Seattle attorney Peter  H. D. McKee, a longtime lawyer for the disabled in Seattle, published this editorial recently: “In the past few weeks, a growing storm of attacks against disabled Americans has been fueled by the repetition of inaccurate and dangerous myths about the Social Security disability program. “National Public Radio (NPR) recently aired a [...]

Reported today by Reuters: A federal judge in Brooklyn on Friday gave preliminary approval to a proposed settlement in a lawsuit that alleges five administrative law judges displayed hostility and bias toward disability benefit claimants. U.S. District Judge Carol Amon also conditionally certified a class of potentially thousands of individuals whose Social Security disability insurance [...]

A weak overall job report at the end of the first quarter overshadowed the grim outlook for people with disabilities. The Allsup Disability Study: Income at Risk found that people with disabilities experienced an unemployment rate approximately 65 percent higher than for those with no disabilities in the first quarter of 2013. Allsup has conducted [...]

From Today’s Disability Scoop: A plan expected to be included in President Barack Obama’s budget proposal this week could change how Social Security benefits are calculated for people with disabilities. Obama is reportedly set to include a proposal to change the way that annual cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security benefits are figured in the coming [...]

When women start receiving Social Security retirement or disability benefits, other family members may be eligible for payments as well. For example, benefits can be paid to a husband: • If he is age 62 or older; or • At any age, if he is caring for your child (the child must be younger than [...]

From the website Opposing Views: The death of a spouse can be distressing for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the potential loss of income. If your deceased spouse was receiving Social Security disability benefits, you undoubtedly have questions about whether you can continue to collect any of these benefits. If [...]

Parents of special needs children have enough on their plates just tending to the health, educational and emotional needs of their kids – not to mention often having to cope with drastically lowered income because of reduced work hours or having to pay someone else for childcare. So it’s not surprising that many of these [...]

The Chicago Tribune reports: When women start receiving Social Security retirement or disability benefits, other family members may be eligible for payments as well. For example, benefits can be paid to a husband: • If he is age 62 or older; or • At any age, if he is caring for your child (the child [...]

Social Security Administration (SSA) staffing continues to decline. If budgetary restrictions and sequester issues continue, processing times will almost certainly worsen. In the past two years, SSA’s overall employment numbers have declined, from 70,000 in 2010 to 64,000 at the end of 2012. This reflects attrition, retirements and also federal budget cuts. The sequester cuts [...]