>> Ray: Good afternoon everybody this is Ray Cebula from Cornell University's Employment and Disability Institute. I want to welcome you to today's WISE event and we're going to talk today about work incentives. We've got a lot of good information for you and some great presenters to share lots of valuable information with you. So what I'm going to do is take you through today's technology to make sure that you're all aware of how things work today. We have a webinar console that's on your screen right now and there should be an activity console on the right-hand side of your screen. If you have a question today or you have a comment today, we want to hear from you. So if you find the word question and click on that little arrow, it's going to open up the question and answer box. You can type your question in that little box at the bottom, hit send and Jamie is going to be with us monitoring the questions. Now we have an awful lot of people online, so I can promise you that we will not be able to get to all of your questions but what I want you to know is that we will give you resources and phone numbers to find answers to those questions. Now if you do need to switch around from telephone to your computer, all you need to do is look at the word audio up on the top line of your screen and click on that and it's going to open up this box and you can make a switch if you need to at any time during the webinar. Now as far as accessibility goes, we strive very hard to make our webinars accessible to everybody. But sometimes we run into trouble, and what we would like to know, if you do have an accessibility problem is what your problem is, and even more important to us is what you think and what you know about what we can do to fix it. So if you do have an issue with audio, if you do have an issue with screen readers, please let us know and we can fix that for future webinars. And, once again if you know of a program or a system that we could use to help fix that, please let us know about that as well. Today you have a toll-free number if you are calling in by phone. That is 855-244-8681. They're going to ask you for an access code and that is 643212364. There's a closed captioning link as well, I'll read that link for you it's on your screen now; http://www.ilr.cornell,edu/edi/captions. cfm(questionmark)activity_id=4120. You should have received an accessible PDF and a PowerPoint and text in the link that you received with your confirmation letter for today's session. Now we are going to have a transcript and an audio recording available for this webinar in about two weeks' time. If you give us that two weeks' and you need to listen to the webinar again, you can feel free or you can get the transcript at the following website; www.ilr.cornell.edu/edi/m-wise-webinars.cfm and we are going to have a couple of breaks during the session to take some questions and answers and then we can fill-up the end of time if we have any, for questions. But you can either, submit your questions through the question and answer box, or you can send them directly to chooseworkquestions@gmail.com and if you have a question that comes to you after today's webinar, you could always email those questions to support@chooseworkttw.net, that's support@chooseworkttw.net. What I want to do before we take care of the introductions is ask you some questions. You thought you might have been getting a free webinar, but we're going to make you work for it just a little bit. We've got some questions that help us do outreach and so we'd like to know who you are, a little bit about you, how many people are listening to you and how you found out about it. So, let's take the first one, and how did you learn about today's session? Did you learn it via email, Facebook or Twitter, a website, family or friends, or some other method? If you could, select an answer. [Pause] Doing well, lots of people participating; the more answers we get, the happier we are. [ Pause ] All right let me close that one and we'll open up our second polling question. What do you hope to learn from this national webinar? Something about the Ticket to Work, about work incentives for SSI, work incentives for SSDI, employment networks and vocational rehabilitation or something else? And again if you're checking something else, please go into the question and answer box and put that in there so we can consider that for the next session. [ Pause ] We're going to close that one in a couple of seconds. [ Pause ] All right let's go to question three. What is your gender, male or female? [ Pause ] Okay we're going to shut that one down. We always have a few seconds left to get those of you who want to toss an answer in. [ Pause ] Okay and our fourth question, what is your age? 18 or younger, 19-25, 26-40, 41-55, 56-65, or 66 or older. [ Pause ] Going to close that one real fast. [ Pause ] All right and while that's closing, this next question, our final question has to do with those of you who might be listening into this webinar with some other people sitting at your computer because we know a lot of times people are not watching and listening alone. So besides yourself, how many other people are with you today? [ Pause ] All right, close that out and wait our twenty seconds and we'll be all set. [ Pause ] I bet Jamie is so pleased she didn't have to remind me today to ask the polling questions. All right here we go. All right so today's agenda, I'm going to be taking you through welcome and some introductory slides to give you some basic information about the programs we're going to be talking about. Then we have our good friend Kendra Berry who works with Aspire Indiana who will talk about the Ticket to Work program. She'll also be talking about the work incentives that Social Security allows for folks who are receiving benefits. Tina Skeel, another friend of ours who is in employment network and will be talking to you about what an employment network can do for you. Then it's back to me for a short discussion about vocational rehabilitation agencies and services provided by the states and then I will then let you know about other resources. And then we'll take some questions and answers if we have some time at the end. First we always start out with our message from the Associate Commissioner Bob Williams who is a great support of return to work efforts. He is with the Office of Employment Support Programs at Social Security. So Mike if you could cue up that video. [ Pause ] >> Mike: Okay it will be up in just a moment Ray. >> Ray: Okay. [ Pause ] >> Mike: Looks like we're having a little technical difficulty. Give me one second and I'll get that video up. >> Ray: Okay [ Pause ] This is the wonders of live TV, folks. Bear with us please. [ Pause ] >> Mike: Okay Ray it looks like we're having some problems with u-Tube right now, so I think we'll have to move on. >> Ray: All right let's move on and Mike if we can get that straightened out I will stop the presentation. We can hear Commissioner Williams message a little bit later. So, what can you expect today? Hopefully we can expect to hear Mr. Williams at some point in the near future but you can expect to get a lot of great information about Social Security Ticket to Work programs. The programs are very, very extensive both for those of you who are receiving SSI, and those of you who are receiving SSDI and Kendra will take us through that information. Answers to frequently asked questions. You know a lot of times we hear the same questions over and over again, and Kendra, myself and Tina have heard it all pretty much. So we're going to go through some of those frequently asked questions so that you'll be aware of what that answer is and it's some very basic information. Where to find more, again in an hour and a half, we can't begin to tell you what you need to do in order to go to work. [Music] aha! I'm hearing the Commissioner. That was the Commissioner's music anyway, but where to find more information, we will always make sure that you have someplace else to get more information. Again, we're covering the tip of the iceberg and the programs are of significant value to you. And success stories, we have a video from a participant, Robert who was a veteran shared his story with us and he went from disability benefits back to work using the Ticket to Work. His story will give you some information where you can find some other success stories, just get you motivated and to just know that this can in fact work. Now why would you choose work? Notice there's a big pile of money sitting there and that's the incentive for all of us who get up every morning and go to work. To earn some money, I can assure you that with proper planning, your return to work will result in your having more money to spend every month. It may even result, we hope, in your ability to begin to save some money, but there is always more money available to somebody who is working than somebody who is receiving benefits whether it's part-time work or whether it's full-time work there should always be more. Gaining independence is a very, very important thing and it's wonderful! You will not have to report to Social Security when changes happen. You will not have to report to the Snap Agency or to the Housing Authority. The more independence you have from public benefits, the more independence you have in your life and you'll be able to do what you want to do, when you want to do it, much like the rest of us. Meeting new people, at work you meet lots of people. Everybody in this webinar knows by now, or everybody who's participating in the presentation knows by now that I met my spouse at work. So you meet lots of people at work. I know these people who I'm training with today because of work. It's a great way to meet new people and get out there and be able to setup a social network, as well as those work colleagues that you will have from returning to work. Now why are we choosing work again? We talked about earning income, gaining independence, meeting new people, but what about new skills? New skills are a very important part of this. You may have skills and you may have to relearn how to use those skills because of your disability. Or you may need some education or some technical training or as you can see some computer skills. We can help you get all of those things so you don't need to be afraid of admitting or owning up to the fact that I don't know how to use a computer enough. I don't, I can't use a hammer, you know I need some education before I can step into that job because that's part of this ticket to work and part of what we can provide to you. So here's a real Ticket Success Story, Robert who is a veteran and spent seven years serving our country in the Army. After a surgical mishap in the year 2000 he sustained a spinal cord injury that left him with limited mobility. He used his Ticket to Work and discovered his passion for helping other veteran's navigate that transition back from military life to civilian life. So Mike, can we cue up Robert? [ Pause ] [ Video ] All right! As always we want to thank Robert for sharing his story and as you can tell, if you remember some of his words, he talked about independence, meeting new people, learning skills and dignity. He never mentioned any of the money that he was earning and that's one of the things we find a lot when people return to work. Most of the other good stuff that comes with work, meeting people, gaining that independence, feeling better about yourself, is much more important than the money. And as I said, we can almost promise you that there will be more money at the end of every month. So what do you need to do if you're interested in returning to work? As soon as you're ready to work, we need to start gathering information. The information resources that we're going to provide you today are going to be key toward your journey to employment and notice what this says, it says towards planning that journey. This should be planned very carefully and you're going to build a team to help you through this. The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives are going to make this journey a smooth journey because the last thing we want is for you to be tripped up by some of these work incentives or some of the rules that might be involved. We want this to be a nice smooth transition from benefits to work. And your employment team is what is going to help you here. You're going to build that team, that team will then be run by you and they will all do their part. You've got to remember that you're the team leader. You'll have all of these experts with you to help make the right decisions, to help give you options and you can start building that team in almost any way. This is truly a no wrong door system. If you want to speak to somebody at the Ticket to Work Help Line, you can dial 1-866-968-7842, that's toll-free at 866-968-7842 or for TTY and TDD, again it is toll-free. It is 866-833-2967 and the folks at Ticket to Work Help Line can help begin connect you with people in your local area. Learning about the Ticket to Work, you know, we have a blog, everybody's got one. We've got one too. The Ticket to Work Team has a blog or you can watch more success stories that are on the website. Social Security website is a very, very good website and it's a very user-friendly website and has all of the information that you need about returning to work. That's at WWW.socialsecurity.gov/work, a very, very good website of information. And if you need some more encouragement or want to see more success stories again, about people who have actually used their Ticket to Work and have succeeded then that's the place to find it. The other ways to get into this program are to find Employment Networks or State VR Agencies that are going to meet your needs. It may be that an employment network is the right thing to do. Tina is going to talk to us about what an Employment Network is. Maybe the State VR Agency is your best option at this point. I'll talk a little bit about that but either one of those agencies will get you in contact with a person who will be part of your team and that person can then recruit other members of that team. Other experts that might be needed to meet your situation. Now notice it's to suit your needs, you are the team leader. You work with who you choose to and you put a plan together with these people to attain the vocational goal that you want. Not one that we decide for you, one that you want. What's your responsibility? Your responsibility is to want to go to work and to stay connected to your employment team. You know you may be exploring options, you may be going through training, you may be beginning to work really soon. In all of these cases you need to keep connected and keep in contact with the people on your employment team so that they know what's happening. Now to switch gears just a little bit, what we want to talk to you about real quickly are the disability programs that Social Security runs and there are two major programs. The Social Security Disability Insurance Program, and that is a program that people pay into when they have FICA Taxes withheld from their paychecks. Over a certain period of time you become insured for Social Security Disability Insurance. So it is an insurance benefit. It's the same system that you're paying into for retirement but it becomes available to us if we become disabled and need to draw upon that provided you have worked long enough in the system and your insurance is current. Your amount of benefits is very, very dependents upon how long you work and how much your salary was and there's a maximum of about $2500 a month this year and that will be going up a little bit in the next year. SSI is the other program and SSI is a needs-based program. It is pretty much a Federal Welfare Program and requires you to have little income and does not require you to have any work history. So you do not need to have worked in order to collect SSI, but you do need to have very little other income and very low resources. Now the wonder of these two programs as Kendra will tell you is, that the work incentives are very, very different. So it's very important that you know which benefit you're receiving. There are people who receive both SSDI and SSI and they're called Concurrent Beneficiaries. If your SSDI amount is below the Federal level that is set every year for SSI, SSI might be available to you to bring you up to that level. In that case, people really need a little bit of help because both sets of work incentives are going to apply to benefits at the same time and they're not really coordinated so you really need some planning if you receive both SSI and SSDI. Now as we move on, I told you we'd talk about some common myths. What do people believe that is going to happen to them if they go work? The first common myth is; if I try to go to work, I will automatically lose my Medicare and Medicaid. Well, the answer to that is a big-old false. Both Medicare and Medicaid now are really, really available for people who are on benefits and return to work. Forty-four States have what's called a Medicaid buy-in that allows somebody with a disability to pay a very reasonable premium to keep that Medicaid. Colorado should be coming online to make that forty-five States very shortly. Medicare is a benefit that's going to be available to you for up to seven-and-a-half years after you complete your trial work period. So there are lots of Medicare and Medicaid options for you and these benefits will not stop automatically upon returning to work, but will in fact stay with you for a very long period of time. Now number two, if I use my ticket to go to work, Social Security will perform a medical review and I'll lose my benefits. Well the answer to that is also false. If you use that ticket to work, Social Security in fact, will not perform a medical review on your case. They will withhold those medical reviews until you have got back to work. They don't want to pull the rug out from under you so there is no truth to that. The fact is exactly opposite, if you use that ticket there will be no medical reviews while you are using that ticket and making progress. Now the third myth, if I go to work and then have to stop working, I have to reapply for benefits all over again. And that first application took so long, I can't afford to wait that long, so it's safer for me just not to go to work. Well, I can tell you one more time that one is also false. There is a program that will allow people, even after they have been terminated because they have returned to work successfully, to get back on to benefits quickly within five years after that termination and that program is known as EXR or Expedited Reinstatement. So if you're terminated, because you went to work, if you're terminated today and something happens, and you can no longer work because of that disability, for the next five years you can walk into Social Security and basically say, "Turn on the benefits again." And you won't have to wait very long, a month, maybe. Maybe two if it's at the end of the month, but it's a real fast system, Expedited Reinstatement of Benefits. So these are the common myths that we hear and the questions that we hear all the time. And the answers, as you can see are very, very opposite of what most people think. So with that information, what I'm going to do is turn the presentation over to Kendra who will talk to you about the Ticket to Work Program. So Kendra, take it away. >> Kendra: Thanks Ray. As Ray said, my name is Kendra and I'm a Community Working Fitness Coordinator here with Aspire Indiana and I help people understand the Ticket to Work Program and how going to work will affect people's benefits. Next slide. The Ticket to Work Program is a free and voluntary program to assist SSDI and SSI recipients who have a disability, go back to work, enter the workforce for the first or increase their current work hours. Most people with disabilities age 18 through 64 who receive SSDI or SSI benefits who participate in the program. A lot of you may have received Ticket to Work, an actual paper copy of the Ticket to Work, years ago. And people were afraid that it meant Social Security was forcing them to go to work and they threw it away or they just didn't open it or they filed somewhere. The Ticket to Work Program is free and voluntary. If you choose to go work, it's going to provide you with assistance for finding a job that's a good fit for you and it gives you some extra incentives in looking for a job. Next slide. So when it comes to thinking about if you're ready to work, you're already on the right steps with listening to this webinar today. If you're ready to earn more money, there's a Ticket to Work Program and the work incentives that we're going to discuss can help you improve your earning potential by getting you connected with agencies that can help you find a [inaudible] job. If you're looking for the personal fulfillment that comes from working, the Ticket to Work Program can provide you with that assurance and stability you need to feel confident while you pursue employment. It can be really scary to think about getting back out there into the workforce if you haven't worked in a long time or if you've never worked and what the Ticket to Work Program is going to do is get you connected with those agencies to provide you with that one-on-one support to find a job. In a few months to be able to get back benefits if your job doesn't work out because of your disability. Your Ticket to Work Program is going to put you on the fast track back to receiving those benefits. Like Ray explained, the expedited grand statement is a work incentive that's available to provide you with that protection so that you're not going to have to go through the reapplication process. If you're feeling overwhelmed and don't know where to turn, understand that you're not alone. The Ticket to Work Program can connect you with the people, resources, and services that you need to develop your work plan. Again it's the goal of the Ticket to Work Program is to help you find the job that you want and the job that's a good fit for you and your disability. It's not a temp service. They're not just going to place you somewhere, so just know that there's assistance out there for you. Next slide. When it comes to building your employment team, what you're going to want to do is get in contact with a few different agencies. One of the best things to do to get started is to speak with an expert at the Ticket to Work Help Line and their telephone number is 866-968-7842 or 866-833-2967 for TTY and TDD. To learn more about the Ticket to Work Program read the blog or watch some real success story videos. You can go to www.socialsecurity.gov/work and this information is provided for you in the chat box on the right-hand side of your screen. You can also find an employment network or a State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency that can suit your needs. This information can be found at the website and later on in this presentation you're going to hear from Tina Skeel who represents an employment network in the State of Indiana and she'll be able to explain to you the services that an employment network can provide to you when you choose to assign your Ticket to Work. It's going to be important for you to stay connected to all of these agencies that you're working with. Whether it's an employment network or your local vocational rehabilitation [audio issue]. The importance for staying connected with everyone is that it's going to help you meet your goals sooner and find that job that's a good fit for you. Next slide. So that we've discussed the Ticket to Work Program and discussed where you can find some more information on that, let's review the work incentives that are available to you through Social Security. Next slide. [Audio issue] there are different work incentives depending on what benefit you're receiving whether it's SSDI or SSI. The point to the work incentives is that they are a bridge for success for you. A lot of people have that fear that going to work, that going to [inaudible] benefits stop immediately and that's not the case. The point of these work incentives that Social Security developed these programs to assist you in finding the job that's a good fit for you and working as much as you can whether that is part-time or working your way off benefits. So let's review some of these work incentives. Work incentives are going to provide you with that safety net that will allow you to receive training for new skills, improve the skills you already have, pursue your education, try out different jobs, start a career, gain confidence in yourself. The biggest thing that it comes to is starting a career. Again the point of you finding employment is finding a job that you like and not just being placed in some job that's available. So these work incentives will help you to achieve that. This is a list of some of the most common incentives and on the left-hand side they will specify which recipients they're available to. So let's start with the SSDI for Social Security Disability Insurance program work incentives. The first work incentive available is the trial work period. The trial work period allows you to test your ability to work for at least nine months. During the trial work period, you can earn as much money as you want and continue to receive your full SSDI benefits no matter what your earnings are, as long as your work activity is reported and your disability continues to be the same. So this is a great work incentive. The main reason it was created is to allow you to test your potential to see if your goal is to work full-time, it's going to give you that safety net of working for nine months and allow you to continue to receive your benefits while you determine if you're able to handle working full-time. There is a cutoff for the trial work period if you are earning more than $750 next year, so in 2013 than you would use the trial work period month. If you're earning less than that, then you wouldn't use a trial work period month and your SSDI benefits would still continue. The work incentive following the trial grant period is called extended period of eligibility or the EPE. At this time, this is only available for SSDI recipients. The EPE is the 36 months following the end of your trial work period. So it starts the first month after your trial work period ends and goes straight through for three years. Social Security may restart your SSDI benefits during this period if your work earnings fluctuate. So the point of this is that Social Security had to determine a level at which your SSDI benefits would stop if you're working above a certain earnings level. In 2013, that amount is going to be $1,040 per month. So if you are able to return to work and earn more than $1,040 and that's before taxes, per month, then you would not receive your SSDI check. As the way it stands, you either are eligible to receive your full SSPI check or you don't receive any of your SSDI check. In the 36 month EPE, if you are earning more than $1,040 and you do not qualify to receive your check that month, but earnings dip below that level, the next few months then you would qualify to receive your check. So it gives you a period, another safety net to allow you to check how much you're able to work. Those are the two main work incentives for SSDI recipients. Now let's review the SSI work incentive. This is called the Earned Income Exclusion. The way that this works is that less than half of your earnings are going to [inaudible] by Social Security to determine how much you'll receive in SSI. As Ray explained earlier, SSI is a needs-based program. So if you're working and earning money than your SSI check will change amounts depending on what you earn. Here's an example; if you go to work and you're earning $885 per month, that's around 30 hours a week at $8.00 an hour. Social Security won't count the first $85 and you have $800 and then they'll only count half of what's left. So, half of $800 is $400. Instead of receiving $710 which is the Federal benefit rate for 2013 for SSI, you would only receive $310 because they would subtract $400, and that scares a lot of people because what they think is my SSI check just lowered by $400. But look at the bigger picture. You earned $885 and you're going to receive $310 SSI. That gives you over $1100 dollars total. You end up having a lot more money at the end of the month. You're still receiving your SSI and the biggest benefit is that by working you're paying into the system and you're earning credit to become ensured under the SSDI program which is a huge benefit the future for you. The work incentives that Ray has explained to Expedited Reinstatement is available for both SSDI and SSI recipients and the biggest benefit of this is if your benefits are stopped because of your earnings level, you can request to have your benefits reinstated without having to complete a new application. And this is huge for almost everyone that I talk to. I've been working with people for the last six years on helping them find jobs and understand how it will affect their benefit and this is people's biggest fear is that they tell me that they had to apply for Social Security, that it took them years, that some of them had to hire a lawyer to get their benefits and they're afraid to have to go through that. The expedited reinstatement is a work incentive that makes it so you don't have to go through that again. While Social Security determines if you qualify for benefits, you're eligible to receive temporary benefits for up to 6 months. So say you had been working but you lost your job today, and you went down to Social Security and you told them that you lost your job because you just couldn't handle it anymore because of your disability, and you requested expedited reinstatement, your benefits would be reinstated in January. So you wouldn't have to go a period without having any income. So it's a huge work incentive to both be aware of and to use in the future. Another thing to consider is that there is protection from medical continuing disability reviews for both SSDI and SSI recipients when you're using your ticket to work. Social Security will postpone medical continuing disability review while you're participating in the Ticket to Work Program. And the benefit for this is that people are afraid that if they go back to work, that Social Security is going to say oh, they must not be disabled anymore and just stop their benefits and this is a work incentive that prevents that from happening. So these are all great things to know. And you may have more questions about these. If you refer to the right side of your screen, you can call the Ticket to Work Help Line and you can go to the website and learn more about these work incentives and get connected with someone who can give you specific information regarding your situation. They'll be able to do calculations for if you're receiving SSI and they'll be able to tell you if you've used any of your trial work period or what work incentives that you still have available to you. >> Ray: Okay, Kendra we have a couple of questions I'd like to ask you while the iron is still hot here. One person wants to know, do they do medical reviews during the trial work period? >> Kendra: No if your Ticket to Work is assigned or considered in use by vocational rehabilitation, then the continuing medical reviews are postponed. You could still have a general specific review and that's the review that you're scheduled for, either; every year, every three years, or every seven plus years. But that review is just to see is your disability still the same? Are you still seeing a doctor? Are you still connected with medical healthcare professionals? But, going to work is not going to cause you to have a review done. >> Ray: Okay thank you, and one more question for you. This person indicates that their check, their benefit SSDI check is more than $1,040 so how can this person go to work? >> Kendra: That $1,040 amount is only considering work earnings. So, all of the amounts that I mentioned that if you're earning more than $750 during a trial work period, that's only work earnings. Social Security is not to determine what you're receiving in as SSDI; they're concerned with what you are earning while you're working. So it's important to understand the difference between that. For concurrent beneficiaries who are receiving both SSI and SSDI, I would encourage you to contact someone and discuss your specific situation because they will look at both your work earning and what you're receiving. >> Ray: All right thank you very much Kendra and let's move on to Tina Skeel who is with an employment network. Tina, take it away. >> Tina: Thank you, again my name is Tina Skeel, I'm the Director of Employment Services at Aspire Indiana and I'd like to thank you once again for allowing us to speak, Kendra and I. I'd like to start out by saying we're just one of over 4,000 client ENs in the United States. And in the State that we worked in which is Indiana, we are just one of 141 ENs, and I did check that out today on the internet to confirm. There are 141 ENs to provide service to individual [inaudible] in Indiana. So, your state may have more, or they may have fewer number of employment networks that's depending on who they are. >> Ray: Tina, let me interrupt you for a second. You said you checked that out on the website so why don't we give a plug. Which website did you check that out on? >> Tina: Absolutely, I went directly to www.socialsecurity.gov/work and that was a real quick, easy process. If you like the internet, this is a great opportunity to get on and really check out information. So with that said, you probably also heard in the news the term EN which you're going to hear me say a lot, that stands for Employment Network so [audio issue] acronyms and something that you're going to hear quite frequently when you're involved with the Ticket to Work Program. All right so let's get started. Let's begin with discussing how to build your employment network or [audio issue]. And I think Kendra talked a little bit about this earlier in the presentation, I just want again express that one of the first things you need to do is figure out which or how to contact those reinforcements that can help you find an Employment Network, we've already eluded to it when we mentioned the internet with one of sources that I utilized today check out all the Employment Network. If you don't have access to a computer, another option is to the Ticket to Work Help Line and all you need to do is call the Ticket to Work Help Line at 1-866-968-7842 or 1-866-833-2967 for TTY and TDD and on the particular help line you can speak with a benefits councilor or request a list of Employment Networks that serve your area or you can do what I did and it's simply go to www.socialsecurity.gov/work to access that list of Employment Networks near you. Now it's a very easy process. All I needed to do was click right on my State, so I clicked Indiana and when I did that, it gave me the exact number of Employment Networks for Indiana and I could break it down by zip code so I could look at Employment Networks [audio issue] and from a bigger perspective on how close those particular Employment Networks were to me. So I can type in 10 miles and I can find the Employment Network that were very close to me so if you have internet access I would encourage you to do that. And with so many Employment Networks to choose from you might find it helpful to interview them. So in selecting the Employment Network, you might want to take the opportunity to interview and then go the website as well. So we have listed here some questions that you may want to ask. One of the first questions is how many people have you helped through the Ticket to Work Program? Now I want to warn you there are a number of new ENs throughout the United States so, don't be deceived too much by the numbers but you might find that some Employment Networks might serve thousands of people, where other networks might serve only a few. So that does lend to the next question which is what kind of companies do you work with for job placement? You're like to see is there diversity of types of jobs people are obtaining? You might want to ask what kind of jobs might be available to you. For instance if you have an interest in the healthcare, you know you might want to look for an Employment Network but maybe that specializes in working with healthcare providers. Or someone that has special relationships with factories in your area, [inaudible] who are interested in manufacturing. Another good question to ask is how often will we communicate and meet? There are a number of national Employment Network throughout the United States and there are also local ones that might be in your very own backyard. With that then there are basically two main steps in finding an Employment Network. First of all do they provide the services to people that live in my area? So I'm looking, first of all, does this Employment Network provide services in my area? The second question is; are they a good match for you? And do they meet your needs? And then some of those examples you might think about when you're looking for an employment network, I mentioned the National versus Local. If you're someone who is very tech [inaudible] and understands the internet maybe you would do good with an Employment Network over the internet or maybe meeting by phone might be more comfortable for you. Others may want to have more of a personal touch and meet face-to-face. So those are just a few questions to think about. The next part which I kind of mentioned already is about interviewing or talking to the Employment Network, and one of the best ways that you can do that is to call your EN Office. Can we go to the next slide? When you are working and looking for an Employment Network you should be able to tell you how to take [audio issue] and the services that are provided. I think we're one slide ahead there, slide back one. There you go, thank you. So that Employment Network, as you're doing that interviewing process should be very familiar on the Ticket to Work Program works and how it will benefit you. Employment Network should also ask you about your work goals and your intentions about work. They should be willing to work with you and really getting to know who you are. As you're kind of doing that interviewing [audio issue] really pay attention to how they are working and gathering information from you. The third thing in Employment Network should be doing is to talk about your fears. Some of those fears that you might have. My dad always said that sometimes the first step is the hardest step in the journey and going back to work, there are a number concerns and I know that you all have listened to the first part of this [audio issue] so many wonderful even to move forward in your employment journey and those Employment Network are there to help and talk through that it's concerned with you. You have some very creative and innovative Employment Network and they will do a fabulous job on addressing any of those concerns that you might have. The last thing is that you and your Employment Network will develop an individualized work plan that will include your employment goals and the services the Employment Network plans to provide in helping attain your job goals. Now within this plan, there are a variety of areas it will include long and short term goals. So, it's not just about today, it's about those long term goals as well, a full career planning opportunity. All right so when you visit the Employment Network, here are a few things you need to remember. First of all like anything, there will be some paperwork to do. You'll be actually signing the plan that you both will work on, the individual work plan and by signing that plan you are assigning the ticket to the Employment Network. The EN may have some routine forms for you to sign as well, that allows them to work with you. For example, they might have you sign a release of information so that they can work with you in regard to your benefit planning with Social Security. Another piece of this is we are hopeful that you will be totally satisfied with the services provided Employment Network you choose and that the EN will help and encourage you in continuing to pursue and maintain your employment, however sometimes things happen, you can always un-assign your ticket if you change your mind or you decide that the EN that you've chosen isn't quite the right match. You're also able to choose another Employment Network. And lastly remember, once your ticket has been assigned Social Security postpones your continuing disability review sometimes referred to CDRs. They're going to postpone it as long as you are making timely progress toward employment. Now what does that mean to postpone your Continuing Disability Review in [audio issue]. Again, I think Ray you talked about it earlier; the Continuing Disability Review is that review that is done by Social Security to review your level of disability. As far as timely progress toward employment, what that basically means is that they're just listening to see if you are actively working toward becoming employed. For example, are you job hunting, are you [inaudible] or are you attending any type of school. So those are the basic things that they are looking at in regard to that timely progress. As I mentioned early and going to the next slide--As I mentioned early that one of the critical steps is finding an EN that "fits" you, however, all ENs should provide the following basic services. Your EN should be there to resume developing and advising you how to fill out a good application. They may also have tips on how to explain log absences from work without disclosing any type of disability. So in many cases they can help you prepare for that interviewing process and then if there are situations in which there were doubts in your employment, they will also help work through that process as well. Another nice feature is that Employment Networks are there to assist with job accommodation information and resources. For example how to ask for an accommodation and even where to obtain resources in accommodations for example, assisted technology such as maybe a modified computer screen or perhaps a modified keyboard. Those are just a couple examples of assisted technology and they will be able to assist you with securing the job accommodations. The [inaudible] is around taxes incentive information. Tax incentives are out there and available to employers and can provide the extra incentive to hire you. Each Employment Network will have a number of resources that will help guide and provide education to employers regarding those tax incentives. The last piece in regard to referrals, the EN can assist with referrals to other resources in your area, for example I worked in a community mental health center. They could assist with assistance to mental health services such as counseling and they may also be able to assist you with resources such as housing. They can provide a number of different suggestions that may [inaudible] your needs. Next slide. Other examples of EN services include job leads and information on employers who are hiring. They might be aware of job fairs, or even recruiting events. They may also have access to resource centers such as computers or internet service, email, faxes, all those things and be free to you to utilize. The third piece is in regard to job development. A number of Employment Networks assist individuals by providing job development services. Now what this means is that the EN will either go out on your behalf or go out with you in search of employers and employment opportunities. Next they may also offer referrals to other agencies that can help you. For example I have worked with a number of individuals who we have referred to agencies such as the YMCA childcare program. They may also assist with continuing to provide services through the Ticket Program after you are finished working with Vocational Rehabilitation. So these Employment Networks are there to assist you long-term. Over the last few years, I've had the opportunity to work with a number of people in their employment journey. Bob and his wife are one of the hardest working people I know. About ten years ago they decided as a team that they wanted to be, and of course in their words, "They wanted to be free of the rules from the State and from the Federal Government." They sat down as a team and they went for it. Today I'm happy to say that Bob and his wife are both working and doing well. When asked about if they ever were concerned about going off of their benefits, both of them said in tandem, haven't taken a look back and don't regret a bit. We're doing fine. Bob and his wife have become not only leaders with their employment journey, but they've also become leaders in a number of other ways. First of all they've become a leader within their employment site and I'm happy to report that Deb just won employee of the month. They've also become leaders with their friends who have watched as they transitioned and went completely off of benefits and have found great positive encouragement for both of them. And lastly they've become leaders in their communities. With that said, we hope that you have enjoyed your fortune to the new Employment Network. Thank you. >> Ray: Okay Tina I've got a couple of questions for you. Is it possible to use your ticket after you've already started working? >> Tina: It is possible, absolutely and one of the best ways that you can find out if you can still utilize that ticket is that number that I gave earlier in the presentation, that 800 number, that 866-968-7842 number. You can call that number and find out if your ticket is still available for you. >> Ray: Okay and is it possible to get education assistance through the Ticket to Work? >> Tina: You know a number of different entities do provide some level of assistance in working with various different schools. So I would encourage you, if you are interested in receiving education that you look at those Employment Network and pay attention to what types of services that they offer and what types of relationships they have in the field that you might be interested in. >> Ray: Okay and the last thing I have is somebody has already been playing with the website at socialsecurity.gov and they found that there are only two ENs in their State. One of those ENs is specifically for minorities, so they only have one option. Is there anything else that they can do? >> Tina: It's interesting that they only have two ENs. There are [inaudible] to the National ENs because I'm curious if whoever is looking at that, if they are looking at their State and doing a [inaudible] search? >> Ray: I think really that I'm surprised to hear that too Tina, but I suggest that that person give that Ticket to Work Help Line a call and that number is 866-968-7842. They can either connect you with a National EN or even it's possible that there have been some more added and the website just hasn't been brought up to date. >> Tina: That's why I had the list today to make sure what the number was because [inaudible] change daily and I really encourage you to pay attention to that so good point Ray. >> Ray: All right, okay so let me take you through some vocational rehabilitation services that are provided to you by the State. And we are talking your state to be our agency. I'm in Massachusetts; mine is called the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission. The New York one is called ACCESS VR. So whatever that agency is called in your State, they are there to provide services to members and people living in your State. When you use that ticket, you can use if for vocational rehabilitation services. And because you're considered disabled by Social Security, you're automatically eligible for State VR services. Now we all say that all the time and you are automatically eligible. We're not saying that you're going to be able to get service immediately because lots of States are running out of money and they do have orders of selection. But I can assure you that you will be considered eligible; the question is when will you get services from these folks? You will be assigned a VR councilor and you will develop an employment plan much like you do with the Employment Network that Tina was talking about. Your ticket is assigned, if you choose to assign for the State VR, your ticket assigned the moment that you and your councilor sign that plan and that plan is something that you and your councilor develop together, much like you do with the Employment Networks as Tina. You're working together, this VR councilor is part of that employment team and the VR councilor is not there to tell you what kind of job you should get. You are there to explore the employment, the VR councilor is there to give you options and make options available to you. As that ticket is assigned when you're working with State VR agencies, those continuing disability reviews are also deferred as long as you're making timely progress towards that goal and that timely progress will be spelled out to you with your councilor from VR or with your employment network. They are pretty specific so you're going to need to be aware of those. When you're using your ticket the State Agency Vocational Rehabilitation Agency, you and your councilor then discuss the opportunity to have an employment network provide support services when your VR services end. This is a very, very important part of that ticket. The fact right now is that when VR closes your case, your ticket may still have some value and you can take that ticket to an Employment Network for follow-up services and supports. So the result is you can go through your State VR agency, get the rehab services, get the educational services, get the equipment that you need from that agency and then take that ticket to work to an Employment Network who can help you as Tina said. Get your resume ready, give you some resume practice, some interviewing practice and potentially provide some on-the-job support after VR closes your case. So you can in fact use both the State Agency and a Private EN throughout this process. That's a very, very good change that happened 2008. Now before we get some other resources, it looks like I've got a couple of questions and Tina I'm going to ask you this one. Can getting a technical skill or education to get a job be part of this program? >> Tina: In getting a-- >> Ray: A technical skill or an education part of the Ticket to Work Program? >> Tina: Absolutely, absolutely there is a large part of this is to provide career advancement as well, so absolutely. >> Ray: Absolutely and again that education or technical skill could be learning new skills or relearning skills that you may have already had but now need to do a bit differently because of your disability. And someone is asking how a convicted felon will find a job? Is that going to pose an insurmountable barrier? >> Tina: Absolutely not, Ray. Many of the Employment Networks across the United States have worked with individuals who have a number of barriers toward employment, one of them being criminal history and you may want to look specifically for an employment network who has experience in working and helping work through those barriers that may be in front of you regarding that. >> Ray: Yep absolutely, I agree with you 100 percent, Tina. That shouldn't stop anybody from giving this a shot at all. All right and I think before we go on to our other resources, I've got a couple of questions for Kendra. >> Kendra: Okay. >> Ray: Kendra somebody wants to know when is my income counted? When I earn it or when I get it? >> Kendra: That depends on if you're receiving SSDI or SSI. For people receiving SSDI or for concurrent beneficiaries who have both, income or the SSDI portion is going to be counted when you earn it so, from the first calendar day of the month through the last calendar day. For SSI recipients, income is when you receive it so that's when those three paycheck months are going to impact your SSI more. >> Ray: Okay thank you. And lastly if you're earning more than $750 dollars a month that you mentioned earlier, you'd still receive your full SSDI check? >> Kendra: During the trial work period, yes. The $750 amount that I mentioned for SSDI recipients it just means that if you earned $760 then you would use that trial work period month. Once all of your trial work period months are used, if your earnings are less than $1,040 dollars, then you would still continue to receive your SSDI check. It's just different amounts that apply to the different work incentives. >> Ray: Okay great, thank you very much. I want to thank Tina and Kendra for all of that information and those great answers to questions and now it's time to give you some other resources. We've talked about the Social Security website. We have to let you know about that again. www.socialsecurity.gov/work. That is going to help you find that list of employment networks and other Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Information that you're going to need to get started. It's a real safe way to begin to explore because no one's going to know whether you looked except for that one person who told us that they already did. But you can check out the systems, see how these programs work and see if you want to begin the process of building a team. The Ticket to Work Line can help you, they can help you build that team or they can simply answer the questions that you might have after you look at the website. And once again, the voice line is toll-free at 1-866-968-7842 and the toll-free TTY and TDD number is 866-833-2967. Now right after today's session, Kendra is going to stick with you and she's going to run a Facebook Q&A. That's going to go from 4:30 to 5:30 so those of you who have other questions or want to just simply listen in and see what other people are asking, please participate in that session. In order to participate you need to visit http://www.facebook.com/choosework. For those of you who have Facebook accounts you should be able to get in there real quick. You can participate and ask questions during this. If you log into your account, to create a Facebook account which you can do real fast as well, you need to follow this link here; at http://www.facebook.com/help/createaccount or if you just Google Facebook and pull that up it's going to direct you as to how to create that account. And for Facebook accessibility and assisted technology, you're going to cue into www.facebook.com/help/accessibility. And I want to thank Kendra for hanging out with you folks and answering some of those questions. You can participate in this Facebook Q&A via html as well. And this web state is a little bit longer, Jamie is putting them up in the chat box for you, but it's http://m.facebook.com/choosework#!/ choosework(questionmark)V=feed@_user=0. That was a long one but Jamie does have it in the chat box. If you cannot access Facebook, send your questions to chooseworkquestions@gmail.com or you can visit the Choose Work Blog after the session today and the transcript for the Facebook Q&A will be there so you will be able to read those questions and see what Kendra has provided by way of answers. Okay, so we are showing 4:29 and we promised you to start up the Facebook session at 4:30 so once again I want to thank you all. I want to thank Tina and Kendra, for great presentations. They're always wonderful speakers. I want to thank Jamie who was feeding me those questions. Michael in the background for the technical assistance and you can follow us on Facebook, www.facebook.com/choosework hit like, and you'll get information on your Facebook page or if you are Twittering and I just understand the Pope finally got on to Twitter today. If you want to join Twitter too, http://www.twitter.com/chooseworkssa and you can follow us on Twitter. Once again I want to read those Tickets for Work help line numbers for you, the voice line, toll-free at 1-866-968-7842 or TTY/TDD users toll-free at 866-833-2967 and with that said, again, thanks everybody who participated and join Kendra for that Facebook Q&A. Have a great afternoon. [ Pause ] [ Silence ]