Today we are talking about a program that is an important lifeline for people with disabilities, but it simply doesn’t work very well. In fact, this program prevents people from getting married, discourages them from working, and even prevents them from accepting help from family members.
There are 1,275,932 recipients of Supplemental Security Income (or SSI) in Wisconsin. SSI provides help to many of the lowest income Social Security beneficiaries who are also disproportionately people of color.
Today's guests are experts on SSI policy with two different perspectives and many ideas on what needs to be fixed in SSI.
Bethany Lilly is the Director of Income Policy at The Arc where she specializes in public policy related to Social Security, income supports, paid leave, and poverty. She joined The Arc in 2019 after six years at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, where she worked on public policy impacting people with mental health disabilities. She also was a former was a law clerk with the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in Congress.
Jason Endres is president of People First Wisconsin, the state’s largest self-advocacy organization, Chair of the state’s Independent Living Council and a graduate of partners in policymaking. He lives in Eau Claire his wife Julie and his service dogs Bucky and Pinky.
More resources on SSI and the proposed changes discussed in this episode:
Easy SSI Action Alert: https://p2a.co/IAFTwCz
Find your Member of Congress: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
Letter from the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities: http://c-c-d.org/fichiers/CCD-SSI-Letter_5-20-21.pdf
Letter from Members of Congress in Support of SSI Reform: https://bowman.house.gov/_cache/files/b/a/baebc065-38c0-45cd-bcfd-eaedad4c228d/2E60F47C388560A6676B9F80C9B0D938.ssi-letter-final.pdf
SSI Background: https://disabilitypolicyseminar.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Social-Security-Fact-Sheet.pdf
SSI Reforms Talking Points: https://disabilitypolicyseminar.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Social-Security-Talking-Points-.docx