>> Well good afternoon, folks and welcome to our national work incentives seminar event. As you know this is an ongoing process. We do these on a regular basis. My name is Ed Lopez; I'm going to be you're Master of Ceremonies. I am affiliated with Cornell University's employment and the Disability Institution and have been doing this for more years than I care to mention. But many, many years. And I have the good fortune today of being joined by two wonderful individuals. First Jamey Prendergast who is from New Editions and she is a support for the Ticket to Work Program but more importantly, her function today is to monitor the questions. And voice the questions and raise the questions that you folks and we're encouraging you to ask questions, have during today's session. I want to tell you that we don't always get to every question because the session is an hour and a half. but if we don't get to all these questions we can continue the discussion on FaceBook and you'll hear about this at a later point. I'm also joined today by Kendra Barry from the Aspire Indiana Program. Kendra has been doing this type of work, work incentives support work for many, many, many years and is one of the best in the field. So I am so pleased to have both of them working with me today.

>> Well, you know, before we get started there is always the logistical issues that we need to deal with and as you know, most of you are going to be listening to this Webinar, the mike and the speakers. But some of you may not be able to do that and if you can't do that, what you'll have to do is click on the control panel. And you'll see that there is a button that says audio there and all you have to do is very simple. You click on the use telephone and up will pop up your very own dial in number, access code and audio pin. You then dial that in and low and behold, boom, you will have no problem listening to the dulcet tones of Ed Lopez, Jamie Prendergast and Kendra Barry. Questions. We always love questions, as I said. And so on the control panel there is also a pick questions button and if you'll click on it you'll notice that it pops up just the way you see it on your screen there and there is a place where you can actually type in your question, the arrow is right there on the left hand side, and then you click on send and it comes up to us. And Jamie will be monitoring that box and answering the questions as we see fit. So those are the two things. You know, there's always accessibility issues and I want you to know that, you know, there's the first one in terms of accessing the toll free number and access code that I mentioned a few minutes ago. We've got a citation. If you want to do closed captioning, that's the way you do it and Jamie has also put it into the chat box for everybody to have. They can just click it on right there, click on the uplink and you go right to it. And eventually, let me just tell you, we have a Webinar Power Point, we have an accessible PDF and our text, they are all located in that link we gave you before. And I want to tell you that we think that we have the best accessibility platform for individuals who need additional Webinar accessibility. But, but if people know a place that's better or how we can do things better, by all means, contact us and we will look at this because we are always trying to improve our accessibility to these program. Again, the Webinar presentation, the transcript and the audio recording are all going to be available in about two weeks and we've given you the site there. So if you go to that site you'll be able to, once again, hear it, or just read it. So it's really, really important. Again, Webinar answers and questions. You will notice that it says there that you can actually submit your question on the Webinar chat box. I'm going to ask you to please use the question box so that Jamie is monitoring the question box and can get you're questions and not having to worry about looking at two separate panels at the same time. Okay? So I just wanted to make sure that everybody has that. Oh, let's talk about the agenda today. This is a very exciting program. Okay, so I've already given you the welcome. It's so great to be on today. But soon after I do some polling questions we're going to have Kendra Barry come on and talk to you about the Ticket to Work Program. And then she's going to talk about the work incentives for a person who is on SSDI or SSI who wants to go to work. And they're not the same work incentives because the programs were created at different times. Then I will talk to you a little bit about the employment network system and about the protection and advocacy for beneficiaries of Social Security System. I'll also give you a few additional resources and then at the end we will take questions and if we've run out of time we'll make sure that we, if there is questions in the box we'll continue them either in Facebook or we'll get you answers to those questions. Because this is a Webinar and we're trying to figure out how people heard about us, experience etc, I am going to, at this point launch a couple of polling questions and the first one from launching, reads as follows. How did you learn about this Webinar? Was it through email? Was it through Facebook or Twitter? Was it through the website or was it through a friend or a family member. And I've got to tell you, that's amazing. We've got incredible response rates coming up in less than 20 seconds we've already got about 70 percent of you having voted. Which is great. And I'm going to keep it open for 30 seconds and close the poll and share the results with you. The results are pretty amazing if you will look at this. 56 percent of you heard about it through email, one percent through facebook and Twitter, so somebody else, not effective yet. 38 percent through the Website and five percent through friends and family. So thank you for responding to that. And let me now launch the next one. Which is, what do you hope to learn from the national wide Webinar program? Are you looking to learn about the ticket to work? Are you looking to learn about the work incentives for SSI? Are you looking to look about the work incentives for SSDI? Are you looking to learn about the employment networks and vocational Rehabilitation agencies and their flow? Or are you looking to learn about legal protection and advocacy? Which is involving the protection program of beneficiaries, Social Security. So let's see how we do here. Once again, the voting is fast and furious. I love it. You guys, I want you in all my classes, simple as that. Because you guys are so good about responding to these questions. Again, I'm going to close the poll, we've got about 75 percent responses and it's just spectacular. 48 percent of you said Ticket to Work so we'll keep that in mind, because that's really, really important. Kendra that's going to be your baby. Eight percent said work incentives for SSI, so not as many as said work incentives for SSDI which was 31 percent. So Kendra, it may be a little more time on the SSDI work incentives will be in order today. 15 percent on the employment networks and vocational rehab which I'll cover. And seven percent on the legal protection and advocacy for beneficial Social Security System that I'll cover too. Perfect, perfect. Let's move on now to our next question which is what is your gender. This is an easy one to respond to. Oh, I know, look at those. Jamie, did you see the response on these? Amazing. Perfect, perfect. And the fact after 15 seconds I'm just closing the poll, we've got it. There's an overwhelming majority of females on this call. 71 percent to 29 percent. So again, it's good to know who our audience is. So this is wonderful. And now let me get to the fourth question. Oh, what I call a personal question. What is your age? Are you a teenager, are you a young adult? Are you a middle ager? Are you, as Social Security would say, closely approaching advanced age or are you of advanced age. And again, response is very fast. I'm going to close the poll. And the results are following. No teenagers, one percent of you are between the ages of 19 to 25. The majority almost, 49 percent between the ages of 41 to 55 and then the rest of you are either 40 or 56 or older. And then let's get to the last question. How many others are participating in this program with you? Okay, so the bottom lines here and oh, look at this. We've got, again, a lot of solos. A lot of solos I see here. So it's good to know. So we know what the numbers mean. I'm going to close the poll because most of you have voted already, and share the results. 81 percent of you are one your own and only a handful of you have got a number of people on the call or listening in through an intercom system. so great to hear. Perfect, perfect, perfect. Thank you so much by the way, for responding to these questions so quickly and so thoroughly. And at this point it is time Mike, for these folks to listen to a welcome from Bob Williams who is the Associate Commissioner for the Social Security Administration's Office of Employment Support Programs. Mike, take it away.

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>> Hello and welcome to today's Webinar. My name is Bob Williams and I'm am known to be as Commissioner for Employment Support at the Social Security Administration. We wrote the Ticket to Work at Self-Sufficiency program which is with persons ages 18 through 64 on SSDI and SSI who want to improve their life and future by becoming employed. By viewing this Webinar you will learn how you can receive training and become employed and increase your earnings, and improve your life on disability benefits and eventually earn a better living by becoming fully self-supporting whenever possible. The Ticket program is now on for everyone. This is why let show it to take advantage of yours and yours alone by no first time by people with significant disabilities and facing barriers to becoming and staying employed. This is especially true in today's economy. The major reason you receive disability benefits is that Social Security determined that you were not at all able to work enough to support yourself. But I also want you to know that having a significant disability no longer has to meet a [inaudible] or to employment and greater financial security. Once they can offer you the choices raising opportunities and support you need to go to work and gain financial independence. And I hope today's Webinar will begin your journey toward greater self-sufficiency. Your life and future can be better. Thank you for joining us.

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>> So to Bob and thank you Mike for putting that in. I'm going to go back of course and it will be, gosh we should be up and running and we will go to the next slide and the questions that you must all have in your minds right now is what can I expect from today's presentation? Okay? And let me just run down these, by these very quickly for you. You can expect some excellent information on the Ticket to Work Program and it's work incentives. Additionally, additionally you can expect answers to frequently asked questions about the Ticket to Work Program and about the work incentives programs or about Employment Networks. Additionally you can find out where to find more information and that's very valuable and you're also going to hear some success stories from people who use their Ticket to Work and are now employed. And in some cases may not even be on benefits anymore. So all those things. You may be wondering why would I choose work? Why does on choose work? Well, first, you can earn more money. You can earn more money, you know and I know that that basically means that you're going to become more independent. Because money gives you more freedom. Additionally if you're out working you're earning more money and you gain independence, you're also learning new skills. New skills that you can use in the future to actually do more work and maybe even earn more money down the road. And finally, something that people often don't think about when you go to work, you are working with people. you are not in the house on your own and by meeting people and working with people it increases your network of individuals, of potential friends and of people who can actually help you become independent and not only that, but actually have a network that might actually get you more jobs, a different job in the future. So it's absolutely wonderful. Now I'm going to give you an opportunity to listen to Robert's story and let me just tell you that Robert is a Veteran who spent seven years serving in the US Army and after a surgery mishap in 2000 he sustained a spinal chord injury that left him with limited mobility. In Robert's case the Ticket to Work Program helped him -- well, I just gave you that information, let's just listen to Robert's story from his point himself. So Mike, take it away please.

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>> Coming straight out of high school from Chicago, I had a strong interest for the military. I joined the service and I went into the army and my job that I went in the service for was a communications and I was a communication specialist. I spent two tours in Europe, in Germany and I spent about seven years total in the military. Once I completed my time in the service I continued to work for the government as a United States Postal Carrier. And after 13 years of this work it began to take a toll on me. health wise it led to some medical issues that I started to have. I became disabled from a surgery kind of mishap where a disc ruptured and it paralyzed me. The Ticket to Work Program was introduced to me throughout my rehabilitation time period. The VA was assisting me. They even offered me the ideas about if I ever thought about going back to work. so they introduced me to a representative from the Social Security Board who told me about this Ticket to Work Program. Well, as the representative explained the program it was obvious that there was some safety nets there, some of the things I was worried about there was no worry at all. Now it wasn't until the Voc Rehabilitation Representative for Paralyzed Veterans who again, introduced me to the Ticket to Work Program and I told them I had heard of it and I was aware of it but at this time as years had went by I felt a little bit more stronger about actually accepting it this time because I knew that I was at a level health wise and I thought it was time for me to make some serious decisions then. Not to be living on a fixed income when I had such a desire to want to do much more. The program had told me all the things like, well, if it don't work out it was still enough of a security net there to say that you don't have to worry about that, they even gave me a year, even while I was working that I was still covered under Social Security. They make sure that they are there to assist you and help you in all types of ways, not only to put you back in the work force or give you the skills that you need to get there but to follow you once you're there. After being part of this Ticket to Work Program I started looking again into the availabilities of positions for National Service Officer. At that time there just happened to be some available positions.

>> He put in the Ticket, the position that he had to apply to the position normally. That position came up and he shortly there after he was selected as a candidate to be a National Service Officer to the Chicago office.

>> After the interview they immediately told me that I was very much qualified and I could prepare to begin to come to work. I became a National Service Officer for the Paralyzed Veterans of America. Paralyzed Veterans of America of course is a service organization dedicated to helping those veterans with spinal cord injuries, spinal cord disease, and to assist all veterans with VA benefits and we advocate for veteran's health care. I'm Robert [Inaudible] I'm a National Service Officer with Paralyzed Veterans of America and I greet and meet with especially the new Veterans or a new patient that has just come in for the first time. Coming back to work has probably built up my independency, the self-pride, and you know, I'm an achiever again. You know, I got something to offer society and, you know, it's almost like you're, you know, regaining a good portion of dignity back. Prior to even coming back to work I was highly interested and got interested in some of the disability sporting events. The wheelchair games, I used to participate in that every year and it was a big event for me. The Ticket to Work Program, it helped open up the door and put me back to where, you know, it's almost like it put my life back on track.

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>> Coming back here make sure that we are back on and ready to go. And, again, every time I listen to Robert's story, it's always wonderful to hear it because I get reminded of the fact that we work with these programs because we want to help people who have been getting the [inaudible] get back to work. And to become independent like Robert has become. So it's absolutely wonderful. Now let's talk about what happens when an individual is ready to go to work. And I've got to tell you that this is what this Webinar is all about. The first thing we say to people is that, look, we need to gather information and resources. Because you can't plan your future and employment without gathering that information and having certain resources at your disposal. And one of the ways that we can help you is that by having the Ticket to Work Program and the work incentives programs and explaining to you what they are you're going to have a much easier time navigating that journey. That you will be beginning when you are ready and able to work. Additionally you want to build your employment team. It's a great way to get going. And what do you do? Well, there are some options that you've got. For example there is a Ticket to Work help line and the information is right there. 1-866-968-7842 is the number. You can talk to someone there and they will help you get started. If you need a TTY or TDD there is the number for that. You can learn more about the Ticket to Work, okay? Look at the blogs and watch real success story videos in addition to Robert's by going to www.socialsecurity.gov. and then /work. Let me tell you. This is a great section of the Social Security Website. But the whole website is really good. It looks busy in the front but I've got to tell you, that once you go in there, you put on this the search engine then everything in there is incredibly helpful. You can find just about everything you need at www.socialsecurity.gov but if you're thinking about work you put in /work and it will take you right to the information that's most helpful to you. it will help you find an employment network or a state vocational rehabilitation agency that can provide vocational services to the individual, to you who is looking for a job. Additionally you want to stay connected to your employment team. Either the employment network or the vocational rehabilitation worker as you explore your work options. So I just wanted to make sure we summarize here. You want to start off by calling someone for assistance. You want to go to the website. Once you find someone, either the employment network or a VR agency that you go to, you want to make sure you contact them and then you stay connected to them. Because they're the folks who are going to be the support mechanism to help you remain employed and to get the answers to those questions that you will undoubtedly have. Now, I talked about Social Security programs before and let me just tell you first. There is the Social Security Disability Insurance Program, SSDI. It is a benefits program for individuals who are disabled who also happen to have had an earnings record. Simple as that. Then there is the SSI program. It's also for individual who happen to have a disability but in their case, in their case, they usually don't have enough credits of coverage to get SSDI so they instead get SSI and only SSI. And then there's people who get both SSI and SSDI. And you will hear Social Security call these individuals concurrent beneficiaries. And the reason they're concurrent beneficiaries is because they had an earnings record. But they didn't -- and they had enough quarters to be the insured and eligible for SSDI but they didn't earn enough money to get income level SSDI level at above the SSI. And so, because they are still poor, they happen to have their SSDI supplemented and that's why it's called Supplemented Security Income. Because SSI is sometimes from zero up to the SSI level in your state or from wherever the SSDI is up to the SSI level in your state. It's the way it works. Now I wanted to cover very quickly three myths. The first one is, if I try to go to work I will automatically lose my Medicare or Medicaid. And let me tell you. Wrong, wrong, wrong. As long as you keep receiving a benefit check of any amount you will keep your health insurance benefit. If you earn enough that your SSDI benefit checks stops, Medicare and the SSDI problem can continue for a minimum of 93 additional months. If you currently receive Medicaid you should be able to continue to receive Medicaid even after you stop receiving SSI benefits. If you lose your SSI benefits due to work. It's called the 60-19-B program and to be eligible you need to meet certain requirements. And that's going to include earnings below a threshold amount set by every state. For example in New York it's over $46,000.00. So that even if your earnings then exceed that threshold you may still be eligible for Medicaid depending on how big your medical costs are. Because there is something called an individualized threshold. So please do not think that if you go to work you're going to automatically lose your Medicare or your Medicaid. That's the assistance. The second myth I wanted to talk about is the following. If I use my Ticket to Work, that is if I use my ticket to go to work Social Security will perform a medical review on my and I will lose my benefits. This is a total myth. If you use your ticket to help you go to work Social Security cannot, hear that? Cannot perform what is known as a continuing disability review to see whether you still have a disability. Social Security in fact will postpone your medical review when your ticket is in use and you are actually making progress toward your work goals. Even if you have been previously scheduled to have one. As long as you have a ticket and have been using it and your ticket was actually in effect prior to them beginning the continuing disability review, you will have no problems. There won't even be a medical review on your case. So that's a big bad myth and I wanted to dispel that right away. The third myth that I wanted to cover is the following. If I go to work and then I have to stop working I will have to reapply for benefits all over again. my goodness, it took me forever to be approved for benefits and I cannot afford to have to wait that long again. So I should probably not try to work. Wrong, wrong, wrong. That is a big bad myth. You will not need to reapply if your benefits ended within the past five years due to your earnings and you meet a few other requirements, including that you still have the original medical condition or one related to it that prevents you from working. This is an amazing work incentive that became effective back in 2001 and it is known as Extradited Reinstatement of Benefits. Let me tell you how good this program is. you may even be able to receive up to six months of temporary cash benefits. Okay? In addition to Medicare or Medicaid coverage while SSA makes a determination to see if your benefits can be reinstated. Now that's incredible. And in fact, in fact, even if the benefits were not reinstated as long as there was no fraud involved you would not have to pay back the money that you got, the provisional benefits that you got while you were waiting for that decision. But I've got to tell you that well over 90 percent of the individuals who have to stop working, who request expedited reinstatement get the expedited reinstatement. So it's a wonderful program and then this issue that I brought up with you at the beginning is a total myth. And now it is time to present Kendra to you. Kendra is a wonderful, wonderful work incentive specialist. She has been doing these trainings with us for quite a while. She does a great job on them and she's going to start off by talking about the Ticket to Work Program. So, Kendra, take it away.

>> Thanks Ed. As I've said, my name is Kendra and I'm a community work incentive coordinator with Indiana Works. Indiana Works is part of the [Inaudible] Indiana which is an employment network here in the state of Indiana and not only do we work with the Ticket to Work Program but we also provide benefits counseling and help people to understand exactly how going back to work will affect their benefits. Next slide. The Ticket to Work Program is a free and voluntary program that will assist both SSDI and SSI beneficiaries who are disabled go back to work or enter the work force for the first time and to even help increase current work hours if that's what you're looking for. Most people with disabilities aged 18 through natural retirement age who receive SSDI or SSI benefits can participate in the program. The most important thing to remember is that it's free. So now that you're thinking about work, because you are because you are participating in this presentation, there are some things to consider. If you're ready to earn more money than the Ticket to Work Program can help you improve your earning potential by getting you hooked up with some agencies that can help you find the job that is a good fit for you. If you need personal fulfillment that comes from working, one of the most common things that people tell me is that they just want to get out of their house and want to have interaction with people and they miss that. The Ticket to Work Program can provide you with the assurance and stability you need to feel confident while you're pursuing employment. If you want to be sure that you'll be able to get back on benefits if your job doesn't work out because of your disability, Ed just explained the expedited reinstatement to you. It's a work incentive through Social Security that allows you that safety net to know that if you are unable to work because of your disability, even though you tried, you can get back on without having to go through that long application process and the waiting period. If you're feeling overwhelmed and don't know where to turn don't worry. It's a common feeling and this presentation is just meant to give you a basic overview. We'll be giving you the number for the Ticket to Work Program numerous times as well as that Choose Work Website and even some Facebook information for the Choose Work that you can refer to when you're ready to begin looking for a job. Next slide. So how does the Ticket to Work Program actually work? If you're ready to explore work then the following steps are going to be the first things to consider. You're going to want to find an employment network that suits your needs and assign your ticket to them. As you've heard, assigning a ticket protects you from the continuing disability reviews. So it's important to make sure that your ticket is assigned. But again, because this is a free and voluntary program it's all up to you which piece you go with. You'll want to stay connected to your employment network as you're exploring your work options. Not only will they help you to determine your work goal but they will help you to reach that goal and even work with you once you've started working to make sure you can maintain that employment. If you're ready to get started now you can call the Ticket to Work helpline at 866-968-7842 or 866-833-2967 or go to hearing impaired. You can also visit the Website at socialsecurity@gov/work to find an employment network or vocational rehabilitation near you. The benefit of going to the Website is that you'll be able to see a list of not only your local employment networks and vocational rehabilitation agencies, but also national employment networks. So you'll have a large variety to choose from. When it comes to building your employment team the best thing to do is call the Ticket to Work helpline and talk to them. They'll ask you some questions about what benefits that you're receiving, they will say are you receiving SSDI or SSI and they'll ask if you've contacted any agencies yet. if you are unable to visit the Website they can mail you a list of the employment networks and the vocational rehabilitations in your area and nationally. Once you find an agency that suits your needs you'll want to state your message to them. It's really important to decide what sort of service you're looking for, whether it's simply help finding a job or if you want someone to call when you hit some speed bumps along the way. So you'll have a lot of different options and once you assemble your employment team everything will be put together for you. And now that we've heard about the Ticket to Work Program and what happens when you assign it, let's go over some of the work incentives that Social Security has developed to help you along the way. So what exactly are these work incentives? They're going to be your bridge to success. They help you along the way by providing you with a safety net as you go out and look for a job. A lot of people tell me that they're scared to go to work because they've heard that all of their benefits will stop. And Ed went over those lists with you so now you know that's not true. Not only will you not lose your health insurance but you also won't lose your benefits just by returning to work. The advantages of the work incentives are that they will help you to receive trainings and new skills. Next slide, we'll go down the list. And improve the skills that you already have, pursue your education, try out different jobs and start a career. The goal of the work incentives is to help you start your career. The agencies that you work with, both the employment networks and the vocational rehabilitation offices are not temp services. People are often thinking that they're going to call and be placed into a job and that's not the way that it works. Their goal is to work with you one on one to find out what your disability is and what type of job that you're looking for to find that exact job for you. And they will work with you on gaining confidence and making you feel comfortable that you can actually do that and achieve your goals. Next slide. Most common work incentives are listed here on this chart and although there are more than these, this is just a brief overview so that you can understand the basic work incentives available to both SSDI and SSI recipients. We're going to start with the SSDI work incentives. The first work incentive available to Social Security disability insurance recipients is the trial work period. The trial work period is nine month period where you can earn any amount of money at all and continue to receive your full SSDI check. So for a lot of people this is a great thing to know. as long as you're working you will use this trial work period if you earn more than $720.00 a month. And people sometimes get scared by that number and think that they have to earn less than that but they don't. this trial work period is meant to give you the chance to try out working to see how much you can handle or a lady who I've been working with for six months now, she just called me and after vocational rehabilitation was able to help her to complete her education she began working with the employment network. The employment networks was able to help her find a job as a social worker six months after completing her education and she just went back to work this month earning $34,000.00 a year. So for this first nine months that she is working she will continue to receive her SSDI check even though she is also going to be receiving work earnings from her full time job. After the trial work period the next work incentive available to SSDI recipients is the extended period of eligibility. This is a 36 month period for three years that falls immediately after the trial work period. If for any reason your earnings fall below a certain level then your SSDI check would be restarted. The easiest way to understand this is to realize that Social Security has to choose a level that if you earn above then your SSDI check will stop. This year that amount is $1010.00 and that's gross before taxes and it's referred to as substantial gainful amount or SGA. So this year the SGA is $1010.00. If you've completed your trial work period and you're earning less than $1010.00 per month then your SSDI check will continue. If you return to work and you're earning more than $1010.00 then your SSDI check will stop. During this 36 month period if your earnings happen to yoyo then your check would depend on the amount that you are earning. Easiest example is to think about the holidays. If you go back to work in, say, October and you're earning $800.00 a month than you're SSDI check will continue because you're below that SGA amount of $1010.00. Now you pick up some extra hours and you work more during November and December and your earnings go up to $1200.00 for both November and December. Then your check would not come for those two months. You would not be eligible to receive a check for November and December. If your earnings go back down to $800.00 come January then you would be eligible. That extended period of eligibility, that three year period will protect you if your earnings yoyo. Those are the most common work incentives for SSDI and the first two available to you.

>> I'm going to have to stop you for a minute. I've got a great question here that I wanted to raise with you because Yvonne Evans says that she wants to be self-employed. So she called the Ticket to Work helpline and someone told her that SGA for self employment is determined by hours instead of income. And she said she didn't know that and is that true?

>> During the trial work period they will look at the hours that you work. When you're self employed and your trial work period is being figured, if you earn less than $720.00 gross per month but you work more than 80 hours a month you're would still use the trial work period because you are working more than part time. That's just the number that they had to choose, you have to choose a number in order to make these work incentives work. SGA is that $1010.00 amount, and it's different for self employment because Social Security is going to be looking at your net earnings. So there is a calculation involved there and if self employment that you're [inaudible] is your best bet is to contact that Ticket to Work helpline that we've gone over, and call them. They will be able to give you more information about it and get you hooked up with someone who can give you specific benefits counseling. Most states have benefits counselors readily available and you should be able to get hooked up with an agency that can help you with self employment specifically.

>> Absolutely Kendra and let me just repeat what Kendra said concisely here. Basically what she said to you, what they said to you on the Ticket to Work helpline about SGA is not correct. That's about trial work periods. That's the first incentive. Once you use up the trial work period however, and they've used up the hours then it's all about cash. It's about net earnings from self employment. There is a very specific calculation and in fact if you go to socialsecurity.gov/work and you put in self employment it will give you those rules for net earnings for self employment. Okay Kendra.

>> Thanks Ed. any other questions right now?

>> Nope, we're doing great here.

>> All right then let's go back to the SSI recipients. Let's talk about how work affects SSI. Because SSI or supplemental security income is a different program. The work incentive is very different. The first work incentive available is called the earned income exclusion. And what this means is that less than half of your earnings are going to be counted by Social Security as income which will determine how much your SSI check is for. Right now the federal amount in many states for SSI is $698.00. And that's enough. If you go back to work and you're earning $885.00 which would be a little bit more than part time and at minimum wage, Social Security will not count the first $85.00 that you earn, which brings you down to $800.00 and after that they only count half which would only be $400.00. So your calculation would then become $698.00 minus $400.00 means that your new SSI check would be for $298.00. And that scares a lot of people. All they think about is that their SSI check is being lowered. But what you need to realize is you also earned $885.00. So $885.00 plus $298.00 that you're getting in SSI gives you over $1100.00 to cover your expenses. Which is much more than the $698.00 you were receiving when you weren't working. It's also great because as you are working you're paying taxes and you are paying in and earning credit and becoming insured for SSDI. So going back to work for SSI recipients is a great idea. For both SSDI and SSI recipients that expedited reinstatement is available. As Ed explained that great earlier when he told you that there is a five year period where if you have to stop work because of your disability and even if your benefits were stopped completely because of your work earnings, you can apply for expedited reinstatement and receive up to six months of temporary benefits while Social Security reevaluates your case. That means you're not going to have to go through that reapplication process or the waiting period. Now, I know that scares a lot of people because sometimes it took years to get benefits started. The expedited reinstatement gives you that safety net to cover everything. The protection from continuing disability reviews, or CDRs is available to both SSDI and SSI recipients who have assigned their ticket to an employment network is in use with the vocational rehabilitation agency. This means you won't undergo those medical CDRs as long as your participating in the Ticket to Work Program and making progress toward your work goal.

>> Absolutely. And Kendra, we've got a couple of other questions here for you that I think are very important to discuss so that's why I'm stopping you right here. A person wrote in and said, well, they've got a problem because their experience is that if your income yoyos SSA doesn't really know until after the fact and so when the beneficiary works extra hours and they earn more money they turn in the earnings and then they get penalized after receiving a paycheck and a benefits check and they don't think it's fair.

>> The way that Social Security works is that their payments are retroactive so what that means is the check that you received this month in August is actually the check that you earned either back in May or June. It's usually two to three months behind. So it's something that you need to prepare for when you do work. If you go to work tomorrow and you start working full time the next month, depending on where you're at with work incentives you might not be eligible for either a full check on SSI or a check at all on SSDI. And that would not take effect for a couple months. So you have to be prepared for that two to three month waiting period. It is important to report your earnings for that reason. And I know that when I talk to people about benefits counseling I give them calendars and tell them exactly how to track things so that they can budget their money and be prepared for that. Because if you're not careful you can run into situations where you end up with overpayments and things like that and we would much rather help you before that happens then to try and help you after.

>> Absolutely. And that's a great way of dealing with the issues. Getting a calendar and having people at the beginning you work with them to put it all together so they can see what they're going to be earning, what they will be entitled to and then after a fact people get used to doing it themselves. And they can figure it out, it's a great way of doing it. Very important.

>> So now that you're ready to use your Ticket to Work and you've figured out these work incentives available there are some other agencies that can help you. We've discussed the employment networks and all the vocational rehabilitation agencies that can help with both education and employment and offers protection advocacy for beneficiaries of Social Security or [inaudible] that can help you resolve issues and learn how to resolve conflicts with agencies that you're working with.

>> Absolutely and Kendra, amazingly enough Carmen just wrote in a question that says, does the provider of the Work program, the employment network actually help you seek employment? And she could be yourself because you are about to start talking about that right this very minute.

>> Exactly, we are ready to discuss employment networks and what they do. When you feel like you're ready to use your Ticket to Work call that Ticket to Work helpline and we've given the number and I'm going to give it one more time. it is 866-968-7842 or 866-833-2967 for people with hearing impairment. And speak with someone about benefits counseling and request a list of employment networks that serve your area. As I mentioned before, if you are unable to access the computer or need special provision when it comes to the list they can send that out to you. You can find the list at socialsecurity.gov/work and what it's going to do is it's going to list every employment network, not only in your area but also nationally. So you'll have a lot to choose from and it may seem overwhelming but what we're going to do right now is discuss some of the things to keep in mind as you're trying to choose employment networks. You get to choose this and because it's completely up to you, you should have questions in mind to ask them. You can ask how many people have they helped with the Ticket to Work Program. Do they have companies that they work with to help people find employment? What kind of jobs are available? And how often will they communicate and meet? These are the questions listed and the way you should think about it is this. You should sit down and think about what kind of help you need when you are considering work. when I work with people through our employment network I ask them what their disability is and what type of work they're interested in and we try to make sure that it is something that they're going to be able to do and we discuss how many hours that they would like to work, how much they would like to earn and then we develop a plan. And this is also what vocational rehabilitation will do. Once that plan has been established and the work goal is set then the employment networks can help you either a ton or a little. It just depends on what you need. Employment networks can help you create a resume, they can help you with interview skills testing, they can help you answer questions that the interviewers may have for you like, why have you been out of the workforce? They can even help you complete job applications and discuss with you how interviews that you've done went. So think about all of those things and think about how much assistance you would need. And when you're contacting employment networks, find out what they'll be able to help you with. A lot of employment networks provide you with job coaches. And what the job coaches will do is they will help you step by step through the process to reach your job goal. Because again, at the end of the day the goal is to help you find a career, not just to place you in a job. the employment network should explain to you how the Ticket to Work Program works and the services it provides. They will most likely be able to answer your benefits questions and explain to you how your benefits will be impacted. They'll discuss your work goals and intentions about work, they'll talk with you about any fears you may have. I know this is a scary prospect for a lot of people but we're here to help you. There are a lot of different agencies and you'll be able to find one that's a good fit for you. You and the employment network will develop and individual work plan for your goal and the service that the employment network will provide to get you there. Some employment networks may ask you to complete four applications a week whereas other employment networks may go with you to complete every application. They are going to be fit to you and your needs.

>> Absolutely. And in fact, I'm going to, if you don't mind; bring in a couple of the questions that have been asked right now because people are trying to figure out what's going on here. Someone says to me, why is it so hard to find an employment network? Why won't they often return phone calls? What's your experience with that Kendra?

>> I know that we have someone who answers our toll free line all hours of our business work hours, so from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. We have someone on call to answer the phone. I think that a lot of the times what happens is these employment networks are very busy and because they provide such one on one assistance it can take some time to get connected with that. If you're having a problem with one agency I would encourage you to contact another agency. Even if you've already assigned your ticket this program, the Ticket to Work Program is completely up to you. And you have the right to assign your ticket to someone else. So if you've chosen a program that's not a good match then you can choose a different employment network to work with.

>> Perfect.

>> Any other questions at this time?

>> Nope, we're doing great here.

>> All right. Once you have signed off on your individual work plan your ticket will then be assigned to that employment network. And again, as I just mentioned you may have issues with that employment network down the line and you can always choose the work with a different employment network. Depending on the employment network you choose they may have some other paperwork for you to sign. I know we have people sign Social Security releases so that we can verify how much you're receiving in either SSDI or SSI and then we can answer your specific benefit questions. So there may be other paperwork involved. Your continuing disability reviews or CDRs will happen as long as you're making timely progress toward your employment while your ticket is assigned. So it's a big benefit of the Ticket to Work Program for a lot of people. This is an example of the EN services and this is some of the things that I've mentioned so I would go ahead and make a note of all of these things and decide what kind of help you're looking for. employment networks can help you with resume development and advice on how to fill out a good application. They can help with interview skills and tips on how to explain long absences from work without disclosing your disability. For accommodation and information and resources, facts and a ton of information and [inaudible] other resources in your area. Just to give a little more information on some of these, a question that commonly comes up is do I have to tell the employer about my disability? And that's completely up to you. When we're working with either your job coach of the employment network you choose, it's something that you can discuss. If you choose to tell your employer that you have a disability the job coach can sometimes provide more assistance on the job if the employer knows that you have a job coach. But that decision is up to you and you'll be able to discuss that once you choose an employment network to work with. When it comes to job accommodation information and resources you should think about, you know, do you need some assistance on the job? Will you need a sit-down job? Would you need a job that will give you more breaks than they normally get? These are things to consider when discussing what your job role should be and some things to ask at the employment network if they can help you with that. They'll also be able to help you with job leads and information on employers who are hiring, job fairs, recruiting events etc. Some job coaches will fill out applications for you and help get you to and from your interviews. They will give you access to resource centers, computers, internet, email, phones, and fax. I know a lot of employment networks will even provide some classes to help you get started with some of these. Sometimes people don't have email addresses set up. Or they need just a refresher course on phones with a lot of lines or how to use a fax machine. And this is something that an employment network may be able to assist you with. There will be job development [inaudible] which is [inaudible] marketing, going to an employer and saying, I have someone who would be great for this position, let me talk to you about that. And then helping to get you some interviews set up. They can also complete referrals to agency partners and help with the continuity of your ticket assignment with your state vocational rehabilitation office. Sometime what happens is that people themselves find that they would like more education before looking for employment and usually that's something that the vocational rehabilitation office can assist with. So while being able to get you hooked up with the right agency to help you complete your goals.

>> Perfect, perfect. And I've got another couple of questions here that I think are key and worth answering now. The first one is, who do you report to about earnings And she says I work with vocational rehabilitation. Do the vocational rehabilitation have to report or do I have to report?

>> I always encourage people to report earnings on their own. The best thing to do is to,

>>... take copies of your pay stubs and either fax them to the Social Security office or bring them to the Social Security office and request a receipt. If you fax them then you would have a faxed confirmation that you sent them in and if you bring them to the office then you can request a receipt. By doing that then you have proof that you submitted your earnings. There is also an 800 number that can be called to report earnings which is extremely helpful for a lot of people. So there are some different ways but I always encourage an individual to report their earnings themselves.

>> That's great. And let me tell you, I want to echo that. I think the whole issue here is to help individuals with disabilities who go to work become independent. And they've got to be independent and what I used to do when I was doing this kind of work, I would say to a person, how much help do you need in reporting? And maybe at the beginning they would come in and they would bring the stubs to me and I would send them in. But then I would say, here is six envelopes. And they're already stamped and they already have your addresses on them. And they would have them available for six months. And then I'd say the next six months I'm just going to give you envelopes and you have to put the addresses on and the stamps on them to wean people off. So now it depends on the person but the ultimate goal being, as Kendra just said, to, hey, to be independent and to do it on your own. Because who knows it better than you. So absolutely correct. Another question here. What if you want to do work at home? How can an employment network help you? Can they help you find that type of work?

>> A lot of employment networks can help you find work at home positions. I know there were even some national employment networks available to everyone that specialize in work at home positions. So by going to the Social Security work site you'll be able to find the contact information or at employment networks. And I also think it's worthwhile to contact your employment network in your area locally to discuss and find out, is that something that they can assist you with as well. The positions are out there but you definitely want to make sure that you do your research and you're working for a reputable company.

>> Great, great. And that takes me to the next question because we started to address it. What if there was no employment network in their area? What then?

>> If there is no employment network in your area there are national employment networks and there are a lot of national employment networks. A lot of times with the national employment networks they may not provide as much assistance as the local ones do and if you're looking for more assistance then say, a national employment network might offer, vocational rehabilitation is a great idea for you. Your state vocational rehabilitation office will be able to assist you in creating your work goal and reaching that work goal. So I would encourage you to contact them as well.

>> Perfect, perfect. Okay. So we are going to continue. Kendra, thank you so much. And now I'm going to jump in and do a little bit of [inaudible] training on the vocational rehabilitation services. And let me tell you how this all works. This is very important when you're using your Ticket to Work, okay? So vocational rehabilitation services, there is a presumption, okay, a presumptive eligibility for you as a Social Security beneficiary. What does that mean exactly? What that means is that if you're getting Social Security benefits and you go to a vocational rehabilitation agent in your area they presume that you're eligible for it and unless they can find a reason not to help you out that's legal they are going to help you out. And that's a really good thing. Officially you and your vocational counselor are going to develop an employment plan. Just like the one that was developed by the employment network because basically the vocational rehabilitation agency is like an employment network. Simple as that. Your ticket is going to be considered in use with vocational rehabilitation when you and your counselor sign up your plan. Because it is just your plan. Simple as that. Officially your continuing [inaudible] reviews are deferred as long as you are making timely progress towards employment. I mentioned this at the beginning of the Webinar and Kendra mentioned it a little while ago and then I'm mentioning it again. as long as your ticket is assigned, whether it's assigned to a vocational rehabilitation agency or an employment network the continuing [inaudible] review protection, when a person is using their ticket and making timely progress is in effect. And that's a very valuable thing. Additionally when you begin to work using your ticket, with a state vocational rehabilitation agency, they're the ones who provided the services, you and your counselor discuss the opportunity to have an employment network provide employment support when your vocational rehabilitation services end. And that's very important because the vocational rehabilitation agencies only, only provide services up to a certain point. And usually it's once a person has got nine months of work at a certain level. So when vocational rehabilitation closes your case you can use your ticket at that point with a new employment network for follow on employment supports and services and then they can get paid for providing you those services. So it's, you know, it's I think a win win. You have cooperation between vocational rehabilitation agencies and employment networks. To me it's a win win. The work together on these. Now I'd like to spend just a couple of minutes talking about the protection and advocacy for beneficiaries of Social Security programs known as PABSS. Protection and advocacy for beneficiaries of Social Security. And PABSS services are located throughout the United States. And all US territories. In fact there is usually one, at least one in each state. And they are designed to help SSI and SSDI beneficiaries with disabilities go to work. And what I mean by that is that it is their job to make sure that barriers are not present when people are going to work. They are basically like the Superman out there that knocks down the barriers if there are barriers preventing someone from going to work. Because they can bring legal action. These services provided by the PABSS are free to everyone that receives a Social Security benefit or Medicaid or Medicare based on disability. They're even available even if the individual does not have a ticket or their ticket is not assigned yet. As long as they're receiving Social Security, SSI or Medicaid, Medicare based on disability. That's the key there. Okay? Based on disability you can get those services in any event. What will the PABSS assist people to do? Number one. Advocating for workplace accommodations. A barrier. You need something; something is preventing you from working. You need an accommodation, they can help you advocate for that workplace accommodation. They can help advocate for vocational services from employment networks or state vocational rehabilitation agencies if there is a problem. They can provide information, referrals and advocacy around benefits. And they do it all the time. They make sure that a person understands what their rights are so that when they are working no one hoodwinks them. They can assist beneficiaries to remove the barriers to work that I mentioned a little while ago. And one that's very important, lately they've been addressing a lot of overpayment issues. A lot of overpayment issues. In fact, the PABSS were so, so inundated with overpayment issues that for example in New York City the PABSS attorneys train and provide continuing legal education credits to private attorneys who in turn would handle some of those overpayment cases for individuals. And that wound up being a win-win because we would get calls from private attorneys saying, I've been doing work, and private work, for 15, 17, 20 years and this is the most fulfilling case I ever had. Helping an individual who somehow, somehow was charging overpayment, which was not their fault and which they could not afford to pay back, actually not have to pay it back. So the PABSS do an amazing, just an amazing amount of work. .Now let's talk about a couple of other resources before we sign off here. I want to encourage you once again, go to www.socialsecurity.gov/work so that you can sign your local employment network and other Ticket to Work and work incentives information. Play around with that website. It is an amazing Website. I've got to tell you, that I have known people who have gone to that Website and then called me up and said, I spent four hours looking at it. There was so much information there I never knew even existed. So by all means, do that. Secondly, call the Ticket to Work helpline at 1-866-968-7842 or if you need a TTY or TDD at 1-866-833-2967. I've got to tell you. A number of people on the questions box here, have said that they have had problems or received some misinformation when they called the Ticket to Work helpline. And I can't say that you got misinformation or that he did not get misinformation. I will tell you that sometimes when someone calls in and they start talking about something on self-employment which is not very common, there is confusion. And when someone says hours and you need hours, the assumption is that you're talking about SGA when they have really been talking about trial work period. It's hard enough for us to keep and I think Kendra would agree with me wholeheartedly here, to keep Ticket to Work Program and SGA separate. it's even harder when a consumer is listening to someone on a phone and it's about self-employment and the rules are so different already and Ticket to Work Program is a difficult concept, SGA is a difficult concept and now it's got a new set of rules thrown in on them with respect to self-employment and sometimes, you know, you don't always hear things correctly because it is a hard concept. But if you are on a Ticket to Work helpline and you're not sure about something, make sure you ask. And say, I want to know what the rules are for SSDI, what if I'm at self-employed? Are the rules different in the Ticket to Work Program? Are the rules different in the EPE? That way you get specific information about the kinds of questions that you really do have. And now it is time for questions and look. You will notice here we are into social media. You can like Jamie on Facebook. You can like us and follow us on Twitter. You've got the helpline number there, you've got the TTY helpline number there. And Jamie, I'm wondering if there might be some questions that we would want to respond to now.

>> Thanks Ed. I do have a few questions for you and Kendra. Kendra, how do I find out if I'm on SSI or SSDI?

>> The best thing that you can do is to call the Ticket to Work helpline and they can get you hooked up with someone to look into that information. A common way that we tell is the Federal amount for SSI for most states is $698.00 and that's the maximum for SSI. So if you're receiving well above $698.00 you're most likely on SSDI. But that's something you want to verify with Social Security. If you don't want to call the Ticket to Work helpline and you would like the information in a faster manner, you can contact Social Security directly and they will be able to give you a printout of what your benefits are.

>> Right and another way to find out very quickly is if your money is direct deposited on the first of the month, it's usually SSI. If it's deposited either on the third of the month or on a Wednesday, the second third or fourth Wednesday of the month it's usually SSDI.

>> That's great, very helpful information. Thank you. Okay, Kendra, is there any assistance out there for training or education?

>> If you're interested in education such as pursuing your bachelors degree and masters degree or some sort of technology degree you should contact vocational rehabilitation. That's something that they can assist with. Some of the employment networks are also able to assist with that. So as far as looking up information on those, your local vocational rehabilitation agency and the employment network and asking them how they can assist you with that. Something to keep in mind with that is vocational rehabilitation can only help you with one goal at a time. So if you're interested in working part time and pursuing your education you will have to choose a goal to have vocational rehabilitation help you with it at that time.

>> Great. Thank you Kendra. This one is for Ed. Do I have to be a registered with vocational rehabilitation to use my Ticket to Work?

>> You do not have to be registered for vocational rehabilitation to use your Ticket to Work if you want to go to a vocational rehabilitation agency you can have them act as your provider of vocational services. But if you don't want to work with them or you don't have one in your area or they can't help you, they can go to an employment network and they can then take your Ticket. You do not have to be registered with a vocational rehabilitation agency. That's a great question by the way.

>> Great. Thank you Ed. And Kendra and Ed this is for both of you. What happens if I don't like my employment network and want to find a new one? [Inaudible]

>> [Inaudible]

>> Well, that wouldn't be very nice. If you're unhappy with the employment network that you've chosen to work with, the program is free and voluntary and so it's up to you. you can choose to work with another employment network. What will happen is you'll contact a new employment network and you'll have to unassign your ticket from the original employment network and reassign the ticket to the new employment network. But you can definitely do that, it's up to you.

>> Thank you Kendra. And another one for you. Can I use the Ticket to Work from home?

>> You can use the Ticket to Work from home. In addition to that question the Ticket to Work Program is available to you whether or not you choose to use the employment networks. I saw that was a question out there in the chat. You don't have to be working with an employment network in order to use the ticket provision. The Ticket to Work, by assigning your ticket will provide you with free assistance and free programs from these agencies to help you find employment and it protects you from the continuing disability review. But the work incentives that we discussed are available to you either way. SSI and SSDI recipients.

>> Great. Thank you Kendra. That leads me to my next question. Can you talk a little bit about continuing disability review and timely progress review and what the difference is?

>> Okay, the continuing disability review is the paperwork that you receive either for a year or every three years or every seven plus years; it's paperwork to see if your medical disability is the same. This is about four pages and it asks you, you know, what is your disability, who is your doctor, are you taking medications, are you still working with your doctor, has anything changed? As long as you are, have your ticket assigned to someone or it's in use with vocational rehabilitation the medical continuing disability reviews will not happen as long as you're making timely progress. And timely progress is defined by are you -- and have you found a job within a certain amount of time, are you reaching certain earning levels? There's different rules with it. But the beginning portion and as long as your ticket is assigned then you will not have that. When it comes to other reviews you may have a review come up when you begin working and that's just so that you can provide information about beginning to work. Do you have any further information to add to that Ed?

>> No, you've got it right on target my friend.

>> Fine. Just checking.

>> Well, that sounds great. Thank you Kendra. Is the ticket program only for people with physical disabilities?

>> No, the Ticket to Work Program is for anyone who is receiving SSI or SSDI between the ages of 18 and natural retirement age so 64 and up. We have the ticket available to them and that's most people. Over 95 percent of people have a ticket available to them. And the ticket can be -- your disability can be anything ranging from visual impairment to hearing impairment to mental illness to a physical disability. It's not specific to a disability type.

>> Thanks Kendra. I've heard a little bit about the PASS plan. Can you explain that for me?

>> The PASS is a very in-depth plan and for a plan to achieve self support and what it does is, it allows you to set aside either a portion of your SSDI or a portion of your work earnings to achieve a goal, a work related goal. So for a lot of people they would like to set aside money for education or to receive training. If you go to work part time and you're earning $600.00 a month you could choose to set aside that full $600.00 you earn and continue to receive the full of $698.00 or whatever the equivalent to the full amount is in your state. So your SSI would not be lowered because of your work earnings because you have a PASS in place. And you can find PASS application on line and there are a lot of people who can help you fill it out. A PASS application is about 20 pages and it does require some work put into it but it's definitely something to investigate. If you have a work related goal that you need to save money for.

>> And let me just follow up a little bit on that if I may. I have actually put together a website called passonline.org. Passonline all one word, passonline.org. And in that -- on that Website I explain in simple terms everything that you could possibly have questions about the PASS. Who is a good candidate? Who is not a good candidate? How do you go about applying etc? I've also put in the PASS application and every question is a separate page. You can actually go in and fill out one page and then save it and go back to it later. More importantly I've added a helpful sample answers tape and helpful hints drop down menu too. So for each one of the questions I'll give you a sample answer so you can see how they might be answered and I will also give you helpful hints about what you need to know or not know when you're completing a PASS application. For example when they say, how much do you expect to earn when you finish the PASS? My helpful hint says if you're on SSDI you've got to earn above the SGA level for your PASS to be approved. So if you put in $300.00 is what I expect to earn, it will not be approved. Simple as that. So I do that at the end. Once a person completes all the questions and uses the helpful sample answers and helpful hints they can actually press a button and download it all as a pdf. And right now we've got over 600 people nationwide working on PASS applications on passonline.

>> That's really great information Ed. One more time, what was that Website?

>> Passonline.org.

>> Great. Thank you. Okay, Kendra, is there any financial assistance out there to help with transportation?

>> If you need specialized transportation because of your disability there is a work incentive that can help you with that and it is for [inaudible] or IRWE and it's for impairment related work expenses. So for example if you needed door to door transportation because you have a visual impairment and were unable to use the bus system or drive yourself. The cost that you pay for that service could not be counted in your work earnings by Social Security. So for example for SSI recipients they would receive half of the money that they paid back in SSI for whatever they paid for work related expense wise. For SSDI it would not be counted after the trial work period to determine SGA so if you had to pay $150.00 a month and you were earning $1100.00 a month you could subtract $150.00 and bring your earnings level that Social Security looks at down to $950.00. Does that make sense? So there are some programs that can help you with that.

>> That's right. And let me just -- people will say so how do I know if I qualify for an impairment related work expense work incentive? And it's very easy. There are three questions asked. First, do you need the item because of an impairment? Second, do you need the item in order to work? And third, are you paying for the item out of pocket on your own. If somebody else is paying for the item, like vocational rehabilitation then you cannot count it as an IRWE and you cannot count it to help bring your earnings from above the SGA to below the SGA and that's a very big deal. Just think about this. If you bring your earnings from above the SGA to below the SGA in the Social Security world it's the difference between not getting an SSDI check and getting an SSDI check because SSDI is an all or nothing program. In the SSI world it basically is the difference between basically paying for something out of pocket and not getting any money back or paying $100.00 out of pocket and getting $50.00 back as a benefit.

>> And I'll explain because of those three questions, he asks things like medication can be used. Hearing aides, canes, things that you need. So it's not just transportation, it's anything that you need that allows you to work and it's related to your disability.

>> Right. And let me tell you, the sky is the limit. People will call me up and say, Ed, is this an impairment relatable expense and I say let's answer the three questions. And if you can answer the three questions yes, yes, and yes, do I need this because of an impairment, I need it to work and I'm paying for it out of pocket, it can be an IRWE.

>> Great. Thank you both, that's some wonderful information. Ed, one question about kind of related to PASS, do I have to disclose my disability to a potential employer?

>> The answer is no, you do not have to disclose your disability to a potential employer. Not during the application at all. After, after your employed and you're offered a job you may want to if you need some accommodations. But that decision is solely your decision. It's not the decision of the employer. They cannot ask about a disability during an interview for example. so it's -- this is an issue that if you do have issues about that and your disability is let's say, a hidden disability, a mental impairment etc. Something that's not readily obvious, you know, like being blind. You might want to talk to a PABSS attorney in your area or you might want to contact the Cornell, what's it called, the Northeast Disability Technical Assistance Hotline and they actually provide national training and information on that.

>> Wonderful, thank you Ed and with that we are coming up on 4:30 so I'm going to hand it back over to you to wrap us up.

>> Great. Well, listen folks, I hope that we've provided you with some good information today that you will use to make sure that you do exactly what we ask you to do. Remember we said go and call the Ticket to Work helpline. Go to socialsecurity.gov/work. Find an employment network or a vocational rehabilitation agency that will help you go to work. Stay in contact with them. Go to work, gain some freedom, become independent, have some additional money in your pockets. That was the whole goal of this session and the whole goal of the Ticket to Work, work incentives program. Having said that let me thank Kendra for her usual wonderful presentation. Jamie for getting this all together. And each and every one of you for your participation today. So thank you very much and have a great day. Bye.