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OFFICE OF HANDICAPPED CONCERNS
WILL'S CORNER, OKLAHOMA
(Serving the Disability Community of Oklahoma)
Volume 8, Issue 4
October, 2007
AGENCY NEWS
The Office of Handicapped Concerns is getting a new name.
Beginning November 1, 2007 this office will be called the Office
of Disability Concerns. This name change resulted from passage
of House Bill 1084 in of the Oklahoma Legislature last year.
I applaud this effort which will reflect a more current
terminology in our agency name. We will continue with our agency
mission providing accurate and timely information services,
technical assistance and advocacy. We act as an intermediary for
persons with disabilities and provide services to those with
disabilities.
Sincerely, Steve Stokes, Director
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NEW!
ODC web site:
www.odc.ok.gov
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THINKING ABOUT WORKING?
For those of you who are considering working, the month of
October is Disability Employment Awareness Month according to
the U.S. Department Labor. I interviewed Peppi Boudreau in her
capacity as Disability Program Specialist specializing in
employment development at the Office of Handicapped Concerns.
Peppi tells me that there are some excellent programs out there
encouraging people with disabilities to work. She explains that
people with disabilities have many concerns about returning to
the work force.
The first concern is how returning to work may affect their
Social Security benefits. Many people with disabilities have
gone through a long process of eligibility for either SSI or
SSDI, and an important part of that process was proving that
they were not able to work. They fear that going back to work
will make them ineligible for Social Security.
Since eligibility for Medicaid insurance in Oklahoma is tied to
eligibility to Social Security, people may have a concern about
becoming ineligible for their medical insurance if they were to
return to work. There are other government benefits which they
are currently receiving which could be affected by returning to
work such as public housing, day care for their children or food
stamps.
People must weigh their physical and mental health in
considering returning to work. It is always a good idea to
discuss this with your doctor or mental health professional
before making changes in your lifestyle.
What activities can you safely engage in? How much can you lift?
How long are you able to remain on your feet? A thorough medical
and mental health check will shed light on the advisability of
returning to work and what types of work you might best be
suited for.
In the last issue of Will’s Corner, Oklahoma we discussed in
some detail a program of hiring people with disabilities for
state jobs under the Optional Hiring Program for The Disabled,
formerly referred to as House Bill 1340. This program allows
people with disabilities to be considered for state employment
without taking tests for the position. (The applicant must still
have the education and experience to qualify for the position.)
Peppi reports there is another program called the State Work
Incentive Program (Senate Bill 825) allowing people with
disabilities to work in state employment for two years without
the position counting against the allotted positions for the
agency. This is a great incentive for supervisors in state
agencies to hire people with disabilities.
The SEA project (Special Excepted Appointment Project) is a
program similar to the Optional Hiring Program. It is the
federal counterpart. It allows people with disabilities to waive
the testing requirements for federal jobs.
Peppi states that people with disabilities have been re-entering
the workforce in greater numbers in the last 20 years. This is a
direct result of more programs out there encouraging people to
consider this option. She points out that employment benefits
the person with disabilities in both gaining independence and
self-esteem which working provides.
Peppi cites the example of a young woman with developmental
disabilities whom she knows personally. This woman went to work
25 hours per week at a grocery store sacking groceries, stocking
the shelves and running errands for other employees. Reportedly
this person enjoyed a more fulfilling life than she had had
before going to work.
People fear discrimination in the work place if they have never
worked before or if they are returning to work after
experiencing a disability. Peppi points out that the Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) guarantees the civil rights
of people with disabilities in the work place under Title I. She
also mentions that people can ask their employer for an
accommodation to permit them to perform the essential functions
of their job.
People with disabilities who are considering working may contact
the State Department of Rehabilitation Services at 800-487-4042.
Follow the recorded prompts and you will get the contact
information for the rehabilitation office nearest you. Call the
office nearest to you and inquire about the Optional Hiring
Program for the Disabled or the State Work Incentive Program.
DRS supports people with disabilities returning to work with a
specific employment outcome.
Workforce Oklahoma is a grouping of employment-related agencies
under one roof to allow people the convenience of one-stop
shopping if they desire to return to work. Workforce Oklahoma
has 39 locations statewide to assist anyone regardless of
disability in getting a job. Contact the Oklahoma Employment
Security Commission at 1-888-980-9675 for local offices.
Ticket to Work is a program within the Social Security
Administration to encourage recipients to consider the benefits
of employment. This is one of several work incentives allowed by
Social Security to make returning to work more appealing to
people with disabilities. Janette Crow is the Area Work
Incentive Coordinator for Social Security, and she can be
reached at 866-635-8697 toll free or 405-605-3001 ext. 3002 in
central Oklahoma.
Janette Crow can refer you to people who will tell you how your
various governmental benefits would be affected by returning to
work. It is good planning to get this information before
beginning a job.
In returning to work, it is good to consider part-time or
full-time work is available to people with disabilities. Many
times just having an additional $200 per month from some type of
job can make a huge difference in the lifestyle you can enjoy.
The Work Opportunity Tax Credit is an incentive for employers to
hire individuals with disabilities who are clients of the
Department of Rehabilitation Services. It offers employers a tax
credit on wages paid to employees with disabilities. It is good
to have information about this tax credit to take to interviews
with potential employers.
Peppi Boudreau began working at the Office of Handicapped
Concerns September 28 of last year. She brings a wealth of
information on the employment of people with disabilities to
this office. If you would like to talk with her about returning
to work or about any aspect of employment of people with
disabilities, call 800-522-8224 asking to speak with her or call
405-521-3756 in central Oklahoma. Peppi is also available for
public speaking and presentations. Let us know what your needs
are.
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Peppi states that people with disabilities have been re-entering
the workforce in greater numbers in the last 20 years.
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Daycare for Children With Special Needs
If you have a child with special needs, we all know that finding
appropriate daycare can be a problem. I visited with Kristi
Simpson who is the Assistant Licensing Coordinator for OKDHS
Oklahoma Child Care Services to get some more information.
Kristi tells me that if a child receives SSI, Sooner Start or
Special Education and this child is also a client of OKDHS, this
child may be eligible for the special needs rate of daycare
reimbursement. This may be an incentive for daycare providers to
enroll children with special needs. Talk with your OKDHS
representative to see if you qualify.
Another incentive which OKDHS offers to encourage daycare
providers to serve children with special needs is the OKDHS
Child Care Warmline where child care providers can get
information on how to address a number of subjects affecting
children with special needs. Among subjects which providers can
access is information on epilepsy, asthma, Down Syndrome and
ADHD. Call 1-888-574-5437 to access a child care professional.
The Warmline can be a resource of information to the provider
who has concerns that they are not equipped to serve a child
with special needs.
OKDHS also offers the Tic Toc training to providers to dispel
provider concerns about accepting children special needs by
giving them the information they need. For Tic Toc training
opportunities call the Tolbert Center for Developmental
Disabilities at 1-405-271-1836 or email stars@ouhsc.edu.
You may also call the Oklahoma Child Care Resource and Referral
Association at 1-888-962-2772 or the Center for Early Childhood
Professional Development at 1-888-446-7608 for information about
workshops in your area to support including children with
special needs in your daycare facility. There are many
opportunities out there for providers to learn more about caring
for children with special needs.
For a child with immune issues, OKDHS can pay for an individual
to go into the child’s home. The individual who provides the
care in the child’s home does not have to be licensed but can
get the special needs rate of care which the agency provides.
The parent is responsible for locating the provider in the home.
Talk to your OKDHS representative to find out more about this
alternative.
Now let’s discuss the law which parents and providers need to
know concerning children with special needs. The Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) is the civil rights law for
people with disabilities. Title III of that Act prohibits
discrimination in public accommodations, and daycares are
considered to fall in this category.
Parents may do a lot to address concerns that daycares have in
caring for a child with special needs. The parent may agree to
do a procedure which their child needs during the day or the
parent may agree to train daycare staff on what needs to be done
to keep the child safe and healthy.
If a parent has attempted to address the concerns of a daycare
provider unsuccessfully, that parent may call an OKDHS licensing
specialist and register a complaint about the facility.
Licensing specialists are located in 50 of the 77 counties in
Oklahoma, and OKDHS offices will know how to contact a local
representative.
While OKDHS has no policy requiring that a facility serve
children with special needs, the licensing specialist can
discuss ADA requirements with a provider. The licensing
specialist may also refer the case to the Office of Civil Rights
in OKDHS which can investigate a concern. The OKDHS Office of
Civil Rights may be reached at 1-800-214-3529.
It was quite a coincidence in that while I was writing the
information for this article, I got a call from a daycare
provider. In the course of our conversation, the provider shared
that she runs a daycare with twelve children. While her facility
is small, about a quarter of the children she is currently
serving have special needs.
This provider shared the story that her son was born with
special needs and that through caring for him she gathered the
courage to accept children with special needs into her daycare.
She tells how she has worked with local schools to ensure that
kids coming home to her daycare after school are well cared for
in both environments.
Oklahoma has more than 5500 licensed child care facilities. The
Department of Human Services (OKDHS) has the responsibility of
licensing daycare facilities. While a license does not guarantee
that the quality of a child care facility will meet every
parent’s or child’s needs, it does ensure that a trained
professional is working to help the child care staff meet
minimum state requirements for a safe and enriching environment.
Kristi Simpson provided me with two publications which she feels
would be of interest to parents and providers with children with
special needs. OKDHS publication No. 03-30 is entitled Choosing
Child Care For a Child with Special Needs. Providing Quality
Child Care for Children with Special Needs is the title of OKDHS
publication No. 01-48. Call 1-800-347-2276 to request one of
these pamphlets.
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A Tip on Health Care Fraud
Only visit your personal doctor, hospital or clinic for medical
help. Only they should make referrals for special equipment,
services or medicine.
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Desperate in Small-Town Oklahoma
The nightmare for one Oklahoma woman began February 22, 2007,
the day her mother died. Her mother had a February Social
Security check for $1136 which she had signed but never cashed
in her effects. This was quite a temptation for someone who was
disabled and living on $670 per month.
But this woman had the good sense to contact Social Security
before cashing that check and depositing it into her account.
She reports she was told over the phone that she could
legitimately deposit the funds in her account. Her bank agreed
to take the check if she provided her mother’s death certificate
which was easy enough to do.
She was thrilled and began spending some of that $1136 for items
she had needed a long time but had been unable to afford. This
was quite a bonanza for her.
Everything was going well until she logged onto her bank account
information and discovered an $1136 withdrawal of funds appeared
with a net $888 overdraft. Her world stopped.
The crisis caused by this spread quickly to all areas of her
finances. Her bank began to garnishee all of her own Social
Security check which left her with no income at all—desperate in
small-town Oklahoma.
After all she had rent, electricity, phone, cable, and food to
purchase with absolutely no way to pay for any of these items.
Social Security apologized for telling her she could cash her
mother’s check, but they left the consequences of that action
squarely on her shoulders.
Her life spiraled out of control. She knew she had to do
something, and she was running out of time. She protected her
own Social Security disability payments by having her check sent
directly to her address. (She still owed her bank $455 from the
original overdraft.)
Next this woman visited with her OKDHS representative who
suggested she contact her local Community Action agency and her
County Commissioner. She says, “That’s when things started to
get better.” Upon hearing her story, the County Commissioner
paid her electric bill. Community Action paid for her housing
payment.
Her son helped out with phone and cable bills. That left food as
her greatest need, and you can’t get any more basic than that.
She was desperate and shared her story with many people.
When her apartment manager heard she did not have food and no
money to purchase it, she offered to help. This small-town woman
lived in public housing and there was some money set aside to
help residents just like her.
She received $120 and a free ride to the grocery store to get
her food needs met. She had been disabled for 19 years and
thought she knew the social-service delivery network in
Oklahoma, but she had never heard of these resources. They made
all the difference in the world.
But this was not the end of the story. In July she attempted to
open another bank account and discovered to her chagrin that she
could not because of the outstanding $455 she had over drafted
her first, closed account.
It is difficult to function in this modern world without a bank
account, and this woman was propelled into action once again.
She called the corporate office of the bank where she had the
overdraft and told her whole story again.
She was pleasantly surprised to hear that her debt would be
written off. Her record was cleared, and she could now open
another bank account. Her nightmare had been resolved. Even more
than this, she has learned that there are people out there who
will help when they see you have a legitimate need and are
making efforts to help yourself.
This Oklahoma woman shares that she has done child care in the
past and would like to care for an infant in her home to bring
in a little extra money. She wants to insure that she does not
experience a repeat of what she went through the last few
months. A little extra money can make a whole lot of difference
when your total monthly income is $670.
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You know you live in 2007 when:
You chat several times a day with a stranger from South Africa,
but you haven’t spoken with your next door neighbor yet this
year.
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Oklahoma Library for the Blind
The Oklahoma Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped is
a special place where people with a visual impairment can get
written and instructional materials in a format they can use.
But it is more than a resource for people with visual
impairment. It provides written and instructional materials to
people with reading disabilities such as dyslexia or a learning
disability. It also provides the same services to any Oklahoman
with a physical disability which prevents them from turning the
pages of a book.
The Oklahoma Library for the Blind run by the Oklahoma
Department of Rehabilitation Services and is the only facility
of its kind in Oklahoma. It offers books and magazines on audio
tape. It has a lending library of 50,000 titles available to
patrons of any age in the library itself as well as 19,000 items
of instructional materials which can be used by students in
public, private and home schools across the state.
Located at 300 N.E. 18th Street in Oklahoma City, the Library
for the Blind mails materials to all corners of the state. An
approved application entitles the patron to select from a broad
range of materials including fiction, non-fiction, descriptive
videos and magazines. The loan time for most items is two
months.
When you become a patron you will be sent some materials based
on the preference of subjects you selected in your application.
You will also be sent a special tape player which has the
capacity to play the materials sent. (Because of copyright laws
the library controls access to its materials.)
A catalog of new materials will be sent to your home
periodically. You can also talk to a librarian to order
materials or visit the library’s website to select materials
from the online catalog. You may select specific items which you
want as well as receiving titles selected by the library based
on the preferences you made on your application.
Applicants may select their preference of either fiction or
non-fiction. In the fiction category, they may express their
interest in receiving materials dealing with adventure, science
fiction or the classics. In the area of non-fiction, the patron
may choose to receive titles on poetry, religion or Oklahoma
authors and subjects. There is something of interest to almost
everybody.
The library has materials in formats besides audio tape
recordings. Books in Braille and materials on computer disc are
available as well. Over 200 newspapers are accessible via
telephone hookup. The Library also has descriptive videos in
which a narrator explains the action occurring in the video
during lulls in the audio.
The library moved into their present location in 1991. The
building was named after Travis Leon Harris who was a director
of Visual Services at one time in Oklahoma and is well known for
his efforts to improve the lives of people with visual
impairments.
Since 2003 the Library has had a state-of-the-art digital
recording studio. Soundproof booths are available to record
materials which insure clean recordings without background noise
of any sort. Two computer programs allow staff to edit
recordings for the highest quality.
Patrons may make special requests for the recording of
materials. The recording studio has made recordings of unusual
items such as appliance manuals or individual insurance
contracts which make these everyday items accessible to people
who need a different format. This service is free of charge to
library patrons.
The AIM Center is located within the Library for the Blind. (AIM
is the acronym for Accessible Instructional Materials.) As
mentioned earlier, the AIM Center has 19,000 titles in Braille
and large print as well as instructional aids and equipment for
children pre-k through 12th grade.
The AIM Center works with students, parents, teachers,
administrators and special education teachers who are seeking
accessible materials and instructional aids and equipment. The
goal of AIM is to provide accessible textbooks, fiction and
non-fiction to children with disabilities on a par of materials
available to typical children in the educational environment.
Vicky Lynn Golightly is the Public Information Officer for the
Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. She sometimes
arranges tours of the facility for people who are interested. If
you are interested in knowing more about the library, you may
call Vicky at the toll-free number (800-523-0288, 405-521-3514
in the Oklahoma City phone exchange or TTY 405-521-4672).
Patrons of the library sometimes have a temporary disability and
still qualify to order materials. A person may have had eye
surgery which temporarily affects their access to printed
materials. Any disability which affects a person’s access to
printed materials may enable a person to utilize the services of
the library.
Patrons continue to qualify as a patron as long as they order
one book per year. Materials are sent and received through the
mail. And yes, you can get the latest copy of the Harry Potter
series on audio tape if you are interested.
The Oklahoma Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
has a website (www.library.state.ok.us) where you may actually
order materials online if you are a patron. If you are
interested in getting an application, call 800-523-0288
statewide or 405-521-3514 in central Oklahoma. And by the way,
the library does have about 1100 titles available in Spanish for
those who feel comfortable in that language.
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Happiness sneaks in a door you didn’t know you left open.
John Barrymore
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS
October 26, 2007 Accessing Services Along Life’s Highway
Conference, Metro-Tech Oklahoma City 9 a.m.- 3 p.m. For more
information contact Sidna Chambers at 405-470-3217 or
sidna.chambers@oesc.state.ok.us.
October 27, 2007 There will be a health fair open to the public
from 10 to 2 at the Owens Multi-Purpose Center, 1405 S.W. 11th
Street in Lawton. For more information contact Glenda Stewart at
580-248-4417.
November 29-30, 2007 Caregivers and Grandparents Conference at
Church Of the Servant in Oklahoma City. The conference is free
of charge. Email Judith.Mowery@okdhs.org.
December 5, 2007 Wrightslaw Special Education Law and Advocacy
Training at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. For
more information contact the Disability Law Center 800-880-7755.
If you have an event coming up relating to disability, let us
know at 800-522-8224 and we’ll help you publicize.
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