X-Mozilla-Status: 0001 Message-ID: <[log in to unmask]> Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 12:37:30 -0800 From: "Richard W. Fee" <[log in to unmask]> Organization: National Institute on Life Planning for Persons with Disabilities X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.0b6b (Win95; I; 16bit) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: [log in to unmask] CC: [log in to unmask] Subject: February NILP OnLine News Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit NILP OnLine News ________________________________________________________________________National Institute on Life Planning for Persons with Disabilities, Inc. CIHS-Sonoma State University, 1801 E. Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park, CA 94928-6922 ________________________________________________________________________ Februar y, 1996 Volume I, No. 4 Government Benefits and Your Future... Everyone occassionally wakes up from a bad dream at 3 o'clock in the morning. There is always some worry that suddenly becomes overwhelming and it usually happens at 3am. My worry surfaced this morning. For the last year, Congress and the President have wrestled with ways to streamline government, reduce the deficit, balance the budget, etc. It would appear that with the recent blessing from the Governors conference, block grants for benefits will probably become a reality in the future. This means in the simpest terms that the government will give the states some money based on a formula usually population and tell them to go for it. They may also mandate guidelines, however, the Governors were not keen on this concept. What is going to happen? At the present time, the maximum SSI assistance is roughly two-thirds of the poverty income level. Families generally help bring the person with the disability up to a reasonable standard of living. In my 28 years in this field, I have never seen the government agencies make the application process anything other than a very difficult one. The whole process is insulting and degrading. We are not talking about helping those who are trying to cheat the system. We are talking about those who because of a disabling condition or society's and businesses' attitudes towards them cannot earn survival wages. There are very few people who can live on less than $500 a month. If they live in a group home facility that generous government allowance for personal needs goes does to $30-40 a month. As a society we, consciously or unconsciously, not only devalue persons with disabilities, but we also humiliate them by throwing a few token crumbs of financial assistance. Persons with disabilities receive a basic income from the government through the SSI and SSDI programs. Those fortunate to have strong family support system may do "okay" while it exists. As these persons get older and the family support dwindles down to nothing(death), they must rely on the charities to bridge the gap. With the block grant method of distributing the funds, the states will decide how it will be spent(Not to pick on Oregon, but their system of rationing/prioritizing healthcare scares many people with disabilities). It seems that the present Congress feels that we need to get back to the "traditional" values where people all pitch in and help one another. I would venture to guess that we are already pitching in a great deal now. Charities will some how be overwhelmed with new contributions(right!). My concern is based on what I saw growing up in the 50's and 60's. Many states who receive the largest federal assistance continue to have the worst social service structures. We know that not all states distribute the funds properly. Even with the current federal mandates and distribution system, there are states that provide worse services than third world countries. With no real federal oversight, you will see major lawsuits concenring quality care and a massive re-distribution of persons with disabilities and their families to the more enlightened states. I suppose the key question(the 3am worry) that every person with a disability has to ask right now is - How will I be able to live a comfortable life without a good government benefit program and the support of my family? Can I rely on the local charities to make up the difference when I family is gone? Will the state government supplement the federal block grant subsidy? From what I know of my current state government, will the federal block grant funds wind up in my pocket or in the new roads, prisions, government official's salaries, etc. ? Think about it. Think about it real hard! Plan for a future without the government benefit program. *********************************************************************** NILP WELCOMES YOUR MEMBERSHIP- FOR MORE DETAILS, CHECK HOME PAGE ON http://sonic.net/nilp OR E-MAIL [log in to unmask] *********************************************************************** ChLAP Guarantee When the time comes to do your special planning or recommend someone to do the planning, ask your professional about his or her qualifications. You can rest assured that those professionals who have completed the ChLAP program know their "stuff" and have subscribed to a strict code of ethics. The ChLAP logo is important. The ChLAP logo in combination with the words "Fellow" or "Member" of NILP indicate the professional also receives the latest life planning information from NILP. ChLAP Training Program - IF YOU ARE REALLY SERIOUS ABOUT HELPING PEOPLE PLAN FOR THE FUTURE The ChLAP program is a correspondence study program made up of 3 courses- Social, Legal and FInancial Aspects of Lifetime Assistance Planning. It leads to the professional designation of ChLAP or Chartered Lifetime Assistance Planner. This special program prepares professionals for working with persons with disabilities and their families in planning for the future. Each course requires satisfactory completion of a major project and final examination. It is a fairly new program. In the first 6 months, over 50 professionals completed the designation. Details about the program can be found on the NILP Web page: http://sonic.net/nilp. We recently instituted some major changes based on our experience to date. The first is in the tuition area. We reduced the basic tuition for each module to $975 with a 10% discount if you work for a non-profit organization. We offer a pre-examination school for each course which lasts 3 days. Most professionals simply take the final examination without the school. The tuition for the school includes lunches, breaks, materials, etc. is $295. They are held four times a year in San Francisco(minimum of 15 students). The next ChLAP examinations will be held on Saturday, May 4th in San Francisco. The pre-examination schools will go from Thursday, May 2nd at 1pm until the Saturday exam at 3pm. This Saturday exam will help you access cheap weekend fares and enjoy an extra day or two in San Francisco and/or Napa Valley. For more information about enrolling the ChLAP program and the next series of pre-examination schools, please call us on 707-664-4235 or by the modern e-mail method on [log in to unmask] *************************************************************************YOUR NI LP MEMBERSHIP IS WELCOME. FOR MORE DETAILS, PLEASE CHECK HOME PAGE AT http://sonic.net/nilp OR E-MAIL [log in to unmask] ************************************************************************* 1996 NATIONAL CONFERENCES March 6th-9th Learning Disabilities Association of America, Dallas, TX, Jean Petersen, Fax 412-344-0224 15-17th Disabled, But Enabled and Empowered., SUNY, Rochester, NY, David DuBois, 716-244-3884 x.123 E-Mail:[log in to unmask] 19th-23rd CSUN 11th Annual Technology Conference, Harry Murphy, 818-885-2578, Fax 818-885-4929, E-mail: [log in to unmask] 26th-28th Arc Governmental Affairs Seminar, Washington, DC, 1-800-433-5255 29th-31st National Ataxia Foundation, Little Rock, AR, Cheryl Harrison 612-473-7666, Fax 612-473-9289 29th-April 1st International Parent to Parent Conference, Albuquerque, NM Betsy Santelli, 800-564-4772 E-mail: [log in to unmask] April 17th-20th 7th Biennial Conference on Postsecondary Education for Persons who are Deaf or HH, Knoxville, TN, Marcia Kolvitz 423-974-8427 TTY 423-974-3522 E-Mail [log in to unmask] TBA - Council for Exceptional Children May 16th-19th National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Cambridge, MA. 520-881-4005 Fax 520-325-7925 24th-27th International Rett Syndrome 12th Conference, Boston, MA Cathy Hunter, 301-856-3336 May 28-June 1st - American Association on Mental Retardation, San Antonio, TX, Paula Hirt, 1-800-424-3688 May 29 - June 1st - 19th Annual NAPAS Conference- P&A/CAP Training, Washington,DC, 202-408-9514, Fax 202-408-9520 E-Mail: [log in to unmask] June 13th-16th Society for Disability Studies, Washington, DC Adrienne Asch 617-283-3248 Fax 617-283-3671 19th-21st Spina Bifida Association of America, Phoenix, AZ, Roberta Carlin 202-944-3285 Fax 202-944-3295 27th-29th National Down Syndrome Society, Phoenix, AZ 800-221-4602 Fax 212-979-2873 July 1st-7th National Association of the Deaf, Portland, OR Deborah Jacobs, 301-587-1789 TTY 301-587-1789 Fax 301-587-1791 9th-12th 7th Annual Association for Persons in Supported Employment(APSE), New Orleans, LA 804-278-9187 5th-9th National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Nashville, TN, Connie Schantz, 703-524-7600 10-13th Autism Society of America, Milwaukee, WI, 414-427-9345 Fax 414-427-9395 11th-13th Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation, Orlando, FL Leanna Jackson, 813-282-1161 e-mail: [log in to unmask] 18th-20th Prader-Willi Syndrome Conference, St Louis, MO, Russ Myler 800-926-4797 26th-28th National Down Syndrome Congress, Miami Beach, FL, 800-232-6372 Fax 404-633-2817 26th-29th Williams Syndrome Association Valley Forge, PA Terry Monkaba 810-541-3630 Fax 810-541-3631 E-mail: [log in to unmask] August 6th-11th National Fragile X Foundation Portland, OR, David Mommener, 303-333-6155 Fax 303-333-4369 9th-11th Sotos Syndrome Support Association, Santa Barbara, CA Patty and Michel Charest, 805-683-1614 September 5th-8th National Rehabilitation Association, Norfolk, VA, Carol Jafarr, 703-836-0850 Fax 703-836-0848 19th-21st - Trial Lawyers - Brain Injury Association, Inc, Palm Beach, FL, Elizabeth Rouse, 202-296-6443 Fax 202-296-8850 October 7th-9th National Guardianship Association, Detroit, MI, Joan Grey 616-387-4174 Fax 616-387-4189 14th-16th Conference on Aging and Developmental Disabilities, Lexington, KY, James Stone 606-273-9656 E-mail: [log in to unmask] 17th-21st American Association of University Affiliated Programs for Persons with Developmental Disabilities. Washington, D.C. Theresa Hosinski, 301-588-8252 Fax 301-588-2842. November 3rd-6th Brain Injury Association, Dallas, TX Elizabeth Rouse, 202-296-6443 Fax 202-296-8850 6th-8th Arc National Convention, Louisville, KY, 1-800-433-5255 21st-23rd TASH, New Orleans, LA 410-828-8274 Fax 410-828-6706 December We welcome your membership in the NILP. Fax or E-mail for application forms Published monthly by the National Institute on Life Planning for Persons with Disabilities, Inc. CIHS-Sonoma State University, 1801 E. Cotati Ave, Rohnert Park, CA. 94928-6922 Fax 707-762-2657 E-Mail: [log in to unmask]