because of the numbers in today's session, we're not going to get to all of your questions. We're going to look for the questions that are going to apply to the largest number of folks who are listening. We do, however, have a way for you to get your particular question answered and we'll be letting you know how to do that during the course of the Webinar. Now Webinar accessibility is very, very important to us and we want our Webinars to work and to be accessible for as many people as possible and we want to know what your experience is. If you do have an issue with accessibility today using the system, hearing somebody speak, if something goes wrong for you please let us know. And more than letting us know that you're having an accessibility issue, if you do know of a fix, if you do know of some system that we can use to make our system better, please let us know that too. That's almost even more important for us. Now, here is some information, toll free number for today's call, 1-877-568-4108. Access code 359302049. The closed captioning is available at wwwcaptionedtext. That's captionedtext, one word, dot com. And the access code for that is 1895384. The Power Point, that is accessibility via pdf and text are located on the link that you received when your attendance was confirmed today. Now, as far as the presentation goes, we are going to be recording the presentation and preparing a transcript. It's going to be available in about two week's time at www.ilr.cornell.edu/edi/m-y-webinars.cfm. Okay, and the Webinar question and answer period when we do get to the end of the session, during the Webinar you can submit your questions through the chat box, you know, the question and answer box that we already discussed, or you can email them to chooseworkquestions. One word, @gmail.com. And at any time after the Webinar is over you can email your questions to support@chooseworkttw.net. Well, with the business out of the way, let's move on. Okay, we're having a little bit of an echo here. We have today, for our panel, Jennifer Tenney who is a WIPA C Wick [assumed spelling] and she is with the Center for Excellence in Disabilities in West Virginia. She is going to be talking to us about WIPA Services and the Ticket to Work Program. We have and employment network, he will be able to tell you all about employment networks so I don't have to do that right now. Brian Cannotten from JSI Inc. He is also in West Virginia. Vocational Rehabilitation is participating through the West Virginia division of rehab services. And Carla Cleek. And finally PABS the protection and advocacy for beneficiaries of Social Security program is here to discuss their services. And Margie Detman-Fisler [assumed spelling] from West Virginia Advocates will be participating. Now notice everybody is from West Virginia. It's hard for me to imagine that the hundreds of you listening are all from West Virginia. Today's information does not pertain solely to West Virginia. This is a national program. We are not going to be able to address issues that occur in Utah or California or Massachusetts and we're not even going to be talking about West Virginia's specifics. Except on an experiential level. Those questions can be answered after the Webinar at one of the phone numbers that we are going to give you. Please know that all of the information provided during today's session is going to be relevant to everyone in the country. Now what can you expect? Lots of information about the Ticket to Work Program and the Social Security work incentives that are going to kind of be enticements and make work worth your time. Answers to those frequently asked questions or what I like to call the urban myths. What people on the street think and often times those things are very incorrect and inaccurate. Where do you find more information? As I indicated, everyone on the list that I just read, along with the numbers that we're going to be giving you throughout the session today, are places to find more information. So you're not going to be left high and dry when we sign off. We have success stories from people who have used their Ticket to Work and not only do we have one that we're going to share with you directly from that person but throughout today's session our speakers will also be sharing some of their experiences and their own success stories. Now why would you choose to work? That pile of money pretty much says it all. Earn more money. Before the end of the session you will quickly realize that there is always more money on the table if you are working. That's the nature of our public benefit system. And if you go and speak with somebody like Jennifer, a plan will be put together so that you will not lose out. At the end of the day there will be more money. Gaining independence. Not only independence from the agencies and that you are now required to report everything to, but from in your own life, being able to do what you want, when you want to do it. That extra income is going to open many doors for you. The extra communication that you have with coworkers is going to broaden you social circle. To learn new skills. Maybe somebody out there had some really good skills and then had an accident and suffered a disability and needs to either relearn, learn how to use those skills, given their disabling condition or learn new skills. We can help you with that. Both the VR agency and the employment networks are there to help with that. Meet new people. Now here is where I get to share my story. I actually met my spouse at work. So needless to say, work has changed my life completely and that's nothing to think is a little thing. You should not think that's a little thing. The social intervention that you get and the friendships and all of that are wonderful byproducts of working. And actually one of the best parts. Now. We have a success story. In 2008, Megan had a major depressive episode and turned to disability benefits to keep herself together financially. Ticket to Work Program came her way; she used that ticket and achieved her work goal. Megan is a great woman, you're going to hear from right now who enjoys working and is now returning to competitive ballroom dancing. So Michael, if you could cue that up? 

[ music and background noise ] 

>> I believe it was around January 2008. I kind of got sick and I took another position and from that position I ended up getting fired and had a mental breakdown so my disability is a mental illness. And it took a lot of time for me to get everything back together; I ended up actually having to file bankruptcy. It was really great for me that I was introduced to the disability program. And after so many months in the disability program you can get a Ticket to Work and then that will help you actually get back into working but it also allows you to get Medical Assistance which helps you. For me to be able to see psychiatrists and get my medicine and everything like that. Staying at home is not a fun as it looks. But also it's not me. I'm 27 so I don't want to be at home my whole life and have a lot of things to do. So that really made me want to get back to work because that's what I should be doing, that's what I want to be doing. First thing I received in the mail was my Ticket to Work. And with that it included some Web sites and pamphlets about what the program was and places you could go and people you could give your tickets to. And so I found that actually [inaudible] and I called them and [inaudible] and I came to [inaudible] about a year ago. 

>> She was seeking a job in the IT DNA synthesis field. She knew exactly what she wanted to do and she worked with our employment counselor in developing her resume, fine tuning her interview skills, identifying employers and after only a few months she was able to obtain employment, actually as a temporary agent doing what she wanted to do. 

>> One of the big problems or concerns that I had was would I lose my disability benefits if I started working and then I couldn't continue to work and then I would have to start all over again. 

>> So at that point she connected with me for benefits counseling and I was able to walk her through how her benefits would be affected by that work. She receives Social Security disability insurance so she was happy to learn what are called trial work period months are and she was able for nine months to work at a full time position and not have any decrease in her benefits. She still received full benefits. After those nine months were over she had an additional three months called her grace period months and after those months are over she has an additional three years where her disability check will only be suspended based on her earnings and if she is not able to keep the job she can go return to her Social Security disability benefits. 

>> It made me so supported that I could do it and I could try and if it didn't work I could come back but I could keep trying. The job that I do is a document control specialist and the easiest way to explain that is it is part librarian so people return things to me and I check them out. It's part teacher because when they return things to me I check it to make sure that it's correct and if it is not, I ask for them do redo it. 

>> What made Megan a success in her job search first and foremost was her willingness to go back to work and our job after that really is how can we support her to make that happen? 

>> I would classify Megan as a success story in that she was able to do what she wanted to do, where she is continuing to work now and if she's earning enough that she's going to be working her way off disability benefits. She's happy in what she's doing and as long as she's happy, we're very happy for her. 

>> The impact has been great. I have a year left to pay off my car and then it's mine for ever. And kind of get my life back under control. I'm looking to move out on my own and just making a lot of good choices that are good for me and just moving forward. 

[ music ] 

>> One of the biggest things I like to do is, I like to competitive ballroom dance and also when I got into my disability I gained a lot of weight so that wasn't as fun for me as it could have been. So now it's getting more fun and I'm enjoying it, I like the costumes so that could be a thing that I do. 

[ music ] And now I have a lot of focus, I'm not going to say that sometimes I don't fall back into the abyss, but now I know and I foresee the tools from Transcend for myself and from the people that they've put me in contact with to pull myself out and to keep going. I don't think that I'll ever not fall back but I don't believe that I will never keep moving forward. This is a program that can help anyone, no matter what the disability is, no matter who you are or where you live. This is something that can help you move forward and to continue on with your life. 

[ music ] 

>> Okay Mike, if you can turn everything back over to me. Show my screen, there we go. All right folks, now you heard Megan tell you in her own words how that Ticket to Work helped her in how she is back at work, has a brand new car, some fancy dresses and is having a good time for herself right now. So she is one of our great success stories and you can join that success in your own way. Now some common concerns. What are those urban myths out there? Will I lose my benefits? Well, I think Jennifer is going to tell you not right away. This is a system that will allow you to do things at your own pace, at your own comfort level. How do I get the skills and experience I need to get a job? Well, we've got VR and we've got an employment network. Two experts who can tell you what types of experience you can gain, how you can go about learning those new skills that can get you into today's job market or how you can relearn those skills if you had jobs in the past. And what if I have to stop working? Do I have to start all over again? Many folks took a long time and fought hard to get onto Social Security disability and SSI. Jennifer is going to share a wonderfully kept secret that isn't so much a secret anymore. That there are ways to get back onto this program very, very easily if the work situation doesn't work out for you. Now, before I introduce Jennifer, what I want to do is, if I can get a little information from you folks. And this helps us do our outreach and let's us know who is listening in on us. So what I'd like to do is ask you how did you learn about this national event? If you could just make a selection, email, Facebook, the Website, friends or family or your local WIPA. And we can start tallying up. There we go, we're working up on 50 percent. There's 60 percent. They're voting fast and furiously. Give you another few seconds. All right, thank you for that. What did you come here hoping to learn? What do you hope to learn from today's event? Something about the Ticket to Work? Work incentives for SSI? Work incentives for DI employment networks and vocational rehabilitation? Or legal aid and protection and advocacy? What did you come here today hoping to learn about? 

[ background noise ] Lots of people participating, I thank you for that. It helps a great deal. All right. Let's get on to our next one. This one should be easy. What is your gender? Okay, and the women jumped off the mark there. Come on guys, vote. All right. Thank you very much. How about your age? If you would pick one of those demographic groups. Ooh, this year I'm moving into a different one, I don't like that. 

[ background noise ] Thank you very much. And finally so that we know how many people are sitting with you at your computer, not including yourself. How many other folks are with you? 

[ background noise ] All right. Thank you very much for that, folks. And thank you for being very quick about it. That was very, very good. All right, and now I have the pleasure of introducing Jennifer Tenney who is a CWICK. A community work incentives coordinator with the Center for Excellence in Disabilities in West Virginia. If you would please share your wisdom with us Jennifer. 

>> Thank you Ray. As Ray said, my name is Jennifer Tenney. I have been a community work incentives coordinator for eight years. I work at the Center for Excellence in Disabilities in Morgantown West Virginia at the University of West Virginia and I am the employment programs manager at the center. Which means that I now oversee the community worker center coordinators. So I'm sure you are all wondering what WIPA is. Work incentives planning and assistance projects are Social Security approved organizations that help beneficiaries. Folks who are currently receiving benefits and making informed choices about work. And that's the key to this. We want to help you make informed choices so that everybody knows what's going to happen before a person starts to work or goes back to work. And the nice thing about our services is that they are free. It just costs you a little bit of time to come in and sit down with a community work incentives coordinator and talk to them about what you want. We are all trained to provide information about the Ticket to Work and work incentives. We can help you answer questions about how work will affect your benefits, that's the biggest question that I get. We also get a lot of other questions, like how will work affect my medical benefits? How will work affect my children's benefits and we can help you answer those questions as well. We can also help you find resources and services such as VR or employment networks to help you reach your goals. Our main job is to help you navigate through the often muddy waters of your benefits and going back to work. You know, on the bottom of your slide you see that the Ticket to Work's goal is to help you today so that you can succeed tomorrow and that is the biggest thing that those community work incentive coordinators in the WIPA projects want to do. We want to see you succeed. So if we could go to the next slide please. If you're ready to explore and learn about work, where do you go? What happens? You've taken the first step by participating in this Webinar. Today you will be able to learn more about the work incentives that apply to you. Next slide please. We're going to build your employment team. You're employment is a bunch of folks but it is all centered around you. It's important to have an employment team because we act not only as your consultants as far as work goes, but we're also your personal cheerleaders and we are there to help you get through all of the steps that it takes to get employed. We also help you stay, we want you to stay positive and look for opportunities so we will help you do that. Finding a job can be hard. Everybody knows that but there are jobs out there if you're willing to look. And as Ray said, you are always financially better if you work. So we want you to remember that working is a good thing and the people on your employment team want to see you succeed at work. So can we go to the next slide please? There are two different Social Security programs. It's important that you know which program you are on because the work incentives for each program are a little bit different and sometimes a lot different. So there is one program called Social Security Disability Insurance or SSDI. This is for people who have worked in the past and worked enough so that they can buy this insurance. It's an insurance system just like life insurance or health insurance. You pay in and it's there if you need it. So for people who have worked in the past or for people who acquired their disability prior to the age of 22 and have a parent who worked and earned enough credits in order to be eligible for this program. The other program that is available is a supplemental Security income or SSI. This is for folks who have little or no work history. So folks, you may have worked some in the past or you may have never worked at all and that's why little babies can get SSI, there is no work requirement. You also have to have limited resources when you're on SSI. Resources are things like everything, stuff that you own, your cash in the bank, Social Security with the supplemental Security income program require that those be limited funds and there is a fixed amount of money that you receive on SSI. Now you can get both SSDI and SSI. In that instance you're considered a concurrent beneficiary and if that is your case then all of the work incentives apply to you. If we can go to the next slide please. So, what are some of the common concerns? What are some of the questions that we think that you have in your mind? What are the risks that I'm taking by going to a new job program or going to school? A lot of people are able to go to school and still work and use their Ticket to Work. You don't have to be working exclusively to use your Ticket to Work. Another concern is that I'm going to lose my SSI check or it's going to be reduced. Or my SSDI check may go away. That's certainly a concern for many people but we're going to talk about how that's not the case on either side. And then another concern is what happens if I get into overpayment situations. A lot of time when people start going back to work, turning in pay stubs to the Social Security Office, things kind of get crossed and sometimes overpayment happens. What overpayment is, is when Social Security has given you a little bit too much money. How can I prevent that from happening? By working with a CWIC with the WIPA project and your other employment team members. We can help minimize that and help you take care of it when it happens. So in those big boxes it says change can be scary. And that's any kind of change. But it's a lot less scary when you know some of the basic rules. So that's what we're here to talk about and that's what your WIPA project does for you. Your Community Work incentive coordinators know those basic rules. And they can help you navigate through the system. There is no question that is silly or stupid to ask when you're wanting to make an informed choice about going back to work. And when your money and your health insurance is involved, no question is too silly. So we want to be able to ask somebody who knows and that's where your Community Work Incentive coordinators come in. so let's talk briefly about three of the myths. The most common thing that we hear about working. The first one is, if I try to go to work I will automatically lose my health care coverage. This is not true. There are safeguards in place to help you keep your health insurance as you try to go to work. If you are on Medicare you have a guaranteed minimum 93 months of coverage when you go to work. Guaranteed absolutely minimum. That's seven years and nine months of guaranteed health care coverage. If you receive Medicaid and you go to work, you know, as long as you're working and working toward your goal you will keep Medicaid until there is a point at which your money levels out. That is called you state threshold and in West Virginia that's a little bit less than $29,000.00 a year. Folks, that's a lot of money to be able to make and still be able to retain Medicaid. Okay? And there is also programs in many states that are called the Medicaid buy in. We have that here in West Virginia and that's where, if you're working you can purchase Medicaid just like you can purchase health care coverage from your employer if you're working full time. So you will not lose your health care coverage when you go to work and I know for folks that, you know, take a lot of medications and see a doctor a lot that is the biggest concern. So you don't have to worry about losing your health care coverage. The second myth is, if I use my Ticket to Work, Social Security will perform a medical review and I'll lose my benefits. I hear this all the time. Using a Ticket to Work actually protects you from a medical review. As long as it is currently assigned to either vocational rehabilitation or an approved employment network and you're making timely progress. And basically what that means is that you are moving along in the system of trying to become employed. No immediate medical review will occur if you're Ticket to Work is assigned. You will not lose your benefits the first day that you work and here in West Virginia that's the biggest myth, is that when I go to work, I will lose my benefits the very first day. That is absolutely not true and if you talk with the Community Work Incentive coordinator they can tell you what's going to happen. We want to remember that everybody's benefits are like fingerprints. Everybody's are different so while we're talking about generalities today it's really important to get hooked up with your local WIPA project if you're considering work at all. Because we do individual one on one counseling. So it's really important to get that connection established. The third myth is, if I go to work and I have to stop working, I'll have to reapply all over again. We know that it takes a long time for many people. They have had to wait several years before their benefits started. People don't want to have to wait that time again and wait without the money and the health care coverage. So many people say, I'm not going to work because I don't want to go through that hassle of having to get back on benefits. The nice thing about these special rules for folks who work is that you are still part of the Social Security system even if you're not getting a Social Security check. And if you're not getting a Social Security check you can jump to the head of the line and we can fast track you back to benefits if you stop working, you know, within the time constraints of what happens with your benefits. Specific just think of jumping to the head of the line, skipping, you know, ahead of all those people and being able to get back on benefits right away. Okay. Now that we've told you that those myths aren't true, let's talk a little bit about the Ticket to Work Program. I'm sure you're all wondering, you know, I got this thing in the mail and it says Ticket to Work but I'm not really sure what it is and maybe you threw it away, don't worry. The Ticket to Work is a free and voluntary program to help folks on SSDI and SSI who have a disability, either to go to work for the very first time or go back to work after acquiring a disability. Most people with disabilities within the ages of 18 and 64 who are currently receiving benefits can participate in the program. The key to that is that you must be receiving benefits. You can't be in application status and you can't be in appeal status. You have to be currently receiving benefits in order to be eligible. But that's most of the folks that are on this call, I'm sure. It's really important to remember that these services are free. So there is nothing involved in going to talk to a Community Work Incentive coordinator except a little bit of time. And no actual paper ticket is required. So if you threw that paper ticket away its okay, you can still use your Ticket to Work, you're still eligible for the program. So, what does the Ticket to Work Program do? If you are ready to make money, the Ticket to Work and the work incentives that Social Security have in place can help you improve your earnings potential. People who receive SSI, if people receive SSI only and don't work, you will always live below the poverty line and that's not something that we want for you. That's not something Social Security wants for you. So it's really what we're looking to do is help you improve your earnings potential. If you're in need of personal fulfillment and you think work will really boost your self esteem, we're there to guide you through the system, to provide the assurance and the stability that you need to feel confident while you pursue employment. I know it's very scary to go to work the first time or go back to work and wonder what's going on and the guidance through the system, we're like the captain of your boat. You know, while you're the captain, we're the rowers and we're going to guide you through the system and help you along as we go. If you're feeling discouraged like nobody is going to hire me, remember that we're your personal cheerleaders and we are focused on you. We want to help you build confidence and a sense of control while you look into what you're going to do and your work options. If you're afraid that you're going to lose your benefits and you won't be able to get them back, we just talked about how that's not true. And we can give you the Ticket to Work and the work incentive can give you a peace of mind as you prepare to go to work. Remember that as long as you're making timely progress, as long as you're moving through the system, you won't lose your benefits until you are able to earn at the substantial gainful activity amount. Okay? If you're afraid that you won't be able to get back on benefits if your job doesn't work out, remember that we also said that that's not true. You don't have to start from scratch. The Ticket to Work Program puts you on the fast track back to receiving your benefits if your job does not work out because of your disability. Remember, skipping to the head of the line. And if you are feeling overwhelmed, which I'm sure some of you are, who can help me get started with this process and how can I stay connected? The Ticket to Work Program helps you assemble your employment team and we connect you to the people, the resources and the services you need to develop your work plan. You don't have to go at this alone. We are here to help you and we want to make you successful in whatever you choose to do about work. So if you're ready to explore work, then what do I do? I'm ready to start work, where do I go from here? The first thing you want to do is meet with your benefit's counselor at your local WIPA. There is at least one in every state, some states have two, and some of the larger states have two. There is also at least one WIPA in Puerto Rico, DC, Guam and the Northern Marianna Islands. So if anybody is listening from there you also have a local WIPA project that can help you. Remember that you get a one on one meeting with a certified benefits counselor. The Community Work Incentive coordinators know the basic rules, they know the intricacies of Social Security so they can help you navigate through the system. The next thing you want to do is find an employment network that suits your needs and that your work incentive planning an assistance Community Work Incentive coordinator can help you find an employment network. Then what you want to do is stay connected with that employment network and your benefits counselor as you explore your work options. If you're ready to get started there are lots of things that you can do. You can call the Ticket to Work helpline at 1-866-968-7842. You can also visit the Social Security Website. If you are participating in this call hopefully you are on the Web, or most of you are. So you can go to Social Security.gov/work and it will list out for you every state, find your state, find your WIPA project, give them a call and they will be able to help you out. So we've talked a little bit about the WIPA projects, we've talked about the Ticket to Work, now let's talk about those work incentives, those special rules for people who are working and receiving Social Security benefits. So what are work incentives? They are the building blocks to success. They're a special group to help beneficiaries try to work without losing all their cash and medical benefits right away. Okay. Work incentives have many advantages. You can receive training for new skills. This is really important for people who can't return to work doing what they previously did. You know, it also helps for people who have never worked before to get the new skills that they need to be successful in their job. You can improve the skills that you already have. Either by more training or going to do more education which is the next bullet. You can pursue your education. You don't have to work and go to school but if you work and go to school at the same time there are special work incentives for people who do that and they are really cool work incentives. So you will want to, if you're thinking about going to work or going to school and you want to work as well, you definitely want to talk to a CWick [assumed spelling] about that because there are really cool work incentives for folks who are pursuing education and working. You can try different jobs. The nice thing about this program is if you get into a job and it's just not what you want to do, you can stop that job and look for a new job and your benefits won't fluctuate too much. You're not going to be, remember we said you're not going to be kicked off immediately the first day that you work. You're still tied to the Social Security system. So you're not ever losing that tether. So you can try different jobs to find that right match for you. It's really important because you want to be happy when you go to work. Work should be a place where you don't get up every morning and go, oh; I have to go to work. You know, you want to be able to get up and go and say, okay, I'm going to go see my work friends today and we'll get some really good work done. Which leads us to the last bullet, the next bullet. You can start a career. You know, most jobs you start at the very bottom and you work your way up. Everybody has got to get their foot in the door somehow. So you start on your career path by using these work incentives to try different jobs and then find the job that's right for you. And the last thing the work incentive can provide you that we're going to talk about today is to help you gain confidence. Remember that these work incentives are a safety net. So they are there to catch you if you fall. And so you can gain confidence in yourself and in your job while working with the work incentive. So let's talk a little bit about some of the common work incentives. There is a lot on this slide so let me just go slowly through them. The first work incentive is for Social Security disability insurance recipients only. And it is call the trial work period. The trial work period is exactly what it sounds like. It is a way to allow you to test your ability to work for up to and at least nine months. During your trial work period Social Security will not decrease your check at all. They will pretend like you're not working. And it doesn't matter how much money that you make. I have a gentleman here in West Virginia that I worked with a few years ago and he was working full time and he was earning over $4000.00 a month and he still was getting his Social Security check. That's pretty powerful to be able to try work and still get your Social Security check. You're not going to be cut off. As long as you're work activity is reported which is really the key here. We have to let Social Security know that we are working by sending in copies of our pay stubs and talking with our Social Security reps which is, again, something that your employment team can help you with. So you have nine months that you can work and make absolutely as much money as you want without your disability check or medical benefits being affected at all. After that nine month trial work period there is a three month period called grace period which you can still work and make as much as you want without your check being affected. But that is the start of a three year extended period of eligibility. During those 36 months of extended period of eligibility, now Social Security looks to see how much money that you're making. Social Security may stop and start your Social Security benefits without a new application. Your benefits are basically suspended. That happens when you reach substantial gainful activity, okay? People always call me and say well, how much money can I make without losing my check? Well, it's really not about how much money can you make to keep your check. You can work and make as much money as you want during your trial work period and during your extended period of eligibility. During that extended period of eligibility though, if you're working and you're making more than substantial gainful activity then your benefits, your cash checks will be suspended but you're not terminated from benefits. So you have a minimum of three years and nine months to try to work without your benefits being affected or being affected without being terminated from the system. Okay? The next one we want to talk about is the earned income exclusion. And this is for SSI only recipients. So everybody on SSI always says, oh, my SSI check is going to go down if I work. It absolutely is but it's going to go down less than half of what you earn is counted by Social Security. The first thing that happens is that they take off a $20.00 general income exclusion and a $65.00 earned income exclusion and then less than half of your what you wok and earn is counted against your SSI check. And it's really important again to see a community work coordinator because we will always tell you and we will show you the math that working on SSI is always financially better. You will always have more money if you work on SSI. Even if your SSI check is going down. It will go down very little at a time. You can actually work a full time job at minimum wage and still get a small SSI check so, you know, you can work and make a lot of money and still get SSI. Or still be tied to the SSI system. If you make enough money where you're no longer getting a cash check because the math takes us to zero, you can still be eligible for SSI and Medicaid if you're working and you're making timely progress and you still have a disability and you meet all the other SSI requirements you can keep your Medicaid which is tied to your SSI which tethers you to the Social Security system. So, again, just like on SSDI when you're not losing, you're not losing your connection with Social Security even though you're not getting a cash check from them. Which leads us right into expedited reinstatement of benefits. This is if your benefits have stopped because of how much you make at your job you can request to have your benefits reinstated without starting from scratch. While Social Security is determining your benefits you are eligible to receive temporary benefits for up to six months. So if you are working and you're making that $4000.00 per month that my gentleman was making, if he has to stop working because of his disability, he jumps to the front of the line and Social Security will put him back on benefits as long as you meet the benefits requirements and he will still get temporary benefits for up to six months that he's eligible. So you are jumping to the head of the line, you're still tethered to that Social Security system. The last thing that we would like to talk about as far as work incentives go today is the protection from that continuing medical, continuing medical disability review. Which is again, once the Ticket to Work gives you, one of the things the Ticket to Work gives you. While you are participating in the Ticket to Work Program, so your ticket is assigned and you're making timely progress, you do not have to undergo a medical continuing disability review at all. You know, some people may have those reviews every six months, some people may have those reviews every seven years. But, regardless of when you have them, if your diary date comes up, it's the time you're supposed to go to the doctor, comes up and you're using your Ticket to Work you do not have to go to that medical review. Now that you've taken the first step to becoming an expert about the Ticket to Work Program, we want to tell you a little bit more about the other parts of your employment team. Your Community Work Incentive coordinator will help you in any way possible. What we want to do now is meet some of the other players on your employment team. So we have the WIPA project, which I've talked about. We're going to hear from an employment network. Our state's vocational rehabilitation agency and protection and advocacy for beneficiaries of Social Security and that's your employment team. So I'm going to turn it back to Ray so that we can hear about employment network. 

>> Okay. Thank you very much Jennifer. And our employment network today is Brian Cannotten who is with JSI Inc in West Virginia and he is going to share with us what types of services you can obtain from employment network. Brian? 

>> Yes, thank you Ray. JSI Inc actually stands for Job Squad Incorporated. So we're trying to get away from the initials and let folks know that our organization is about jobs. And as Jennifer said, as a member of the employment network for Ticket to Work persons can come to us seeking a job and use their ticket. Now the way a ticket is used, as Jennifer explained, you don't really have a paper ticket but the ticket entitles you to receive employment services at no cost. Those costs actually are reimbursed basically by Social Security in the case that you activate or assign your ticket to an employment network member. Now when you're ready to use your ticket there's three different ways you can locate an employment network member in your area. There's a toll free number. It is 866-968-7842 or 866-833-2967. You may see that on your screen. You can visit the Choose to Work.net Website. You can also go to Socialsecurity.gov/work. And we've had several different people lately that contact us directly as a result of going through the list of employment network member in the state of West Virginia. Some of them will search by city in the city in the area where they live; others will search using their zip code. Several different ways you can enter searches to come up with employment network members. Once you locate and employment network listing, you're going to probably have to call some of them and ask questions and that's a really good idea because I had just recently checked in West Virginia and on the Choose work website it lists 56 listings but only 10 of them are in West Virginia. And about the other 45 or so are all over the country. So for the most part those employment network members will provide employment assistance long distance, perhaps over the phone or over the internet. But to my knowledge, roughly about 10 of them actually have peer counselors in the state of West Virginia that can meet with you and that might be true to some degree more or less in the other states where everyone lives. So for that reason there are some questions that it's a good idea to ask once you locate an employment network member and want them to help you find a job. You might want to ask them how many people have you helped? What kinds of companies do you find jobs for people at? What kinds of jobs are available to me and how can I be in touch with you? Where is your office? Can I reach you on the phone or however? So it's important again to ask these questions because one of the best ways to assist a person to get a job is direct contact and we'll explain a little bit more as we go further here. So once you call some of the employment network members that you find listed and feel comfortable with a service provider, then you want to ask them, so how are you going to help me get a job? Well, again, our responsibility as network members overlap with the project. So it's always a good idea for us to explain again, how the ticket program works, which again, to emphasize is a no cost employment service to a person who is receiving disability benefits and they would like to try working. So one of the things we would want to talk about is what work goals do you have? What support needs perhaps do you have? Are you worried about a disability review because of going back to work and maybe they would decide you no longer are eligible for disability? Jennifer explained that the activation of a ticket or assigning of a ticket to a service provider will suspend any further medical reviews and that really puts a lot of folks at ease. So that's one of the things and then we have some employment network members that have been trained as CWICS. I've been a provisionally certified CWIC myself for about 6 months and it was a result of the WIPA project having a community partners program because persons like Jennifer and some of the other CWICS here in West Virginia have a really heavy load and so more and more community service providers are receiving CWIC training and our ticket account manager has encouraged as many career counselors on our staff as possible to receive CWIC training. So if you come to an EN, a question to ask is do you have CWICs, a community work incentives coordinators that can help me understand the work incentives and how receiving a pay check is going to impact my cash benefits and my medical benefits. So that really when you're getting close to applying and starting a job you really see very clearly the impact employment will have on your benefits. Now one of the important things that we're trained to do is to develop an individual work plan. And that work plan is going to include a lot of things. It will include ultimately your employment goals. It may include some services such as further education, career counseling, and job coaching. Some support at the job site over a long period of time, supported employment and the Ticket to Work also comes with some additional responsibilities such as timely progress reviews. And so all of those things can be included at no cost to you by assigning the employment network member you ticket. And again, that ticket will allow you to receive all of this help. Let's see, our next slide. Paperwork. Again, this is a real advantage if the employment network member is within a reasonable distance of where you live because it would be good to sit down with a counselor and have the ticket, let's see, the individual work plan which is basically assigning your ticket to a service provider to fill that plan out and it does need to be signed. So we'll have to have that done but one other thing that is very important to help a person with work incentives and again, anticipating what a paycheck is going to do to your benefits is a benefits planning query. We call those BPQYs and our ticket account manager has strongly recommended that when we fill out an individual work plan that we also submit a request for your benefits planning query so that we can lay on the table a snapshot of all your disability benefit, health benefits, cash benefits and work through what a paycheck is going to do to those things and how work incentives can actually help you to work for, as Jennifer explained, three years and nine months and not really having to lose any of your disability. Now the other thing we always do is the last piece of the individual work plan has a list of beneficiary's rights by assigning their ticket to an employment network member. We like to go over those, particularly a couple key points. One is, you can unassign your ticket at any time if you're not satisfied with the services, the employment provider's aid is providing. And also it stresses very clearly you will not ever be requested to pay for the services that are being provided. So, again, we like to review your rights in using the Ticket to Work and then again to emphasize that when there are the annual disability progress reviews, that those will be, you'll be receiving assistance with those. And the other thing, the CDR, the continuing disability review, that's a medical review, those reviews will be suspended. So that takes that worry away. So you're ready to go get a job. What do you need? Well you may need a résumé; you may need help filling out an application. I just helped a gentleman fill out a couple of applications on line and it took us over an hour, it was Fed X and he really was glad someone was there to help him navigate easily several hundred questions for the online application. And we will provide that as a service for a person with their ticket. Interview skills, negotiating supports because of perhaps having health problems we would try to assist with that. We have access in Morgantown but it is accessible nationwide. It's called the job accommodation network. Jen? And Jennifer is very familiar with the folks that work there. Jen has a data base of almost every accommodation imaginable for just any job, any number of disability challenges that you need help with as far as employment is concerned. It's a wonderful resource. We, at our office here, provide some assistance with filing income taxes. I've helped several people lately that have not only not known how to report their earnings to Social Security after they started getting a pay check because it's been so many years since they've worked or have never worked, but they also have never even filed income tax before. So we help them with that as well as employers sometimes are interested if they are tax incentives for hiring a person with a disability and we may disclose that the person does have some support needs in that regard but we try not to so we kind of shy away from the tax incentives, just because we don't want to disclose that the person has a disability. There still is a lot of employers that don't have a positive view of helping everybody. Now the last thing it mentions is that we will do anything we can to refer persons to other resources that they may need. We have a gentleman that is using a pass work incentive. I don't think Jennifer mentioned that but it's a work incentive that will allow a person who receives SSI or is eligible for SSI to satisfy money to purchase whatever resources are needed, perhaps transportation, perhaps education that will help them support themselves through employment. And there is a fellow that's taking a four year online college course using a pass and so we referred him to some people that could help him take care of the application to the university and so forth. That's just one example. So I think I'm probably running out of steam. I hope I've managed to cover most of the bases here. 

>> I think you have Ray, and I think you've done a great job. Let's move on now and we'll see how the other half of our vocational team here, Carla Cleek [assumed spelling] from the vocational rehabilitation agency in West Virginia that's known as the DRS. Carla, if you can tell us what you can bring to the table. 

>> Okay. Hi. And hello to everyone. That is correct, my name is Carla Cleek and I am with Voc Rehab which we are known as the West Virginia Division of Rehabilitation Services, at least in this state. We are Voc Rehab. My office is actually located in Charleston West Virginia and that is in the middle of the state but to let you know, we do have, we cover the entire state of West Virginia as far as Voc Rehab services, very similar to what our CWICS do also covering the entire state. One of the, I guess first things, in coming to Voc Rehab, or at least talking about them is, who is eligible? You know, what criteria do I have to meet to become a client of Voc Rehab? The Social Security administration invoke rehab definition of disability tends to be so closely related that if someone is receiving SSI or SSDI, regarding the disability in any way. Then in our agency it's known as presumptive eligibility and what that means is that typically, more often than not, that that Social Security beneficiary does meet the criteria to meet the criteria to become a client of Vocational Rehabilitation. Eligibility for Vocational Rehabilitation just in a general sense is having a physical or mental condition that interferes with the ability to get or keep a job. And also you must be able to benefit from the terms of the services that we provide for employment outcome. The next is a Vocational Rehabilitation counselor similar to what Brian was saying as far as a plan of individual work. In Voc Rehab we actually call that, our vernacular is an IPE. An individualized plan for employment. Once again that's that plan of what your next step is going to be, what your employment goal is. It is kind of an agreement between you, you're actively involved, but between you and Voc Rehab to describe the services that you need and will be provided in order to get a job or some type of employment and that could be anywhere from vocational training to college, business school. It could be vocational evaluation. Some type of work site evaluation for accessibility. Let's see, assisted technology. It could be employment related services such as the resume writing, interview skills, job search and placement. So once your ticket, once you come to Voc Rehab and that IPE, that plan is signed by you that's when your ticket then becomes in use in the Social Security's eyes. That means that your ticket has been assigned to Voc Rehab and has been mentioned by both Brian and by Jennifer, your continuing disability or medical reviews are then deferred. They are kind of pushed to the side as long as the person is continuing to make progress and actively participate in the goals toward employment, that CDR is not going to take place. Fortunately in West Virginia we have, I think, an excellent relationship, well, I know that we do, but we have an excellent relationship with the CWICs and we even make referrals to them and they make referrals to us. So any time, actually I don't know about any time, but more often than not and especially as needed, the rehab counselor will contact their local CWIC to get input for their client and have them meet so that they know how their benefits may or may not be accepted for employment. Now I think we can go to the next slide. As your case begins to get towards closure, as the client has gained employment and at that point your Voc Rehab counselor tracks and makes sure that that employment is steady, that there aren't other barriers that may cause the person to lose the job or they may need some accommodations or accessibility in the job. But we kind of track the person to be sure that we don't close that case too soon. It's during that time that we also, as a Voc Rehab, will talk to the client about any continued supported services that they may need once that Voc Rehab case is closed. And any employment network we have the ability that once the Voc Rehab is closed and the ticket is then no longer assigned to Voc Rehab, is their employment network in the community that continues, that can continue to providing supported services for you. And so in this state we are, just as it was mentioned by Brian, approximately 10 local employment networks. That is something that Jennifer and her staff and our staff have worked together in the past and other individuals in staff from the Center of [inaudible] and Disabilities in trying to build those community infrastructures up and increase the employment networks in West Virginia. And I think that's it. Is there anything else that I left out or need to address with Voc Rehab? 

>> Well, Carla, I can assure you that the folks out there have lots of questions for you and we'll get to those when we get to the question and answer session. 

>> Okay, thank you. 

>> That's just fair warning to all of our panelists. Okay. Thank you Carla. All right and next we have the protection and advocacy program for beneficiaries of Social Security and Margie [inaudible] from West Virginia advocates is going to tell us what that program can do to help out. So Margie take it away. 

>> Okay, thanks Ray and hello everyone. My name is Margie Deitman-Sandler and I'm really excited to be here. There is a PNA in every state and all the US territories. PNA is a short term for protection and advocacy organization and your PNA will have a variety of different names depending on the state that you're in. In West Virginia it's called West Virginia Advocates. And our mandate, when I say our, the PNA mandate is to assist beneficiaries who receive Social Security and SSI to return to work and or overcome barriers to work. As we've heard, you know, from our first three panelists, there is all different kinds of things that can make going to work scary, difficult, uncertain, and there can be road blocks on the way and our job is to help you overcome and get around and knock down those road blocks. All of the PNA advocates and attorneys who are PABS have received some specialized training, it's a nationally recognized training that we do prior to becoming PABS advocates. Let's see, I've mentioned that our training is free. Free means free. And you do not have to have a ticket or you do not have to have your ticket assigned to receive our services. The best thing to do is call your advocacy organization in your state or territory and when they speak with you, they'll help you figure out, you know, how and what type of service they'll be able to provide. Sometimes folks call and the type of services that they need is what we call information and referral. In incidentally for information and referral that service can extend to folks who do not have disabilities. It might be, you know, a concerned family member to kind of get things started. Maybe they have a child in school and are worried about what's going to be next for my child. So we have a range of services, information and referral. We also provide direct advocacy. What does that mean? That would mean an advocate would be assigned to assist you with the problem that you've presented. Sometimes advocates and again, it's individually based advocacy and the other thing that's really important to remember and I think is really exciting is we do what's called client preferred advocacy whereas I may be your advocate and I may say, well, we could approach this problem by doing this or that. What do you think? And sometimes the client will say, well, I'd like to do that or sometimes a client will say, well, I don't really want to do either one of those. I just want to keep things as they are for now. So it is client preferred. And our other goal is to assist you to become empowered so that over time you will become your own advocate. We all run into situations that are a little more complicated and we need some additional help along the way, but over time as questions come up and situations come up, you're going to have the useful information that you need and your skills will build so that you can better advocate on your own behalf. Let's see. One of the other types of services that we or problems that we assist folks with is addressing overpayment issues. You know, that's a situation, let's say you had an opportunity and you were working and maybe you even contacted Social Security to say, you know, I'm working and your benefit continued as such and then Social Security some time later discovered that they had paid you too much. And the client receives a letter in the mail saying that they owe Social Security back benefits. And those letters can be really, when that happens it can be a really tough situation. But you can call your local PNA, your PABS advocate organization for some assistance in how to get that issue resolved. The other thing, you know, a couple of other things that have been touched on are getting work place accommodations. There is many, many things that this can look like. Again, it's individualized as fingerprints. What works for one person isn't going to work for someone else. An accommodation is something that an employer would provide. Most of the accommodations are very inexpensive. Most accommodations are under $50.00. Some accommodations are as simple as having a different type of schedule. Sometimes due to a disability a person just might not be able to report at work at 8:00 o'clock. And they may need an accommodation due to their disability where they would come into work at a slightly different time. The other thing to remember about accommodations is we can suggest the accommodations to the employer and we might want a really snazzy super duper computer that will make life so easy, but the employer might provide an accommodation that isn't the Cadillac of accommodations but it would be one that would work adequately. And technology has just totally been wonderful in terms of opening up doors for individuals with disabilities because many forms of technology can be used both across disabilities and for example, certain applications on the iPad or Android system are used by many people with and without disabilities, just to plain make life work. Well, another type of situation that we help with are, sometimes folks call, or you maybe having an issue with your local vocational rehabilitation services. You might have a problem with your individual eligibility plan or maybe your Vocational Rehabilitation agency has informed you that your case is being closed and you have concerns about that. We've had a lot of success stories around that. One of the individuals that we were working with not too long ago, received a letter that their case was going to be closed by their Voc Rehab agency. They gave us a call and we were able to look into it. One of the first things we did with the person was, we reviewed their individual plan for employment and we recognized that the Voc Rehab agency hadn't in fact done their end of the bargain. They had provided the services as laid out in the individual employment plan. But the individual wasn't happy so what we were able to do is we were able to provide advocacy and the outcome was that a new individual plan for employment was created. That better targeted the employment goal that the individual had. So for example their first employment goal was to achieve some aid to help them with vision and hearing. And they really wanted a different type of job but their IPE was for these, say, hearing aids and glasses which certainly did help them to maintain their current job and then when we approached Vocational Rehabilitation with the individual to request a new case be opened, it worked out great. And then the individual was able to pursue a second individual plan for employment and to move on to a different employment goal. We also help folks by removing barriers to work and I think I could illustrate that through an example of another individual that we worked with. It's not unusual for an individual with a disability to have what they call a progressive disability, meaning year one it looks like this, on year two it looks like this and then on year three it's even more complicated. And one of the individuals that we worked with came to us because she was concerned that she was no longer going to be able to do the job that she had. In fact had lost her job and did not feel she could continue in that type of employment. So we worked with her and with her local, the local Voc Rehab agency and she ended up successfully being retrained for a new career and completed the training. It took her a little longer than expected to complete her training because due to her disability she had several illnesses that, you know, kind of set her back. However, she did complete the training and it was good to go to work. She was very persistent very positive, you know, despite the challenges that her disability provided, she wanted to be looking forward and not looking backwards. So that's an example of working to remove barriers to work. I think that we've pretty much covered the kind of basic information and I really encourage you, you know, to kind of be like the gal that I just spoke about who was willing, you know, to look forward and I think that I've met a lot of folks who are like that. And you can see that the glass is half full or the glass is half empty and when we can work together and look forward and say, okay, we are going to find a way through this problem, we're not going to let it stop us. So I wish you all the best in moving forward and in finding a path to work. And Ray, I'd like to turn it over to you. 

>> Thanks an awful lot Margie for that great information. We have some other resources for you and then we will get to some of your questions. Some of the resources that you can use to begin you're road back to work are the Social Security Web site, www.socialsecurity.gov/work. That's going to allow you to find all of your local WIPA agencies, your employment networks, your VR agencies, your PABs, everybody that we talked about and who talked to you today is going to be found on that Website. So please feel free to get in there. That, once again is, www.socialsecurity.gov/work And the Ticket to Work helpline is also a great place to start and they can help you navigate that Website to find your local providers. The Ticket to Work helpline can be reached at 1-866-968-7842 and for TTY users 1-866-833-2967. Now, we have lots and lots of questions. As I promised my panelists today and we're going to try to get to some of the most important ones because we only have a few minutes left. But what I want everybody to do, just remember that if you don't get an answer to your question today, call that Ticket to Work Helpline. It's on the screen right there and I will read it to you again when we sign off. Jennifer, I think this one is going to be for you. This EXR stuff seems to be a little unbelievable and somebody wants to know, if they stopped working for reasons other than their disability, is EXR available? 

>> Not typically. It depends on where you are in your benefits calendar. If you are still in your extended period of eligibility and you get SSDI, if you stop for any reason at all you're check is started right back up. If we're outside of that time frame, the reason that you have to stop work has to be due to your disability. Now for SSI we're looking at SSI eligibility requirements so if you stop working on SSI for any reason you can get back on SSI as long as you are still eligible for SSI. 

>> Okay, thank you. And I've got one I think for just about everybody. The whole notion of timely progress and the Ticket program, we've got lots of questions and some people are asking, if I don't make timely progress will I lose my benefits? And another person is asking, they understood that if they didn't make progress for a period of three years that benefits would be terminated. How do you feel about that? 

>> Okay, this is Jennifer. If you are not making timely progress in your ticket, your benefits do not necessarily stop right away. What that does though, is that it can trigger a medical continuing disability review. So it is possible that if you are not making timely progress that you may have to go back to the doctor, just like you always do whether you work or not, but your benefits will not stop if you're not making timely progress in your ticket as long as you're still eligible for SSI or SSDI. 

>> Okay. And how about Carla and Brian. Is it possible to set up a situation where I can work from home? 

>> Brian, go ahead. 

>> Okay, a question of if they can work from home? 

>> Yes. 

>> Yeah, actually there is a lot of possibilities. Of course self employment is what a lot of folks can do from home. I was just with a gentleman this morning that, we're using some funds that are available to him to purchase a snow blower. And we haven't had a big snow storm here in Clarksburg yet, but he wants to be ready to add that to his lawn and garden services and he keeps this equipment at his house. It's part time work but that's just a small example of how a business can be started up at home. One of the best things to use is a pass because pass funds, that's a work incentive, can pay for the start up costs. Equipment, training and so forth and working at home doesn't just have to be an employee of a national online, some sort of a data entry thing, although those are out there, but there's a lot of employment that can be done just right out of your house. 

>> Okay, thank you. Go ahead Carla. 

>> Yeah, this is Carla. We often get fielded questions about working at home and kind of a flip side to what Brian is saying, I agree, there certainly are opportunities and our Voc Rehab counselors and that client talk about, potentially working from home. and like I said, some of the questions I've fielded from individual is, I found out later that when they came with a questions of potentially working from home, they did not quite understand their own skills and their own abilities and through working with the Voc Rehab counselor and hashing it all out, they came to realize, you know, I don't want to work at home. I'd rather be out seeing people and in other words, as your going through the employment network process, or through the Voc Rehab process, that part of that counselor has to do with exploring all possibilities. Whether it be something at home or elsewhere but some people's skills, they limit themselves to thinking they can only work at home. And that's not necessarily always true. 

>> Okay. Okay, Jennifer, I've got another one for you. Would I still get a trial work period without using a ticket? 

>> Yes, absolutely you would. You do not have to be using a Ticket to Work to be eligible for the work incentives. The Ticket to Work just adds another work incentive in there so if you choose not to work with an employment network or have already completed your work with an employment network, you can still have a trial work period and you're extended period of eligibility. 

>> Okay, and to follow up on that Jennifer, do I have to go to the Social Security office to apply for a Ticket? It's about 40 miles away. 

>> No, all you have to do is call that ticket help line and they can either send you out another one or, remember we've said that you don't have to have your actual paper ticket. But you can call the ticket helpline and see if you're eligible for a ticket and most people are eligible for a ticket. 

>> All right. And Jennifer, we're going to end another one with you here. We'll end on this one. You talked about jumping to the head of the line a lot. What's the time limit on your ability to jump to the head of the line? 

>> Ooh, that's a good question. For folks on Social Security disability insurance, SSDI, you have your three years and nine months of trial work period and extended period of eligibility. Then you have an additional five years of eligibility for expedited reinstatement of benefits that jump into the head of the line. So if you're looking at someone who has not yet gone to work on SSDI, you're looking at eight years and nine months at a minimum. With SSI it's a little bit different. They look at when you went off benefits and they give you 12 months to get back on benefits as far as the requirements are. So it depends on which program you're in but for folks on SSDI you have at least eight years, for folks on SSI you have at least a year. 

>> All right, great thank you very much. And that's going to do it folks, we're sorry to keep you late, we kept you over for five minutes. Once again, if you did not get your question answered, give a call to that's Ticket to Work Helpline at 1-866-978-7842 or for TTY users 866-833-2967 and I want to thank all of our speakers today for a great job and hope to see you again at another Webinar. Have a great afternoon everybody.