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Resource Advocates:
Helping People with Disabilities
by Debbie Hugh and Annaliza Torres
December 17, 2002
Resource Advocates are the people at WPAS who provide information and referrals over the phone to people with disabilities who ask for help. Below are examples of what happens when someone calls WPAS.
Special Education Problems
A large part of our jobs as Resource Advocates is dealing with Special Education calls. Because of a serious lack of resources to help parents with children with special needs, much of my work involves giving technical assistance, informing callers of their children’s rights, and sending out information that may empower them when dealing with the schools. Once in a while I get lucky, and am able to find them legal help to push the schools into fulfilling their obligations to these children. Following are two such cases:
School District Makes Promises, Doesn't Deliver
A young boy had been eligible to receive services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) since early elementary school. He was diagnosed as having learning disabilities and possibly mild cognitive delays. At age 10 it was found that he had a brain tumor, which was causing many of his problems. The tumor was removed, and the school promised to provide services while he was recuperating at home, and upon his return to school. He received virtually no services while at home, and his mother has been trying to get him back into school since August of this year. The school is using one excuse after another, and he is not receiving tutoring or any type of service. His mother called wondering how she can get the school to educate her son. In our conversation, it was obvious that many laws under IDEA had been broken. Because the family is low income and lives in a county where there is a list of attorneys willing to take Special Education cases for free, I was able to get this family legal representation.
Mother Needs Help to Maintain Services
The mother of a 4-year-old boy who has developmental disabilities called regarding a school problem. Because of where the mother works, her son attends a daycare outside his home school district. He has also attended a preschool in that district, which was set-up to meet his special needs. This year the school district informed the mother that she could no longer send her son to this preschool program, stating money issues as the reason. I sent her our Special Education Packet, which contains a list of attorneys who specialize in Special Education. She was able to hire one of these attorneys to fight for her son.
Employment for People with Disabilities
People with disabilities want to work, but often face barriers that are difficult to overcome. The federal government passed the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act in 1999, and WPAS is working hard to inform people about how this new law can help.
Enter the Computer Age - That's the Ticket!
A woman who receives Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits called WPAS to find out how to get advanced training in computer skills. Her long-term goal is to have her own consulting business. She heard about the Ticket to Work legislation and thought that it would help her get the job training services she needs. Unfortunately, she had been told that "Ticket to Work" wasn’t available in Washington state yet. This is only partially true.
I explained that there are many different components of the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Act, and explained how many of the work incentives are available right now. The reason for the confusion is that sometime in the future, Washington residents who receive SSDI or SSI will be getting actual tickets that may help them receive employment services. It is only this "ticket" section of the law that not yet occurred in Washington state. To read more about the Ticket to Work program, see the WPAS publication "What is Ticket to Work?"
There are several types of services that are available for this woman right now. The state Department of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) provides employment services for individuals with disabilities. In many cases DVR can provide job training. When they don't provide those services, however, there are other options. The state's WorkSource centers also provide employment services, although the quality of those services for people with disabilities varies widely across the state.
I also provided self advocacy tips for the caller about how to request reasonable accommodations in the workplace and what type of information prospective employers can ask during job interviews. As a result of the information from the Resource Advocate, this individual is better prepared to obtain the services needed in order to obtain her goal.
Benefits Planning
A SSDI beneficiary who also receives Medicaid after a spend-down, wanted to know how new income would affect her benefits when she went back to work. I contacted the DSHS Customer Relations office in Olympia, who provided general information about how to access various medical assistance, and the income limits for each of them. I also referred her to the Benefits Planners. Benefits Planners are available statewide to explain and calculate the effects additional income on any SSDI or SSI beneficiary.
Current SSDI or SSI beneficiaries who want to learn about how employment would affect the benefits they currently receive can get free benefits counseling. In King or Kitsap County, call Positive Solutions at (206) 322-8181. From anywhere else in the state, call the Plan to Work Hotline toll-free at 1-866-497-9443.
Housing Victory
When an individual with a visual impairment moved into her apartment, the owner knew she had dogs. A few months later, the owner threatened her to evict her and terminate her section 8 voucher after accusing her dog of biting a child and leaving droppings around, despite the lack of evidence. The Resource Advocate informed her of her housing rights and suggested that she write to the owner requesting reasonable accommodations to keep the service animals. The advocate also requested that the Human Rights Commission contact the caller to complete an intake and determine if there are grounds to file a discrimination complaint. As a result of this short-term assistance, the owner accepted her rent and did not follow through on the threat to evict her. For an overview of your housing rights, see the WPAS publication, "Discrimination in Housing".
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