With this in mind, the World Institute on Disability (WID) is putting out a call for healthy, disability-friendly recipes and food preparation tips, which they will organize and publish in a Disability Cookbook.  They want to hear from you about your favorite recipes and preparation tips.  Details about submissions can be found here.

The final Disability Cookbook, organized into sections that address various needs for disability accommodation, will be distributed for free on their website.

The original post is located here: What’s Your Favorite Recipe?

The event advertisement describes it this way:

Topic: Top Olmstead priority issue areas that are receiving attention and analysis within the Olmstead Advisory Committee. Q & A to follow, focusing on how local issues might best be presented during public remarks, in writing, etc.

• When: Friday, May 24th, 2:00 – 4:00 pm
• Where: Osher Conference Rooms, Ed Roberts Campus, 3075   Adeline St., Berkeley (directly above the Ashby BART station)
• RSVP: contact Loren Steinberg at (510) 841-4776 or lsteinberg@cilberkeley.org

Accommodations are available with advance notice.  See here for details.

The original post is located here: Olmstead Community Training

Those who qualify for Assurance Wireless will get a basic cell phone, plus 250 free minutes and 250 text messages each month.  There are no long-term contracts or activation fees.    Phone service includes voicemail, call waiting, caller ID, 911 access and Nationwide Sprint Network coverage.  You can even keep your current home or cell phone number.  Other low-cost packages are available if you want to add more minutes or texts.

In California, the free cell phone is a limited-time offer that expires on June 6, 2013, so you’ll need to act quickly.  You’ll find much more information and can apply here.

*Lifeline is a government benefit program to provide low income people with communication services.  Many providers, including Verizon and AT&T,  offer their own versions of this program.  Virgin Mobile’s version, called Assurance Wireless, is the one that offers the free cell phone and minutes/texts. 

The original post is located here: Free Cell Phone and Service!

The World Institute on Disability* is conducting a survey to gather input from the disability community attempting to purchase, download and use these apps.  The goal of the survey is to translate consumer concerns into useful, constructive information for manufacturers, mobile operators and app developers, as well as private and public sectors that deliver services or information to the public via mobile.

To take the survey, click here.

* with support from the Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs and American Foundation for the Blind.

The original post is located here: Exploring the “Apps Jungle”

As things currently stand, individuals receiving SSI benefits can have no more than $2,000 at any given time.  The council is asking the president to:

• increase the asset limit to $10,000, with allowances for the figure to continue to rise with inflation,
• adjust the way that SSI benefits are effected when an individual earns money from a job, and
• make it easier for people with disabilities to keep their Medicaid coverage (known as Medical in California) even as their income rises or if they move across state lines.

Click here to find the full article provided by Disability Scoop.

The original post is located here: White House Urged To Raise SSI Limits

Approximately 20% of the United States population lives with some level of disability, and people with disabilities are almost three times as likely to live in poverty than any other group. WID’s Access to Assets project opens doors for the disability community by promoting asset-building and financial literacy among people with disabilities. Asset building is an anti-poverty strategy helping low-income people move toward greater economic independence by saving and purchasing long-term assets. Building assets, as a complement to increasing income, provides the stability necessary to escape the cycle of poverty.

That’s the introduction to the Access to Assets project offered by the World Institute on Disability (WID).  I confess that when I first read this I had my doubts.  How can someone living in poverty possibly save enough money for a down payment on a home or for business start-up costs?  I’m probably not alone in my thinking; perhaps some of you are of the same mind.  Well, I was wrong.  It is possible, and Access to Assets is helping people make it happen.

For instance, take Jill, a single mom with a disability, who in two short years was able to improve her credit rating, save for a down payment and buy a home. (You can find Jill’s full story here.)  Or there’s Vicky, who managed to raise $8,000 of capital and start her own successful tax preparation business without impacting her benefits.  (You can find Vicky’s full story here.)

Access to Assets bridges the gap between the disability community and the asset building community through a medley of services.  In their the EQUITY e-newsletter (found here) you’ll learn about  special savings accounts that do not negatively impact a person’s benefits and a variety of programs that can help leverage small amounts of money into large savings.

The original post is located here: Asset-Building for Low-Income People

Computers have evolved from from the salvation for people with disabilities to the cause of many disabling conditions. Our current computer-laden work and school environments have the potential to significantly damage our bodies. It is critical that we establish new “rules of engagement” with computers. This Healthy Computing webinar will explore the reasons and tools for taking regular breaks from the computer.

That’s the way the Accessible Technologies Coalition (ATC) describes their upcoming webinar on Healthy Computing that looks to be both interesting and important.  The webinar will occur on Tuesday, March 26th, at 10:30 AM (Pacific time) and you can sign up for it here.   If you are unable to catch it at that time, all their webinars are archived on their website so that you can view it later.

Actually, the ATC offers a whole host of webinars both upcoming and archived.  I encourage you to explore the range of topics on offer,  which can be searched by disability, by age, by activity, and more from their home page.  For a list of their upcoming webinars go here or you can search the full archives here.

The original post is located here: Healthy Computing

In order to help improve emergency communications for people with disabilities, the Wireless Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center has launched a new Survey on Emergency Communications.  Your participation in this survey could help future victims of disaster receive the emergency alerts and help that they need, thus saving lives.

In the survey–which you can take online, by phone or on paper–you will be asked to share some information about yourself, your experience and your preferences for communicating during emergencies.

You can find more information here or go directly to the survey here.

The original post is located here: Survey on Emergency Communications

The original post is located here: When You’re Asked an Illegal Question in an Interview

The IRS website puts just about everything you could want to know about taxes at your fingertips.  Here are three IRS publications that provide a good starting place for people with disabilities, each with links to further information.

• Tax Highlights for Persons with Disabilities
• More Information for People with Disabilities
• Credit for the Elderly or the Disabled

The IRS estimates the most under-claimed tax benefit is the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).  Check out Disability and Earned Income Tax Credit  and the EITC Home Page for more information.  The latter provides an online EITC Assistant, in both English and Spanish, to help you determine whether you are eligible for the EITC and estimate the amount.  Popular tax preparation software programs, such as Turbo Tax, Tax Act and H&R Block, incorporate questions that determine your eligibility for the EITC.

If you need assistance preparing your tax return, I wrote a blog last year that outlined numerous places that provide free tax preparation help.

The original post is located here: Tax Provisions for People with Disabilities