Multiple sclerosis is a slow-progressing functional disease of the central nervous system. According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, MS affects approximately 400,000 Americans and is a leading cause of neurological disability.

This week, March 8-14, the National MS Society is helping to raise national awareness about MS through its “Move It” Campaign of events.  There are “move-it” walk-a-thons and bicycling events planned all across the country as well as advocacy initiatives to raise funds and gain support for MS research. 

People with MS and others are encouraged to “move it” this week and join the campaign’s mission to create a “world free of MS.”

Find out more about National MS Awareness Week and “Move-It” events in your area. 

Could you ever imagine that someone who can’t see could successfully play a video game?  This is what a young blind Canadian, Jordan Verner, aspired to do.  He has never considered his blindness “a total roadblock” to accomplishing anything, so he reached out to other gamers on the Internet for help in learning the moves for the adventure/fantasy game “Zelda.” 

He found it with Roy Williams, in South Carolina, who felt that “just because a person has a disability doesn’t mean that they can’t do a normal thing, like play a video game.”

Williams and three other gamers worked together on an incredible project to empower Verner to realize his goal.  Each took a part of the game and copied down every single move they made and created a script of 100,000 key strokes for Verner’s computer to read back to him. The project took two years to complete. 

View the CNN video to watch this inspiring story.

The Social Security Administration has announced that the disability hearings backlog has reached its lowest level since 2005. Just over the past 14 months, the number of pending cases decreased by 10 percent and the time to make a decision on a case has also decreased to 442 days.

Social Security’s aggressive plan seems to be working.  In 2009, SSA hired 147 Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) and over 1,000 support staff. That contributed to reducing processing time for hearing decisions by 72 days. SSA plans to hire 228 ALJs in 2010 and will open 14 more hearing offices and three satellite offices.

 
“This remarkable progress shows our backlog reduction plan is working,” said Michael J. Astrue, commissioner of Social Security.  “With ongoing support from the President and Congress as well as the efforts of our hardworking employees, I am confident the hearings backlog will continue to diminish.”

If your case is pending a hearing, you can get a sense of how long it may currently take before you get to meet the judge. Click here for a full listing of regional hearing offices, ranked according to processing time.

Kathy has rheumatoid vasculitis. She’s been told it’s hereditary, but no one in her family has the condition. There was a time when she was bedridden for nine months and could not work. Now she is in a pain-management mode.  She watches her diet and pushes herself to stay physically active, though she can’t walk long distances. She works at keeping a positive attitude and says her optimistic outlook makes her feel better. Kathy has worked for Freedom Disability as an executive assistant for nearly seven years.  What is her take on hiring people with disabilities?

“Let me begin by saying, I am disabled, not unable. Why should you hire me? Well, what about my skill set? What about my work ethic?”

Kathy says that employers should think past a person’s disability and instead focus on the person’s capabilities. “The interview process – here’s where issues begin – the face-to-face meetings. Some people are intimidated by a person’s impairments. Employers need to be more open-minded. Get past the visible signs of a disability and not automatically disqualify a job candidate because of it,” says Kathy.

She says that there are companies that may be inclined to turn down an individual with a disability because the Americans with Disabilities Act states that, if necessary, they must make reasonable work accommodations for that person.

 “I worked for a company, years ago, that purchased a rolling cart for me so that I could move large quantities of customer files from one side of the building to the other. The cost was less than $50. It was a simple accommodation but it allowed me to be more productive. It was a win-win for both me and the company. Accommodation costs are usually minimal, if necessary at all, and there are tax incentives for hiring people with disabilities.”

Kathy believes that a person with a disability may have an advantage working for an advocacy group that helps people with disabilities. Her presence reminds the Freedom Disability staff that the one thing someone with a disability wants to feel is respect.  “We don’t want to feel singled out or pitied.  We don’t want people doing everything for us. We don’t want people fumbling near us or walking on eggshells. We just want to be treated with respect—just like anyone else.” 

 
“In my opinion, if the candidate is the best match for the position, then I strongly believe they should be hired –regardless of their disability.”

The legendary Stevie Wonder will be honored at the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) Leadership Gala on March 10 in Washington, D.C.

 AAPD, an advocacy organization for people with disabilities, chose Wonder as the first recipient of the AAPD Image Award because of how he has personally improved perceptions of people with disabilities. 

 Who doesn’t know Stevie Wonder? His awesome talent has dominated the R&B and Pop music scene since his recording debut at age 12 when he was called “Little” Stevie Wonder. 

Hs life-long musical achievements are all the more wondrous because he has been blind since birth. He is actively involved in advocacy work for the disability community, and was named United Nations Messenger of Peace on International Day of Persons with Disabilities in 2009. 

 “Stevie Wonder is a global leader who has used his extraordinary talents to be an ambassador for civil rights and social justice,” said Andrew J. Imparato, president and CEO of AAPD.

Read the full AAPD press release. 

Autistic disorder is listed as one of the Social Security Administration’s qualifying medical conditions for disability benefits.  However, there are varying levels of severity. Many people with autism can be valuable contributors to society, if given the chance.

Take Temple Grandin, whose remarkable life story, “Temple Grandin,” was portrayed by actress Claire Danes in a critically acclaimed film shown on HBO this month.  Grandin is autistic. The film raises awareness – and perhaps better understanding of – people with autism.

 
Grandin is best known for her revolutionary system for livestock handling equipment. She also teaches at Colorado State University, has written 10 books, and talks about animals or autism as a guest lecturer. She could have been institutionalized as a child, depriving the world of her extraordinary accomplishments. Thanks to her mother, that didn’t happen.

In a recent Wall Street Journal interview, Grandin said that there are some very smart children with autism and Aspergers, considered part of the autism spectrum.

 
 “When I see these kids with 150 IQ and their parents want to put them on Social Security [disability], it drives me nuts,” she said in the interview. “It’s important to get these autistic kids out and exposed to stuff… I want to see more and more of these smart kids going into the tech industry and inventing things.”

In fact, people with autism can be very well suited to performance tasks that require repetitive, detail-oriented skills. Many can be leading contributors in engineering, science and technology fields.

Brenda Weitzberg, who is the mother of an autistic adult child, said in an NPR report, that the company she founded trains people in data entry and computer program testing.  It’s the kind of work her son can do really well.

Her company, Aspiritech, is modeled after a Danish company, Specialisterne, founded by Thorkil Sonne, also a parent of an autistic son. He employs close to 40 consultants with autism spectrum disorder. He believes their skills are giving his company a competitive edge in software testing and data entry. He is a true believer that aligning the skills of people with disabilities in the workplace can benefit business.

At a time when the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is at 15.2 percent, these stories inspire us to think beyond disabilities. That certainly is our philosophy here at Freedom Disability.

 
We are actively calling out to the disability community to let them know that we have jobs.  When hiring takes full swing here in the coming months, hopefully we’ll have some of our own inspiring stories to tell. 

Haiti’s earthquake devastation is a somber new reality for its survivors. In a country that has a culturally negative attitude about people with disabilities, the future for quake amputees, estimated to reach as high as 150,000 by the end of the year, looks bleak.

 
It is estimated that 200,000 Haitians were injured in the earthquake.

 
Economically, Haitians struggle to survive every day. Now an estimated two percent of their population has become disabled.

 
Haitians think of disabilities as a curse. Now that there are thousands more disabled in such a poor country facing an estimated $8.1 billion in damages, perhaps there is hope that Haiti will overcome this cultural attitude.  Too many of their damaged own have the skills needed to rebuild Haiti. They cannot be ignored.

Read today’s Kaiser Report that provides links to several insightful news articles on Haiti’s new generation of disabled.

If you are receiving Social Security Disability insurance (SSDI) benefits, is it taxable?  The short answer is, yes. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) counts disability benefits as income, unless it is a Supplemental Insurance Income (SSI) benefit.

You owe taxes on any amount above the base amount of your filing status. If you’re single, your base amount is $25,000. If you’re married and preparing a joint return, the amount is $32,000.

You have to add up one-half of your disability benefits and any other income you may have to determine how much is taxed.

There are other tax credits you can factor into your tax return if you are on disability. I have found a helpful publication on the IRS Web site that details a lot of information you should know.

What you want to read is Publication 907 (2008) Tax Highlights for Persons with Disabilities. You can click the title to “quick-link” right to it. Or, find it at www.irs.gov.  Here’s how I found it:

• On the IRS home page, click the top left header “Forms and Publications.”  
• Click on “Tax publications” in the “View online” category.
• You’ll see a long list of publications organized in numerical order.  Scroll down until you find it.
• You have the option to read the entire publication online (click “html”) or download it and print it (click “pdf”).
• When you’re reading it online scroll down to the bottom of the page and click “next” to advance from the introductory page to the main content.

I hope you find this information useful.

There is no doubt that the win of Olympic gold for Canadian athlete Alexandre Bilodeau, is a story of triumph and national pride for Canadians. It is, after all, the country’s first gold-medal win at a Canadian-hosted Winter Olympics.

There is, however, a sub-story that has grabbed our attention, inspiring a deeper meaning to physical triumph. It is the real-life bond between two brothers and how one, born with a disability, has given strength to the other to persevere and realize a dream.

Alexandre’s older brother, Frédéric, 28, was born with cerebral palsy, a disorder that affects muscle control. Doctors had predicted that Frédéric would stop walking at age 10. However, he has proven them wrong. He can walk –and ski—and has never allowed his physical limitations jade his outlook on life, or his belief that brother  Alexandre would one day win Olympic gold— an achievement they share, together.

Their story has also raised awareness about cerebral palsy. An estimated 800,000* people in the United States and 50,000 in Canada have the condition. 

Alexandre calls his brother his hero and daily inspiration. Their story is a lesson in thinking beyond limitations to achieve our personal best.  Read the Canadian Press story.

*source: Center for Disease Control and Prevention

A Feb. 13 article in the disability policy blog Day in Washington, suggests that people with disabilities should consider how misinformation about service animals and their users could negate years of social progress within the disability community.

The article includes several links to recent news stories that portray people with disabilities as dependent, unreasonable, uninformed and unable to function without their service animals. The article suggests that these stories are instilling a general misperception that people with disabilities “no longer look like potential employees, customers, or friends.”

Could all this news coverage fan an undesirable image of people with disabilities if left unchecked?

I’d be interested to know your thoughts.

Read “Service Animals: Too Much of a Good Thing?”