Is a Health Care Proxy Right for Your Child With Disabilities?
Kaitlin Ahern, NYMetroParents.com
Blog Roundup: PI Settlements/College Supports/Eldercare/Employment/SNTs & SSI
SNA attorneys have daily involvement with a wide array of issues facing individuals with disabilities, their families and the professionals who serve them. Below is a sampling of recent posts from member blogs: High Expectations of PI Attorneys When Advising Clients During Settlement A recent client suit against personal injury attorneys illustrates the care with [...]
Tough Choices: People with Disabilities Face Housing Crisis
By Mary O’Byrne, Esq., and Stephen W. Dale, Esq. This is the first in a series of articles addressing scarce housing for people with disabilities. The shortage in housing for individuals with disabilities has reached crisis proportions, with some special needs attorneys citing it as their clients' number one issue. "Pricing Out in 2012," a [...]
Working With the Social Security Administration: Some Thoughts for the Perplexed
By Michael J. Astrue, Former Commissioner, Social Security Administration I moved back to the Boston area last year after my six-year term as Commissioner ended. It has mostly been a joyous transition for me, but one small but recurring annoyance is that one of my radio stations keeps playing advertisements for a financial advisor who [...]
The Arc Reacts to Startling New Bureau of Justice Statistics on Crimes against People with Cognitive and Other Disabilities
The Special Needs Alliance and The Arc collaborate on issues of mutual interest. The Arc promotes and protects the human rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and actively supports their full inclusion and participation in the community throughout their lifetimes. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) recently released a report on Crime Against [...]
Getting Out the Vote: Improving Access for Voters with Disabilities
By Sally L. Schoffstall, CELA During this mid-term election year, there are urgent issues at stake that directly affect the lives of people with disabilities. Budget battles at every level of government threaten Medicaid, SSDI, Medicare and other programs that are essential to their quality of life. Special education continues to face resource challenges. Yet [...]
Choosing the Right Nursing Home
By Martha C. Brown, CELA When a loved one of any age requires the round-the-clock care of a nursing home, it’s important to select one that fulfills both their medical and social needs. Each facility has its own culture, and since this will be your family member’s home, the environment should be a welcoming fit. [...]
Care Managers Can Reduce Family Pressures
By Franchelle C. Millender, CELA Working with a care manager can significantly lower family stress, providing reassurance that the right steps are being taken to ensure a loved one's quality of life. Care managers are often trained nurses, psychologists or social workers, and their familiarity with local services and supports can provide invaluable assistance to [...]
Running START: First Steps for Writing the Letter of Intent
Brian Neal Rubin, J.D., Parenting Special Needs.org
“High Potential: The Affordable Care Act for Individuals with Special Needs”
Marielle Hazen, Esq., Exceptional Parent
Do Not Hospitalize Directives Often Confuse
By Elizabeth L. Gray, Esq. A recent article by Judith Graham, "The New Old Age, A Misunderstood Directive," (New York Times, 20 November, 2013) got me thinking about "Do Not Hospitalize" (DNH) orders. As attorneys, we routinely put such orders in our advance directives without a detailed explanation to our clients. What is a "Do [...]
Young Artist with Autism Finds Critical Acclaim
His art has been exhibited throughout the U.S., in Kiev, Galapagos, Curacao and the Cayman Islands. He can compose music on a computer, without the benefit of sound. He's won medals for ballroom dancing. Yet a skills evaluation, conducted, when Seth Chwast - who has profound autism - was 18, indicated that he could look [...]
End-of-Year Tax Considerations
By H. Amos Goodall, Jr., CELA Caring for a loved one with special needs can run into millions of dollars over the course of their lifetime, so the last thing families need is to pay unnecessary taxes. I'd estimate that before beginning to work with a special needs attorney, 30 percent of my clients had [...]
The Affordable Care Act and Its Impact on Individuals with Special Needs
This issue of the Voice was written by SNA member Shirley B. Whitenack, Esq. of Schenck, Price, Smith & King, LLP and an associate at her firm, Crystal West Edwards. Shirley's practice focuses on elder and special needs law and estate and trust litigation, planning and administration. She is a Fellow and the Vice President of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) and is a member of its Council of Advanced Practitioners (CAP). Crystal's practice focuses on elder and special needs law. She is a member of the Elder and Disability Law Section of the New Jersey Bar Association, NAELA, and Secretary of the New Jersey Chapter of NAELA and the Garden State Bar Association.
Guardianship and Mental Illness
By Martha C. Brown, CELA When someone is living with severe mental illness, the process of obtaining guardianship can be particularly complex. Symptoms may be intermittent, leading individuals to resist legally imposed assistance and making it difficult for a court to establish whether or not they are competent to care for themselves. The goal, of [...]
Family Members Should Consider Trust Protector Role
By Robert B. Fleming, CELA, Tucson, AZ For family members wishing to participate in the care of a loved one with special needs, the role of trustee isn't always a good match. Family members may not be particularly familiar with investing, accounting and tax returns. They may not have time to handle ongoing disbursements, or [...]
Reflections on Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month
By Reginald H. Turnbull, CELA March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, a time to reflect on the truly dramatic advances made by the special needs community, as well as the challenges remaining before us. Families that have advocated on behalf of loved ones with disabilities are remarkable. They have consistently eschewed labels, fighting to eradicate [...]
Mental Illness Awareness Month
A Largely Unaddressed Epidemic By Laurie Hanson, Esq. October is Mental Illness Awareness Month, almost an oxymoron. Do you realize that more people in the U.S. have mental illness than any other disability? That a quarter of all adults experience mental illness each year? And that over 50 percent of them will go without the [...]
Harkin Report Cites Lack of Community Services
By Bridget O’Brien Swartz, CELA In 1999, the Supreme Court's Olmstead decision found that delivering services in a segregated setting when such services could otherwise be provided in a less restrictive, more integrated setting, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. As a result, states were directed to provide services within the mainstream community to the [...]
Looming Budget Deadlines Threaten Safety Net
By Bridget O’Brien Swartz, CELA and Morris Klein, CELA As federal budget deliberations become increasingly urgent, there are a number of issues in play: Given that Senate and House versions of the 2014 budget are $91 billion apart and that the fiscal year begins on October 1, a short-term continuing resolution to provide temporary funding [...]