This article will take a good look if The Ticket To Work and Pass To Self Support Actually Works For Those With a Mental Disability or Impairment.

In 1996, the former President, Bill Clinton signed into law what he thought would be a good program to help those individuals who receive Social Security Disability and Social Security Supplementary Security Income a way out and a way off of being totally dependent on Social Security Disability or Social Security Supplementary Security Income checks.

It has been nearly ten years since under Clinton Administration signed and enacted the Ticket To Work and Pass to Self-Support program which was suppose to help individuals with disabilities become self-supporting, indpendent, and self efficient.

However, that is not the case for the many of thousand of individuals that have been found to have either a psychiatric, developmental, learning, disability or a person who is mentally retarded.

The Ticket To Work and Pass To Self-Support was not formulated nor designed to help those indivudals with a invisible disability as listed above.

In fact, there is little evidence that it has actually helped any individual receive the support services which include; Proper diagnosis, prognois, or treatment of any number of psychiatric disabilities, learning disabilities, developmental disabilities, or mental retardation.

Along with the proper diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment . The Ticket to Work does not offer long term vocational testing, evaluation, recommendations for vocational training, and afterward the proper accommodations for those indivduals after placed into the appropriate employment setting.

The The Ticket To Work and Pass To Self Support may only help those who have a verifiable work history and
that does not have what is defined as a "developmental disability", one which manifests itself before one's 22nd birthday.

A "Development Disability" can be one of chronic psychiatric problems, learning disabilities, (one's that are not caught while a child is in elementary school) and mental retardation as well.

A Developmental Disability is one that keeps a child from reaching his/her maximum growth and keeping up with his or her peer group by way of natural development.

It can be either be by learning, independent living skills, psycho-social skills and interpersonal relation skills. It effects every aspect of the child's life and when the reach adolence and then early adult hood. It keeps them back from achieving the kind of quality life they want to achieve.

Not even special education often corrects these series of problems.
Schools now-a-days are often crowded and under-staffed. Even the Special Education Classes are over-crowded and under-staffed. So, personalized one on one attention is out of the question.

Private schools that specialize in live-in programs are very expensive.
Most parents don't have the funds to send their special needs child or children as the case may be, to these specialized schools.


Parents often have to just accept the fact that the only thing they can do for the "special needs" child or children is ulitize the Public School system and formulate a IEP for each child.

What about the older adults that never have the benefit of Special Education.
Most of them just fall between the cracks and the wayside and these are the individuals that often have to rely on Social Security Disability Benefits, if they had held down job for atleast five years or those who have never worked and have to rely on Social Security Supplementary Security Income.

Many older adults were committed to state run mental health facilities. They were not evaluated for vocational skills, strenghts, weaknesses, liabilities, asssts, and education level.

These are the ones that are hurt most. This is because these state run mental health facilities kept these very adults drugged up on psycho-topic medications.

We need to question how and what is The Ticket To Work and Pass To Self Support if any helping the younger generation X adults whose parents are rushing them down to Social Security to file for either Social Security Disability or Social Security Supplementary Security Income actually helping them or simply trying to pass buck onto the federal government to support those children that don't measure up to their parents standards.

First of all, let me address the question of Passing-The-Bucking on to The Federal Government.

Neither "true and natural" parents or Adopters who do receive adoption subsidy payments from any state, once a child become 18 years of age, should rush their children down to Social Security and apply for benefits once their child gets 18 years of age and when they are no longer legally obligated or responsible for a child that turns 18 years of age.

It is recommended that parents (true and natural) or "adopters" put aside a certain amount of funds for their special needs child in a special needs trust fund.

This way, once a child reaches the age of 18. There will be a sufficient amount of money in the Special Needs Trust fund and this money can be used for Vocational Testing, Evaluation, and assestment of their child's particular needs, strengths, and etc.

The money can be used to help to establish a child in his/her own apartment and whereas the child can learn to start to take care of his/her self. This way there is no need to rush your child down to Social Security and subject your child to live his/her life in poverty.

To subject your child to live a life in and of poverty is not an act of love rather an act of selfishness .

It is true that most State Vocational Services is not set up to help individuals with non-visible disabilites.

Often Vocational Counselors lack training in helping those individuals with psychiatric, learning, and developmental disabilities and not to mention mental retardation.

The Ticket To Work and Pass To Self Support was not designed or formulated to help those with a psychiatric, learning, devlopmental disability or mental retardation.

The Ticket To Work and Pass To Self Support was set up and designed to help those with physical disability and perhaps those individuals that were not born with a developmental disability with a combination of psychiatric disabilities and learning disabilities.

One only has to go to the Ticket To Work and Pass To Self Support website at http://yourtickettowork.com
and you will only find success stories about how this program has helped those with a physical disability not a non-physical disability.

The Ticket To Work and Pass To Self Support is managed by Maximum, a management company paid to oversee and run the Program for The United States Department of Human Services/SSA.

The Website For the Ticket to Work and Pass To Self-Support provides The Ticketholder to access Employment Networks in one's state by city, state,
or zipcode.

The Employment Network can be a private vocational agency, mental health agency, or State Vocational Services or Employment Agency .

Each Employment Network tells you what kind of disability it works with, what area, state, age group, and what services it oftens the TicketHolder.

A word of caution: Most states use the federal guidelines For The Ticket to Work and Pass To Self-Support. This means once the ticket is put into use.

The Ticketholder will receive a letter and it will state how the Ticket is measure for progress.

Check out your State Vocational Service Website and It will tell you how The State measures one's progress while using the Ticket To Work.

Some states measure ones progress every two years to determine if substantial progress is being made.
Only if substantial progress is being made. Then one will have no medical review to determine if one is or is not disabled.

Understand, Social Security SSDI recipients recieve their checks on the third of each month. They are allowed to keep the full SSDI checks and earn up to $850.00 . One cent over that is considered substantially gainful employed.

SSDI recipients may also use their nine month trial work period as well.

On the other hand, SSI recipients need to understand that they are not able to keep their full SSI checks. If they work . Their check is reduced by half.
They are allowed to earn $900.00 and still receive a SSI check.

The formula for SSI recipients is below.

Sally works 8 hours a day for $7.00 for five days a week which equals $1,160 a month.

Social Security does not count the first $85.00 of the money. They do the rest of earn income.

Sally will receive a SSI check for $61.90.

The big question here is if Sally can continue to hold her job and continue to earn roughly about $1,100 a month .

Social Security counts only income before taxes are taking out.

Social Security looks at substantially gainful employment different for SSI recipients.

The big question here is can Sally's employment can give her reasonable accomdations under the ADA and how can Sally work 8 hours a day for five days a week if she has never worked before.

This is one question that The Ticket To Work and Pass To Self Support does not look at when it comes to indivduals with a non-physical disability.

Individuals with psychiatric, learning and developmental disabilities may need long term job coaches, reasonable accommodations, and certain kind of envirnoments to work at.

No matter how diverse the work force is. It is not that diverse when it comes to hiring those with invisible disabilities.

The work force may have become more diverse when it comes to hiring minorities i.e. Afro-Americans, Hispanics, Women, and etc. But not with persons with invisible disabilities.

Sheltered Workshops are not the answer.
They pay minimum wage or less. Some sheltered workshops don't have to tell the client as to why they are letting the person go.

With this mind. Parents who have a special needs child needs to make sure they can advocate on the behalf of their child if it comes to meeting their needs and making sure they receive all the services the state has to often.

The Ticket To Work and Pass To Self Support has not worked adequately for those individuals with invisible disabilities.

Many have tried to use their Ticket To Work and many have just given up. This is because of lacking of skilled Vocational Counselors who know how to work effectively and compassionately with those effected by a invisible disability.

Society is to blame for how people preceive and view those of us with a psychiatric, learning, developmental disability and mental retardation.

Ten Years after the Ticket To Work was signed into law and enacted it helps very few and far between disabled persons who suffer from a invisible disability.