Work and Health
Advocating for Supportive Health Policies for People With Disabilities
 he World Institute on Disability (WID), an Oakland-based nonprofit research, public policy and advocacy center established in 1983, cites complex health policies and a lack of accurate information about benefits rules for deterring people with disabilities from working and leading independent lives. WID also finds that since many disabled people believe they cannot work without jeopardizing their benefits, they live at or below the poverty level. According to a national 2001 Urban Institute study, 20.1 percent of nonworking adults with a disability say they are discouraged from seeking employment for fear of losing the health insurance or Medicaid they depend on to survive.
 In June 2005, TCWF awarded WID a three-year core support grant of $200,000 to sustain its policy advocacy work. These efforts focus on updating state health policies on employment that enable people with disabilities to retain or obtain work while maintaining access to preventive and rehabilitative health services.
To address disincentives to work, WID established the California Work Incentives Initiative (CWII) in 2000, which educates policymakers on state health policies that allow people with disabilities to work without losing critical access to care. Its ongoing efforts include gathering information from the disability community, making policy recommendations to the Governor’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, and testifying about legislation.
WID played an integral role in two legislative victories for people with disabilities in recent years: the 2002 passage and implementation of the Workforce Inclusion Act, which requires state agencies to work together in new ways to improve service delivery and oversight for the disabled; and the September 2006 passage of SB 1270, which ensures that benefits planners at all 21 regional centers across the state clearly explain work incentives associated with such programs as Social Security Disability Insurance, Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid, in an effort to help disabled people plan their futures.
An innovative, new tool for benefits planners and disabled individuals alike is WID’s “Benefits to Work,” a free online calculator at www.disabilitybenefits101.org. Launched in July, the calculator allows users to explore scenarios that match their life situations and delve into how health care and benefits are affected when financial circumstances like employment or marital status change. A Spanish-language version, “Planificación de Beneficios,” is also available at the same website.
“The calculator is a great tool for disabled people to plug in specific information about themselves and actually see how their benefits will be impacted if they work,” said Kathy Martinez, executive director of WID. “It helps them evaluate the risk and decide what path to take.”
Already, WID has received positive feedback from benefits planners, disability advocates and participants at WID-sponsored benefits planning trainings across the state.
“WID is at the forefront of advocating for people with disabilities living in California,” said Fatima Angeles, TCWF program director. “And the calculator is a great example of a practical solution to inform disabled workers about health care and benefits.”
For more information, please visit www.wid.org
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