John R. Vaughn, Chairperson
November 2006

The Bulletin, which is free of charge and at NCD’s award-winning Web site (www.ncd.gov), brings you the latest issues and news affecting people with disabilities. To subscribe to the new NCD listserv, go to http://listserv.access.gpo.gov, click on Online mailing list archives, select NCD-NEWS-L, click on Join or leave the list, then complete the short subscription form. Please send your editorial comments to Bulletin editor Mark S. Quigley (mquigley@ncd.gov).

Social Security

On November 21, NCD published an issue brief titled The Basics of the National Council on Disability’s Social Security Report (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2006/issue_brief.htm). This is a follow-up to NCD’s 2005 report The Social Security Administration’s Efforts to Promote Employment for People with Disabilities: New Solutions for Old Problems (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2005/ssa-promoteemployment.htm).

Our nation's current disability benefit programs are based on a policy principle that assumes that the presence of a significant disability and lack of substantial earnings equate with a complete inability to work. Americans with disabilities remain underemployed, despite the fact that many are willing and able to work. Although the Social Security Administration (SSA) has instituted a number of incentives to reduce the numerous obstacles to employment faced by its Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) beneficiaries, such efforts have had little impact because few beneficiaries are aware of these incentives and how they affect benefits and access to health care.

The issue brief highlights the continuing number of SSA beneficiaries who never leave the SSI and SSDI insurance rolls, and the need to increase the number of beneficiaries who enter, or reenter, the U.S. workforce. The brief discusses the need to identify new approaches that emphasize beneficiary control of career planning and the ability to access self-selected services and supports.

Public and private health care providers must work together to develop new approaches to combining coverage from multiple sources to improve program efficiencies. SSA must continue to work with the Rehabilitation Services Administration and the Department of Labor to improve implementation of the Ticket to Work program and identify new approaches that will overcome the traditional inability of SSA beneficiaries to benefit from services provided by the nation's employment and training programs. Secondary and postsecondary educational institutions must emphasize benefits counseling and financial management training as the foundation for beneficiary self-direction and economic self-sufficiency. Federal agencies and the business community must realize that collaborative approaches to incorporating beneficiaries into the workforce are needed as a way to reduce dependence on federal benefits while simultaneously enhancing the productivity and competitiveness of large and small business.

Congress and the Social Security Administration must address the recommendations in the issue brief and report by modifying policies and procedures.  These modifications should focus on the continuing number of SSA beneficiaries who never leave the SSI and DI rolls, and on increasing the number of beneficiaries who enter, or reenter, the U.S. workforce.

National Disability Policy

On November 9, NCD released its annual National Disability Policy: A Progress Report (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2006/progress_report.htm) at a media availability in Washington, DC.

The report covers the period from December 2004 to December 2005. It reviews federal policy activities, noting progress where it has occurred, and makes further recommendations where necessary. The recommendations apply to the Executive Branch, to the Legislative Branch, and in some instances to both. While NCD believes the country is moving forward, expanding opportunities and inclusion for Americans with disabilities, the rate of progress is slow. Federal policy still contains inconsistent messages and unrealistic requirements for people with disabilities who rely on such federal programs as Social Security Disability Insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, special education, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Some of the recommendations include the following:

Statistics—Recommendation 1.2: NCD recommends that the results of field testing of the new American Community Survey disability question be shared with the disability community, and that opportunity for input and further refinement be made available.

Civil Rights—Recommendation 2.4: NCD recommends that Congress adopt the ADA Restoration Act.

Education—Recommendation 3.2: NCD recommends that the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs, through amendment to its proposed Individuals with Disabilities Education Act regulations or through instructional letters to state directors of special education, provide guidance on monitoring requirements, outcome goals, and best practices in connection with efforts to reduce minority overrepresentation.

Health—Recommendation 4.4: NCD recommends that Congress act swiftly to identify the measures or resources that would be required to assure a smooth and timely flow of relevant information from the U.S. Department of Defense to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs regarding seriously injured veterans, and that Congress then enact legislation ensuring that the necessary coordination will take place.

Long-term Services and Supports—Recommendation 5.2: NCD recommends the expansion of money follows the person type programs, both through legislation and through the exercise by federal agencies of their demonstration program authority.

Child and Youth—Recommendation 7.1: NCD recommends that the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Senate HELP Committee request that the U.S. Government Accountability Office continue and deepen its recent vocational rehabilitation (VR) study by carrying out detailed research into how particular VR services correlate with successful employment outcomes and into how existing definitions of successful case outcomes may influence the range and content of services provided in the field.

Welfare Reform—Recommendation 8.1: NCD recommends that in defining the concept of work requirements under current law, or in implementing any new statutory definition of this concept, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services consider the circumstances of recipients with disabilities, the resources available for training and supporting them, and the attitudes of prospective employers regarding these welfare-to-work participants.

Housing—Recommendation 9.2: NCD recommends immediate adoption of legislation, to be developed and submitted in consultation by the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division and by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity along with appropriate Congressional housing committees, to ensure that accessibility will be included as a uniform feature of all funding and procurement contracts and of all grants related to rebuilding after natural disasters.

Transportation—Recommendation 10.1: NCD recommends that the U.S. Department of Transportation continue to conduct regular, proactive assessments of transit system compliance with ADA requirements to assure that maintenance, deployment, information accessibility and other components of truly accessible service remain priorities, once accessible capital equipment has been purchased and deployed.

Assistive Technology and Telecommunications—Recommendation 11.3: NCD recommends passage of the Realtime Writers Act. It is imperative that the nation develop a cadre of trained personnel who are able to meet the growing demand for qualified captioners.

International Affairs—Recommendation 12.1: NCD recommends that the U.S. Agency for International Development undertake a study of the extent to which the Global Fund and other multinational efforts currently do, or prospectively could, expand their scope of concern to ensure nondiscrimination and full opportunity for those who benefit from the medical interventions and resources that U.S. foreign assistance programs make available.

Homeland Security—Recommendation 13.1: NCD recommends that Congress adopt overarching procedures to address interstate issues for all federal-state programs in evacuation situations.

San Diego Quarterly Meeting

The next NCD quarterly meeting will be held January 29-31, 2007, at the Town and Country Resort and Convention Center, 500 Circle North, San Diego, California. On the morning of January 31, NCD will conduct a panel discussion on youth with disabilities who are in foster care and child welfare, which is the subject of an NCD report to be released in 2007. These meetings are open to the public and free of cost. The disability community is encouraged to attend.

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Mark S. Quigley
Director of Communications
National Council on Disability
1331 F Street, NW Suite 850
Washington, DC 20004