Planning Ahead - Florida Developmental Disabilities Council

For some persons in supported employment, the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) mayalso become involved in funding supports and services to help find and maintain a job. Thesupport coordinator will usually be the person who coordinates these referrals and works outthe details of how Vocational Rehabilitation and the Agency for Persons with Disabilities willwork together.If a person has been determined disabled and is receiving Social Security benefits (SSA) or SupplementalSecurity Income (SSI) it is very important that the person contact the Social SecurityAdministration so that SSA or SSI benefits will not be reduced because of earnings from employment.Social Security has a special program called Plan for Achieving Self Support (PASS)that requires the person (with the assistance of a support coordinator or VR counselor) to submita plan for learning a job. When this plan is filed and accepted, benefits will not be reducedas long as certain conditions are met. Remember that the plan must be submitted to the SocialSecurity Administration and approved by them before employment begins.Volunteering offers a wide spectrum of community involvement for individuals who are lookingto expand their experiences. Many individuals are choosing to spend their day activitiesin meaningful volunteer positions. Oftentimes these volunteer activities can result in employmentopportunities. Some examples of volunteer activities can include working at your localpublic library, food banks, animal shelters, church programs as well as for specific programs suchas Goodwill and the Salvation Army. Disability specific programs also offer options to expandsocial roles by applying to participate in Partners in Policymaking (go to www.fddc.org formore information and an application), serving on local, state or national volunteer boards thusopening doors to expand. Businesses also seek volunteers who can bring a fresh perspective ondisability issues and in meeting the consumer needs of individuals with disabilities. Work withyour support coordinator and others in your support network on reaching out to new innovativeapproaches to meaningful activities.RETIREMENTMost people nearing age 50 begin to think about retiring although the actual age of retirementis usually 62-65 (the age when retirement benefits are available through Social Security). Wemay have started out at a low level job and through the years the nature of our work changes, orwe move up the employment ladder to different jobs. For persons with developmental disabilitiesthis does not always happen. They often remain in the same job for many years, with littledeviation in the tasks they perform—enough years to have “earned retirement” even thoughthere may not be retirement benefits available from the employer.Some people do not want to retire. They may prefer to shift to another kind of work, or workonly part time, leaving more free hours for leisure activity or other things they enjoy. This isequally true for persons with developmental disabilities. However, retirement has only been anoption for persons with disabilities in recent years. Individuals with disabilities may not havea good understanding of exactly what “retirement” will mean to them. They may need help indiscovering that they only wish to try something new, to do something that gives more leisuretime, or to retire from employment as they have known it (e.g. doing the same repetitive job formany years.)Chapter 7, Work and Retirement33