Greetings,

With ADA anniversary comming up, I will be posting information from
my resources.  Each day of this week I have posted some valuable
information to the Deaf and Disability community.

Today's Resource :

In this letter I will show you why many Deaf people are
getting and staying on SSI/SSDI.  There are many reasons
they have for obtaining these monthly checks. Here is
a few possible reasons:

1) They are unable to find employment anywhere and many of
   these people HAVE TRIED for some time to obtain
   employment somewhere.  OR they have become traumatized
   as result of unfavorable work conditions such as lack of
   reasonable accommodations, or suffered harassment under
   the guise of disciplinary actions.  We need more sensitive
   employers who are seriously interested in hiring AND
   retaining Deaf people on a full time basis.

2) Many Deaf associations are not doing their work to help
   deaf people find employment or assist them in getting
   employers to accommodate their Deaf employees and this
   cause Deaf people to feel uncertain about their future
   and they resort to the U.S. welfare system.  Membership
   many Deaf associations are also on the decline.  We must
   go out and recruit members.

3) The Dept of Fair Employment and Housing is doing a poor
   job at combating discrimination.  This is due to lack of
   proper staffing and funding for this agency.  They are
   now overwhelmed with complaints to investigate.  The
   investigative qualities of these investigators have
   diminished thus making it difficult for them to obtain
   results favorable to Deaf complainants. We need to ask the
   federal government to increase funding and staffing for
   this agency. I have been assured by Senator Diane Feinstein
   (D-CA) that she will look into this in her letter to me.

4) There is not enough tax incentives to hire Deaf people and
   accommodate them.  Many small business know the costs of
   accommodating Deaf or disabled employees will burden them
   and this discourages them from hiring Deaf or disabled
   people.  Again we need write to the Congress and ask
   them to allow more incentives.

These are just a few legitimate possibilities to why many
Deaf people are getting and staying on SSI/SSDI programs.
I feel the U.S. government needs to improve their programs
that encourage employers to hire and accommodate Deaf people.
All levels of the U.S government from the President, who signs
the bills into laws, to the local judges, who rule on cases
involving Deaf employees, must get involved in getting Deaf
people to work and steer them away from SSI/SSDI programs.
Either they help us get jobs or they will have to support
us for the rest of our lives.  My opinions are open to
criticism.

Richard Roehm
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 DEAF WATCH                           Orange County, California
 Richard Roehm
 Chief Editor              Internet : Deaf@activist.com
                                      Deaf_activist@deafwatch.com
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                                      Nesmuth@concentric.net
                  DEAF WATCH
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Deaf Watch will continue to aggressively pursue justice, fairness,
and equality for the Deaf Community as it has been doing since November
1996.  We have chosen that EDUCATION is the best way accomplish this
objective.