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Brooks-Lane #2

VR funding, as I indicated earlier, are funds made available for consumers to 
help in their employment endeavors.  It will assist the person in finding 
employment as well.  Examples of some of the supports and services funding 
through VR are job coaching and supported employment, business development, 
vocational training, education, and job related equipment and resources.  Again 
you will find a lot of variability from state to state regarding what is 
approved through the particular VR system and the state where you might be 
located.  It's very, very important to begin to develop connections and 
partnerships with the One Stops and the Vocational Rehabilitation Services in 
the area where you work.  The future is moving toward integrating those entities 
so that we’re maximizing funding for the individuals that we support and 
blending those dollars. So, we're able to support the individual through best 
practice and quality supports and services.

Social Security Work Incentives. Those are very specific processes and forms 
that are completed again to maximize resources for individuals with 
disabilities. I am still in the learning curve so I know that it can feel 
overwhelming at times. But, there are a lot of resources on the web.  They are 
listed on the overheads.  An excellent resource is "Making Self-Employment Work 
for People with Disabilities," a new book by Carrie Griffin and Dave Hammis.  
They have excellent protocols that you can use out of that book.  The first 
incentive that I'm going to talk about is Plan for Achieving Self Support.  
You may have heard of it as PASS.  Specifically, it is for individuals with SSI.  
It's a means to acquire services and items needed for starting work, and 
increase or maintain income producing capabilities.  The person must have a 
vocational goal and a business plan.  There must be a clear connection between 
the vocation goal, increased earning capacity.  The income or resources set 
aside by PASS do decrease countable income.  

The Impairment Related Work Expense, which you may know as IRWE, actually can be 
used for individuals with SSI and SSDI.  Under SSI it allows the recipient to 
recoup some of the costs of expenses incurred as a result of their disability.  
It lowers countable income and increases cash payments.  It can be deducted from 
gross earnings during application, enabling the individual to meet SGA 
requirements.  Under SSDI, the IRWE can be used to offset out-of-pocket costs 
which the consumer must absorb in order to be able to work; such as specialized 
transportation, medication, personal assistance services, and job coaching.  It 
also offsets the amount of countable income.  There's no time limit on how long 
an IRWE can be used.  A one-time expense may be taken in one month or can be 
prorated over 12 months. You can vary that depending on what will benefit the 
individual.  

Another Social Security work incentive is the Blind Work Expenses.  You may know 
it as BWE.  This work incentive excludes work related expenses for persons who 
are blind in monthly Social Security Income check reduction calculations.  For 
example, if the individual requires transportation to enable them to work, then 
the Social Security Administration will not reduce their check by the cost of 
the transportation if it is claimed through the BWE incentive.

And finally, a less known Social Security Work Incentive is the Self-Employment 
Subsidy.  It expands an individual's opportunity to work above the substantial 
gainful activity without losing their SSI/SSDI check.  This can seem 
overwhelming when you start looking at the paper work, the application to get 
this approved.  It really results in maximizing resources that are very 
beneficial to the individual and that can be used, not only in customized 
employment, but also in self-employment.

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