NYAPRS Note: The following comes courtesy of the wonderful representation by Oscar Jimenez-Solomon at the recent ADA@25 Economic Advancement and Financial Inclusion Summit. You can send comments to Oscar at jsolomo@nyspi.columbia.edu.
Hello Everyone,
I wanted to share with you a set of recommendations to improve the financial inclusion of people with disabilities that a group of disability advocates, policy-makers, representatives from the financial industry, and researchers from across the country outlined at a meeting in D.C. last month during the celebrations of the 25 years of the Americans with Disability Act (ADA).
The meeting was organized by Michael Morris, National Disability Institute (NDI) Executive Director, the leading organization in the country promoting policy and program changes on financial inclusion for people with disabilities. NDI was recently sucessful at making a reality the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act, which will allow SSI/SSDI recipients to hold savings accounts exempt from means-testing for SSI/Medicaid elibilibity (up to 14k per year and 100k in total).
The meeting was significant in a many ways. A number of speakers acknowledged that while the ADA has been helpful in promoting community inclusion in a number of areas, there is much to do in the are of economic inclusion. I am particularly happy about recommendation # 25, which highlights the importance of examining financial capability disparities, both across disability groups, and cultural groups.. What we know is that people with psychiatric disabilities are generally worse off compared to other disability groups, especially those who also belong to minority groups. Helping better understand and address these disparities is exactly one of the goals of the study our groups are collaborating on (which by the way, we are happy to report that fieldwork for the first pilot is underway).
It would be terrific if you, or others within your groups, could weigh in on the recommendations below. From participating in these discussions, it seems really important that the psychiatric disability/provider/researcher community have a voice at the table along with other disability groups. You can use the link below to read the recommendations from the meeting, and use the checkboxes to select and submit the five (5) that you feel are most important to add to an action agenda to set a roadmap for collective impact for the next five years:
https://ndiinc.formstack.com/forms/25_recommendations
If you have any other thoughts or suggestions about these recommendations/priorities, please feel free to share them with me. I will be compiling a by 8/27 to share them with Michael and his team.
Best regards to everyone,
Oscar
Recommendation 25
Assist the Federal Reserve and FINRA Investor Education Foundation to expand the questions in their Financial Well-Being and Capability Household surveys to capture and analyze additional data about financial status and behavior of people with disabilities. Examine financial capability disparities across disability subgroups, including racial and ethnic minorities, and variations by age, gender, and sexual orientation.
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