Everything You Need to Know About Social Security Disability Benefits

This week is the 25^th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). For some people, the signing of the ADA was a great moment of change. For younger people, born after the signing of the ADA, this anniversary is a reminder of the rights they have always had, and thoughts of what is still needed. What about those who are new to the disability community? Where do they start? Guest blogger Deanna Power has some great information for us!

Deanna Power is the Community Outreach Manager at Social Security Disability Help in Boston, MA. After volunteering with Best Buddies throughout college, she realized she wanted to work with people with disabilities. She now assists people of all ages wade through the Social Security Administration’s paperwork and apply for disability benefits. In addition to adding and improving content on Social Security Disability Help, she contributes articles to organizations dedicated to creating an inclusive world for people with disabilities. She has been featured on TASH.org, The National Down Syndrome Society, and Autism Speaks.

Filing For Social Security Disability Benefits in Texas

If you are disabled and need help paying for medical treatment, housing, and your day-to-day living expenses, there is financial assistance available. The Social Security Administration (SSA) offers benefits for people with disabilities who are unable to work.

What Disability Benefits are Available?

The Social Security Administration offers two forms of disability benefits: Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Both programs are for people with long-term disabilities, but qualifying for each is different.

To qualify for SSDI, you must be an adult age 18 and over with a rich work history. Taxpayers fund SSDI, so you will need to pay into FICA taxes to qualify for SSDI. In 2015, the current maximum SSDI benefit is $2,663 per month.

SSI is for people of all ages. You do not need a work history to qualify for SSI, but there are financial limitations. An individual applying for SSI benefits cannot have more than $2,000 in assets, or $3,000 if an applicant is married. Assets include cash, stocks, bonds, life insurance, etc. The SSA does NOT count a primary home and one vehicle as assets when evaluating SSI applicants.

How to Qualify for Disability Benefits

When evaluating every disability application, the SSA will use a medical guide called the Blue Book. The Blue Book outlines what symptoms must be present for an applicant to qualify for any given condition.

If your disability is rare and isn’t listed in the Blue Book, you can still qualify by meeting symptoms listed for other disabilities.

Finally, you can qualify via an RFC analysis. An RFC analysis is a questionnaire that looks at how your disability affects your ability to perform day-to-day activities.

Health Insurance and Social Security Benefits

After being approved for disability benefits, SSDI recipients will receive Medicare in 24 months.

Medicaid applications are regulated by states, not the government. In Texas, if you are approved for SSI benefits, you will automatically be enrolled for Medicaid. The state will contact you with additional information after you receive your SSI acceptance letter.

How to Apply for Social Security Disability Benefits

SSDI applicants can complete the application form entirely online. SSI applicants can begin the paperwork online, but must schedule an appointment with a local SSA office. Texas has over 70 SSA field offices. Here are some of the biggest ones:

Houston: 16200 Dillard Dr., Houston, TX 77040

San Antonio: 8020 Alamo Downs Pkwy, San Antonio, TX 78238

Dallas: 1070 N Westmoreland, Suite 100, Dallas, TX 75211

Austin: 1029 Camino La Costa, Austin, TX 78752

El Paso: 600 Texas Ave, El Paso, TX 79901

To schedule an appointment with your local SSA office in Texas, call the SSA toll-free at 

1-800-772-1213.

I hope you all found this information helpful. Happy ADA Anniversary!

Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Join OMOD

Greetings Everyone!

This is Eric, your friendly OMOD project coordinator, here with my top five reasons why you should join the OMOD team. We are constantly seeking new self-advocates to participate in OMOD, so I encourage you all to read this and see if OMOD is the right program for you or for one of your friends or family members. Feel free to email me at eric@vsatx.org for an application or more information.

Here are the top five reasons:

1. Face your fears. Writing and public speaking are among people’s greatest fears. In OMOD, you will have the opportunity to face these fears head-on in a supportive environment and with a great team of sidekicks backing you up. As star OMOD speaker Jessica Guerrero often says, “Feel the fear and do it anyway!” Facing your fears will give you a great confidence boost and reveal strengths you didn’t know you have.

2. Reach a new level of independence. Do you want to travel out of town, experience new places, and meet new people, but you get bogged down by the stress of needing an attendant, finding accessible lodging, or getting a ride? Then look no further! OMOD offers a safe and supportive setting for you to test the waters of the unknown. As you travel to conferences across the state, we will be at your side helping you to secure your needs and solve the problems that may pop up along the way.

3. Make new friends and learn about other people with disabilities. Think the only thing you have in common with other people with disabilities is a disability? Think again! In OMOD, we write and share stories that run the gamut of human experience. No mopey, stay-at-home couch potatoes here – only the most wildly entertaining, stereotype-crushing, creative storytellers this side of the Mississippi. In OMOD, you will learn more about where you fit in the world and make lasting friendships with passionate people just like you.

OMOD star speakers Jessica and Dave pose in front
of the VSA Texas banner.

4. Tell your story. Everyone has an important story to tell. Yes, even you. And OMOD is the place for you to tell it. In the OMOD workshop, you will write, edit, and share your story under the close guidance of a professional writing facilitator and with constructive feedback from a class of your peers. It’s a positive team process that isn’t finished until you have a story that everyone – and you, especially – can be proud of.

5. Change the way society views people with disabilities. Storytelling may be one of the most powerful tools available to advocates of any civil rights movement. Your personal story shows mainstream society that we are all human, and we all share more similarities than differences. You might even be the first person with a disability that some able-bodied people see, so show them a person of dignity, humor, and power. Not an object of pity. Not an inspirational hero. Show them someone real. Show them who you are.

OMOD speakers Danny, Kamand, and Ashley
present an ensemble piece entitled, "If I Had a Wish,"
at the 2nd Annual OMOD Speaker Showcase.

Creative Transitions Through Film

Do you remember when you were at that transitional age of 16-22? Enjoying the freedom of youth, while considering the endless possibilities for your future? It is an important time of life that we all experience.

Opportunities outside of home life and school life are an ideal way to stretch your wings and see where you fit in the world. That is one reason we created our VSA Texas Side by Side Internships. These are opportunities for young adults with disabilities to learn about a creative profession directly from someone working in that industry.

Our most recent Side by Side Internship was a great experience for sixteen youth and four local filmmakers. This three-week opportunity started with one week of a “film school” experience. The interns learned the basics of movie making and some specific techniques for fiction films, documentaries, and stop motion animation. The group then broke into three teams for two weeks, and the real fun began! Small groups of 5-6 interns met with their filmmakers to get hands-on experience making a movie.

The documentary film team
ready to scout locations for filming

While the technical skills of scriptwriting, storyboarding, filming, and editing were a big part of this experience, I think the real learning experience was in the relationship building, the teamwork, and the working environment. Being outside of the routine of school and home can be stressful for someone who has autism, as many of our interns do. Each had to learn how to manage these new relationships in a quick time period and in a new space. And they did a great job!

The animation team storyboarding

As one parent commented about her son, “He has matured and progressed these three weeks in a different and social way that he otherwise would not have acquired at home. Thank you for the opportunity and the learning and all the good relationships [he] made with his new friends.”

The fiction film team reviewing footage

We appreciate all of the hard work our interns have put into this project, spending three weeks of their summer enhancing skills for their future careers. Maybe careers in film!

You are all welcome to attend the premiere of these three short films and see for yourself the potential of these youth with disabilities. The event will be this Sunday, July 12, 2015, from 2-5 pm at Marchesa Hall and Theatre, 6226 Middle Fiskville Road, Austin, TX 78752. Check out the Facebook event here.

We hope you come away from the experience with excitement about the possibilities for transitioning age youth in your community. Consider mentoring a young adult with a disability! I guarantee it will expand their world and yours at the same time.

Marriage Equality for People with Disabilities

Hi Folks, Lynn here at VSA Texas. While many Americans celebrated the SCOTUS ruling, legalizing gay marriage in all 50 states, I saw many Facebook posts from my friends in the disability community, stating that nothing has changed for them. There are still legal barriers to marriage between two people with disabilities. In doing research for this blog, I looked up a few disability advocacy groups and found some interesting information. I wrote this blog to encourage dialogue about the marriage inequality still present in the disability community in hopes that we can progress forward in marriage equality for all people.

On Facebook, the organization Marriage Equality for People with Disabilities shared Larry Drain's post:

“Dear President Obama:

             “One of the quotes I heard in the last couple of days following the marriage equality case was something like ‘at last love can be love...’

            “It can't...

            “I write to you today about another marriage inequality, an inequality suffered by thousands and thousands, an inequality invisible and never talked about, an inequality no one fights to remedy, an inequality based on federal statute: the attack on marriage of the disabled and senior citizens.

            “Thousands and thousands of couples in this country find themselves unable to either get married or stay married because of the financial penalties imposed on them by federal law. It is unfair. It is wrong, and, whether it is legal or not, it is discrimination that hurts thousands of innocent American citizens.”

I also found the following information at http://www.1800lawfirm.com:

            “Getting married may affect your disability benefits in a variety of ways. This is largely dependent on what type of benefits you receive—Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).

            “If you receive SSI benefits, you likely already know that eligibility is determined based on your income and financial resources. Once you get married, the SSA will ‘deem’ a portion of your spouse’s income to your record. Essentially, this means that they will consider your future husband or wife’s income to be your income as well. This may significantly reduce your monthly payment or even cause the SSA to terminate your benefits altogether. This is just one financial aspect that people with disabilities face.”

For more detailed information, you can request a pamphlet for SSI and SSDI explaining in detail your benefits and what affects your benefits directly from the Social Security Administration’s website at http://ssa.gov/.

Last, here are some personal thoughts from Dave Chapple, a gentleman with a disability that we all know well here at VSA Texas:

Dave and Kate

at their Commitment Ceremony

            “Kate and I were under the understanding that we could not get legally married because it would negatively affect our SSDI and Medicaid. So instead of having a legal wedding ceremony we had a commitment ceremony in front of our families, friends, and God and we have been living as husband and wife ever since. However, according to the state of Texas, we are just roommates. 

            “One day we were looking on line at Medicaid income limits for our future employment and we came across something about married couples. To our surprise, the limits were just about exactly the same as we have now without being married. So we wanted to look farther into the possibility of becoming legally married and contacted a special needs consultant and in turn, she contacted a disability attorney. With their help, it was determined getting legally married would not affect our benefits but as we did before we have to make sure we stay under the income limit. 

            “Like I said before, on June 1, 2013, we had a ceremony where we got committed to each other in front of our families, friends, and in God's eyes. On every August 4, we go to Joe's Crab Shack to celebrate our anniversary, our first date, and the love we have for each other. However, on this August 4, 2015, we are still going to Joe’s Crab Shack, but before our dinner, we are going to have a little ceremony to legalize our marriage and invite 50 of our family and friends to celebrate with us.”

While Dave is finally now able to make his marriage official, many other people with disabilities still face impossible barriers to get married. What about you? Are you married, or are you still waiting for the laws to change? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below!