[ Background noise ] >> Jamye: Hi, everyone, this is Jamye. Ken, are you there? >> Ken: I am. >> Jamye: Hi, Ken, how are you? >> Ken: Good, how are you doing, Jamye? >> Jamye: Very well, thank you. We're actually missing Jessica and Katie, though, so I'm trying to figure out what's going on with them. >> Ken: Yeah, I'm in the e-mail correspondence with them, and I think that Jessica's waiting for -- or has received a call but there's nothing -- there's just silence on the phone and Katie's still waiting to receive a call. >> Jamye: All right, Jeff, you're our technical guru... >> Ken: What's that? >> Jamye: I'm actually talking to our technical guy. Jeff, do you want to try again? >> Ken: Katie just e-mailed in her call-in number. >> Jamye: Thanks. I do see that. So Jeff, can you hear me? [ Silence ] >> Ken: Looks like Jessica just sent her number in, too. [ Silence ] >> Hello? >> Jeff, just put your phone on hold. We're going to start. >> Oh, okay. [ Background noise ] >> Ray Cebula: Good afternoon, everybody. This is Ray Cebula from Cornell University's Yang-Tan Institute. I need to apologize first off for the delay in getting started. I'm not quite sure what was going on, but we're having some phone issues, and it may very well be weather related. That was something beyond our control. So please forgive me. We will begin immediately, and welcome to today's Ticket to Work WISE Event, Work Incentive Seminar event. We're going to talk today about a very important topic, and it's about choosing the service provider that is right for you. We've talked a lot in these webinars about your ability to go to the state PR agency or to go to a private employment network, and today we're going to focus on that during the discussion. And we've got some great experts that I'll introduce when we get to the agenda. I'll give you some advice about how to find the service provider that's right for you. Now, during today's webinar, if you do want to participate, please notice that there is a Q&A button at the top of your webinar console. We want to hear from you today, we want your comments, we want your questions. When you click on that Q&A button at the top, it's going to open the Q&A box that you can see hear. Type in your questions or your comments at the bottom, hit send, and your question is going to appear on Jamye's desktop, and Jamye will be monitoring that question and answer box. We'll take as many of those questions as we can. There are several hundred of you on the line today, so we don't expect to answer all of your questions. We will take those that pertain to the largest number of people. We will, however, make sure that you do get information about how you can get your specific question answered. Now, you have been connected today through the speakers on your computer. If you do need to change for any reason to get on the phone if your Internet connection's interrupted by these storms that are coming through, click on the word Audio that you see up on the top of your screen. It's going to open up the box, and you will be able to click I Will Call In. When you get I Will Call In, you will end up seeing today's phone number and the access code. You're going to need those in order to get into the phones today. Now, I'm going to give you that number anyway. It is a toll-free number, so if you could write this down, if you haven't printed out the slides, just in case, because as I said, there's a lot of weather out there today. The toll-free number is 1-855-749-4750, and that access code that you'll need is 646-090-222. All right, and I want to go back to webinar accessibility. We try very, very hard to make this webinar -- all of our webinars and our events accessible to as many people as possible, and we ask for your assistance with that. If you do have any difficulties with today's webinar, please let us know about the difficulty that you're having. And even as importantly as that, if you can let us know if you know how to fix it. If you're having a solution and you're aware of a program or some steps that we can take to avoid that problem happening in the future, we want to hear about it so that our next event is even more successful than this. Once again, today's toll-free number is 855-749-4750, and the access code is 646-090-222. For closed captioning, the length that you see there is where you're going to find closed captioning for today's session, www.edi.cornell.edu/ captions.cfm?activity_id=4107. Now the webinar PowerPoint and accessible pdf and text were sent to you with the url link you received to confirm your webinar attendance today, so you should have this information that you can follow along. The transcript for today's session as well as an audio recording, will be available in approximately two weeks at the website you see on your screen, www.edi.cornell.edu/ m-WISE-webinars.cfm. And during the question and answer period, you can use the question box that we showed you. If you want to, you can also send us something at webinars@choosework.net, and those questions will be answered via email at webinars@choosework.net. If you have a question after the webinar, or after we end the connection for today's session, contact us at support@chooseworkttw.net. That's support@chooseworkttw.net. Now, today we're going to talk a bit about the Ticket To Work program and Katie Groth from the New Mexico Division of Vocational Rehabilitation is going to be talking about the program in general. Then we're going to look at work goals, what help do you need to get to those work goals. And Jessica Banda, also from the New Mexico Division of VR, is going to be talking to us about that. We're going to come back to Katie. Who can help you? Deciding whether you should work with an EN or the VR agency, and I'm going to take you through a couple of slides finding, how to find the ENs in your area, and how to get in contact with your state VR agency. And we have a video tutorial to show you how to access all of this information through the website. Then Ken Williams from Adelante Development Center, is going to talk to us about what to think about when you're choosing the right employment network. How do you shop for an employment network? Ken's going to give us a lesson on that. Then I'll pull this all together for you, give you some further information, and we will be able to get into some of your questions and answers, and hopefully we'll be able to direct those to the right person, but I am going to ask all of our panelists to toss in their two cents if we get there. Now, before we move on, I've got some quick questions for you guys. We try to get some information from our audience each time to make sure we're reaching as many people as possible, and these simple questions, just let us how you find out about us and who's listening. So the first poll is: How many other -- that's the fifth poll -- I'm going back again. How did you learn about today's national event? Did you learn about today's event by e-mail, Facebook or Twitter, the website, a friend or family, or some other method? Give you some time to let us know how we should be advertising. [ Background noise ] I'm going to close that one and move on to the second poll, open that up. What do you hope to learn about today's webinar, something about the Ticket to Work? Work incentives for SSI? Work incentives for SSDI? Employment networks and VR agencies or something else? If you are a panelist, please mute your line if you can, because I'm hearing somebody tinkling around with something. All right. What do you hope to learn today? Unfortunately there are a lot of you who want to know what we're going to talk about. I'm going to close that down, we're going to wait a few seconds for that poll to take. Sometimes it makes us wait 20 seconds, sometimes it doesn't. It's the wonder of technology. All right. And we'll get into a few questions to let us know who's listening in. What is your gender, male or female? [ Background noise ] Waiting 20 seconds again. [ Background noise ] Time is precious, hurry up, 20 seconds. [ Background noise ] Okay. What is your age? 18 or younger, 19 to 25, 26 to 40, 41 to 55, 56 to 65 or 66 or older? [ Background noise ] We've got a good division. [ Background noise ] I think we have to change some of those categories. The older I get, the more I want those categories changed. I guess that's not going to happen anytime soon. All right, and let's get on to number 5. Now, at times, we can get a count based on registration and based on people who log in, but very often we hear that there a few people listening together. So how many other people besides yourselves are sitting at the computer screen with you? If there's anybody else sitting there with you, let us know how many people there are, so we can get an accurate picture of how many people are actually attending today. [ Background noise ] All right, we've got a couple of parties out there. All right. We're going to shut back down, and now this one's making me wait a few seconds. Now, while we're waiting for those few seconds to go, we're going to get ready to show you a video that's been provided to us by Social Security Commissioner Bob Williams. He is the Associate Commissioner of Social Security, or one of the Associate Commissioners, and he's with the Office of Employment Support Programs and is a very good friend of ours who is very supportive of the Ticket to Work and Return to Work efforts. And so what I'd like to do, Jeff, if you could queue that video up for us? [ Background noise ] Jeff? Can I get you to queue up that video? >> Jeff: It's coming in just a second, Ray, sorry about that. >> Ray: Okay [ Inaudible voices ] There we go [ Music ] Hello and welcome to today's webinar. My name is Bob Williams and I am the Associate Commissioner for Employment Support at the Social Security Administration. We run the Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency program, which assists persons ages 18 through 64 on SSDI or SSI who want to improve their life and future by becoming employed. By viewing this webinar, you will learn how you can receive training, become employed, increase your earnings, reduce your reliance on disability benefits and eventually earn a better living by becoming fully self-supporting whenever possible. The Ticket program is not for everyone. This is why the choice of whether to take advantage of it is yours and yours alone. I know firsthand that people with significant disabilities face many barriers to becoming and staying employed. This is especially true in today's economy. A major reason you receive disability benefits is that Social Security determined that you were not able to work enough to support yourself but I also want you to know that having a significant disability no longer has to be a lifetime bar to employment and greater financial security. The Ticket can offer you the choices, training, opportunities, and support your need to go to work and gain financial independence. I hope today's webinar begins your journey toward greater self-sufficiency. Your life and future can be better! Thank you for joining us. [ Music ] Okay, thank you very much, Commissioner Williams, and as you can tell, every once in awhile live TV does throw us for a loop. So what are we going to do? Information, what can we expect today? The information that you're going to get on the Ticket to Work program is going to be a wonderful introduction into the discussions that we're going to have about how to actually use that ticket. How to think about your work goals. What do you want to do? That's a very big question. What do you need to get there? Do you need education, do you need training, do you just need some resume preparation and some interview practice? And how do you choose the right service provider? That's a key question. Given what your goal is and what you need, who's the best person or entity to help you get to go? Where do I find that information? We're going to let you know about a bunch of places, bunches and bunches of places and ways to find this information, and we're going to share some success stories today from other people who have used their Ticket to Work. Now, why are we talking about going to work? Clearly, you can see that pile of money sitting in the middle of the screen. Earning more income is always a good thing. We all know that SSI benefits are paying levels below the poverty level, and SSDI benefits are not always enough to make ends meet. We can assure you that if your return to work is planned properly and you use the systems that we are going to talk to you about today, you will have more income. That income is a method of gaining independence, not only from the agencies that you need to deal with now in order to keep that income stream coming, but the more income you have allows you more choices. Meeting new people? That's always a great thing. That's one of the few things that we like to stress that comes along with working that isn't related to money. You just meet more people, you have more opportunities, you can get out into the community and participate more. And learning new skills, whether it be using an EN or a VR agency, to get those skills that might be education, that might be technical training, or some hands-on training to do a job that you used to do but do it differently now because of that disability. Whether you get those skills from the EN or the VR agency or you get them on the job, we're always learning new things because we work, because we work. And now, I want to turn this over to Katie Groth, who is with a New Mexico VR, and let her tell you a bit about herself and the Ticket to Work program, so Katie, take it away. >> Katie Groth: Thank you, Ray. This is Katie. I work at the New Mexico Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, and I am the Ticket to Work Coordinator. I'm going to just kind of give you a brief introduction here about the Ticket to Work Program. So the Ticket to Work Program. It is a free and voluntary program for those individuals on SSI, SSDI who have a disability and have a desire to go back to work. Either they're going back to work for the first time or they want to increase their current work hours, but they have this desire to go back to work. So there's people out there that can help you and talk to you about this Ticket to Work Program. There's a Ticket to Work helpline, and their number is 1-866-968-7842, or TTY is 1-866-833-2967, or you can visit the socialsecurity.gov/ work website to get more information about the Ticket to Work Program. So when you're ready to work and you're on SSI and SSDI, and you have -- you want to earn more money, what can the Ticket to Work Program do for you? Well, it can like Ray said, help you improve your earning potential. If you have the need for further personal fulfillment that comes from working, you know, meeting friends, having something outside of home to fulfill that, the Ticket to Work can provide you the assurance and stability you need to feel confident when you pursue employment, if you want to be able to get benefits back if your job does not work out because of your disability. So a lot of times there's that fear, well, if I go back to work and I lose my benefit I'm going to lose my benefits, and then what am I going to do? Well, there's a lot of work incentives and protection for you to put you on the fast track back to receiving those benefits. A lot of times okay, I'm ready to work, but now what do I do? It's overwhelming, you don't know where to turn. Well, you connect to the hotline, like I said, connect with the people, resources and services you need to develop a work plan. That can be with an employment network, that can be with your VR. That just could be making that first phone call to the Ticket to Work helpline. So when you're ready to work, the whole idea is to build this employment team. So like I said before, it's important to speak to an expert at our Ticket to Work Helpline at 1-866-968-7842, or the TTY line at 1-866-833-2967. There are other resources where you can learn more about the Ticket to Work Program, including on the socialsecurity.gov website, including blogs, and there's also real-life success stories that you can find on there, and we'll be listening to some of those later on. You can also find an employment work network that meets your needs to work or work with your state VR agency, so you have choices to utilize either the vocational rehab in your state or these employment networks, which are both local and national. And so once you decide who you're going to work with, it's important that you stay connected to your employment team, whether that be your employment network or the VR as you explore your work options. So I'm going to hand it off to Jessica from New Mexico Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, to talk to you about exploring your work goals. >> Ray: Okay, Katie, before you do that, I've got a question for you already. How do you like that? Do you need that paper ticket to participate? >> Katie: No, you don't. If you are receiving SSI or SSDI benefits, you have a Ticket to Work, so you do not need that piece of paper. >> Ray: Okay, thank you very much. Now we can turn it over to Jessica. >> Jessica: Hello. My name is Jessica, and I am the benefit specialist with the DVR office or one of the many DVR offices in New Mexico. I'm going to talk to you about what your work goals are and what questions you need to ask yourself before you decide on what you want to do. First of all, we're going to look at what type of work do you like to do, what are my interests, what kind of job do I want now and what kind of job do you want in five years from now? So when you're looking at this, you have to ask yourself, what is it that I really want to do and continue doing for the rest of my life? So we're going to go on and look at the other ones, and of course, you're going to look at your long-term goals. Do you want to work at home, do you want to go work in an office, do you want to be on the road, just different types of things that you need to look at. Another one is self-employment. Do you want to be self-employed or do you want to work for somebody? I know a lot of people with disabilities can't be working for somebody, so they decide to go the self-employment route, which works out a lot better for a lot of individuals. The other questions you would ask yourself is what type of training or education are you going to need to reach your goal? Like Katie mentioned, as far as the VR goals with the ticket and any employment network with the ticket, they can assist you with any training or education that may be needed to reach a goal that you're looking for. Another question you need, will you need assistance in the workplace, special equipment, a job coach, or any special schedule so you can do your job. And a lot of places do accommodate you if you ask for it. It's an incentive for the employer if they did accommodate you in any special way. More questions that you'd ask are, after you kind of have a sense of what you're looking for, do you have a particular job in mind, or do you need help finding a job? And again, Katie mentioned as far as getting some help with employment networks or the VRs in the local areas, they can help you and assist you decide with that. Do you need help with your resume or interviewing skills, which you can also get the same assistance there, and do you need help understanding how work with affect your benefits? In New Mexico, we are down to three specialists to help you with that area, but in every state they do have Social Security specialists that can assist you with explaining how your benefits would be affected if you were to go back to work. So if there are any questions, I'll turn it over back to -- is it Katie? >> Ray: It's back to Katie, yeah, we're all set right now, so Katie, take over. >> Katie: Okay, well, now we have talked about how to decide what you need. Do I need education, do I need training, do I need just some job development? So now it's time to decide whether, should I work with an employment network, or do I need to work with a vocational rehabilitation agency? So in selecting a service provider, like I said, there's two choices. There's employment networks and there's the state vocation rehabilitation agency. Both offer specialized services such as career counseling and job placement, job development, job coaching, and much more. So let's look at what VR agencies specifically do. So VR agencies usually work with individuals who need more significant services. In some states this includes intensive training, education, rehabilitation, and may include other specialized services such as funding for transportation and assistive technology aides. So you've decided to use your Ticket with VR, so how does that work? How does your Ticket work for VR services? So if you receive Social Security benefits because you are on disability, you are categorically eligible for VR services. So what will happen is you'll meet with a VR counselor to develop and individual plan for employment. At the time that your plan for employment is signed by you and your vocational rehabilitation counselor, your ticket will be assigned to VR. So during the time that your ticket is assigned, Social Security may postpone your medical Continuing Disability Reviews as long as you are making timely progress towards employment. These timely progress happen yearly, and they look at wages, training, education, and they just want to make sure that you're doing what you need to do to get to self-sufficiency. So well, you decide, well, I don't think VR's right for me. So maybe I'm going to decide to go with an employment network. Well, an employment network can be a private or public organization, a for profit or nonprofit provider. They help with career counseling, they provide assistance with job placement, and they have offices throughout your community, throughout the state, and some even nationally. The national ENs provide more virtual services, like phone calls, faxes, e-mails, so it's important to know if you feel like you need more one-on-one service where you need to go and see somebody and talk to them, or if you feel like, I could do things over the phone, with plenty of assistance. So you have both a VR and an EN. Now, you can't work with them at the same time together, but you can work with them sequentially. So you have the option of going first your state VR agency, so maybe you need some education and training and more intense services, and VR can provide those for you. And you get employed, and you're employed for 90 days, and once you're employed for 90 days, your case is closed, then you can go on and work with an employment network to receive ongoing services, to find a job, if say you lost your job, or to keep the one you already have. And this whole idea is called Partnership Plus. So I'm going to hand it back to Ray. >> Ray: Okay, thanks an awful lot. That Partnership Plus Program, or idea, is a great one, guys, so just, everybody pay attention to that, because you can use both a VR agency and an EN. It's a wonderful improvement that Social Security made. Now, how do I find where these ENs or VR agencies are? You notice there's a little map up there, and that is a map taken directly from the Social Security website, socialsecurity.gov. It's a very user-friendly website, so I don't want anybody to say that they're afraid of it because it's on the computer, because I can use it, and if I can use it, everybody can use it. So if you want to find the EN, you're basically -- the EN or VR, who's going to serve you best? You've already gotten that sense of what we're trying to do today. How are you going to get back to work? What do you want to do? What services do you need? Once you get a good sense of that, you can then look at what your options are, and basically you're going to be shopping. Remember that employment team that Katie talked to us about. You're the boss of that team. You're going to be directing that team and telling them what you want. This is all about you, so you need to determine which entity, which EN or the VR agency, which one's best for you? You can go onto the Social Security website and use the Find Help tool and look and see if there are ENs in your area or their VR agency is the best place for you. Now, that Find Help tool is going to give you a listing. You can search at choosework.net/ findhelp. You're going to find a list of VNs, you're going to find a list of VR agencies. You can use that search engine to narrow your search, too. Do you want an EN that helps with a specific disability, or specific services, or specific languages? And you can narrow that search so that you don't need to call the entire list. There is a video that you can watch. It's on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v= ipcqwevhzi4. Jamye has put that into the chatbox for you so you can copy that and paste it if you want to, but if you watch that, it's a tutorial to tell you how to use the Find Help tool. And once again, that Find Help tool is that www.choosework.net/findhelp. And again, it's real easy to use. Again, that Advanced Search button will allow you to customize the list of providers. And again, you can customize them. when I did one, for myself this morning when I played with that site, I found ENs that were available to me within 10 miles of my home, because I said, I'm not going to travel any more than that. You can do it by distance, you can do it by zip code, you can do it by state if you want everybody. Again, languages, specific disabilities and the types of services, are all available to you so that you again, can narrow that search. Once you do narrow that search, start calling. You can work over the phone, you can work by e-mail. You have no obligation. As Katie said, this is free and voluntary. And they will talk to you, the VR agency or any one of those ENs that you find, will talk to you, and you can shop and find the person you want to work with who is going to do the best by you and meet your needs the best. So the best way to do that is to give them a call and talk to as many as possible. And now, we're going to talk about how to choose that right employment network. And Ken Williams is going to join us to talk to us about that, so Ken, take it away. >> Ken Williams: Thank you very much, Ray, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for attending the webinar this afternoon. As Ray had mentioned, we're going to discuss a little bit about employment networks. We've heard a little bit about VR agencies and employment networks, and now we're going to just touch on a little bit of what you might want to look for when shopping for employment network services. So if you know that you want to work with an employment network, it's important to pick the right one for you. The right EN will provide you with services you need to support your employment goals. It's a good idea to talk with as many ENs as you need to see what services they offer and to feel comfortable with that. While talking with your EN, you want to ask questions, so it's a good idea to take notes if you talk with your EN so that you compare the services that they while keeping in mind the supports you may need. You can download a helpful checklist at the choosework.net website, and I think there's an address given here. It's http://choosework.net /assets/docs-materials/ttw. choosing.en.pdf. So let's take a look at when you find an EN that you feel is a good match for you, then both you and your EN will agree to work together by developing what is called an individual work plan. An Individual Work Plan, also referred to as an IWP, is like a road map to help you reach your employment goals. Once you and your EN have developed your IWP, your EN will tell Social Security that you are going to work together. You could find a sample IWP if you visit https://yourtickettowork.com/ documents/10404/ 329655/iwp_12-5-12.pdf. That's a long address. >> Ray: It's in the chatbox for everybody, guys. >> Ken Williams: That's good. So you want to take the time that you need to feel comfortable about the choice you are making. After all, not all ENs have the same services to offer, so make sure that you thoroughly look at the services that they are offering, and how they'll fit into what you're looking for. Many ENs, but not all, offer benefits counseling. A benefits advisor can be very helpful in many areas, such as how to properly support your earnings, how to make use of special work incentives, and how earnings may affect your benefits. Ask an EN who serves your area if they have a benefits counseling professional on staff to learn how work can affect your Social Security benefits. You can also gain answers to your questions about Social Security disability benefits and work by calling the Ticket to Work helpline. So some questions you may want to ask when interviewing ENs. What type of services does the EN provide? Is the EN knowledgeable about career choices and options for individuals with disabilities similar to yours? Does the EN have knowledge about the supports and perhaps accommodations that you may need and how to assist you with those? Does the EN understand your needs, such as the level of assistance you may require in securing employment, or perhaps the level of ongoing supports you may need to keep your job. What are the skills and experience of the staff who would be working with you? It's also important to know what your obligations will be when working with the EN and that the EN has clearly explained those to you. Has the staff been successful with assisting their clients in finding competitive employment for individuals with disabilities similar to yours? So you can see that asking questions and taking notes is really, really important, because you want to keep in mind what services an EN offers and how they fit into what your needs may be. So Ray, back to you. >> Ray: All right, thank you, Ken. >> Ken Williams: You're welcome. >> Ray: Now, let's try to get this all together before we get to some of the questions that you've already filled Jayme's box with. The first thing that we need to do is remember to think about your work goals and what you need or what you want to get there. And thinking about work goals isn't always an easy thing. You may not know what you want to do. You may not think that you have the ability to do what you want to do. We can help you with that as well. The VR agencies are great at providing assessments to determine what you might be interested in. Once you decide on that work goal, decide on whether or not you want to work with an EN or a VR. Now, Ken talked to you about that. You're in the position to basically interview all of these people, and figure out who's going to do best by you, who's going to provide you with the best options to get to where you want to be. And you can use the Find Help tool that we talked about, chooseworktty.com/findhelptool or Find Help -- it's in your chatbox -- in order to get the list of providers that are near you. As Katie mentioned, some of them are national, so if you only need some resume preparation, if you only need some interviewing skills or just need to chat with somebody, one of those might be good, too. Start interviewing the service providers to find the right one for you. Remember, you are in charge of that employment team, and it's going to be as successful as you want it to be. You are telling us what you want from this program, so it's very, very important to grab the wheel and drive the truck. And contact the Ticket to Work helpline if you have questions, and we're going to give you that number on the next slide, I believe. Here we are. Building your employment team again. Sounds familiar? Well, it is familiar, because we want to let you know again that this team begins with you, and there is no wrong way to start building it. You can start by calling the Ticket to Work helpline at 1-866-968-7842, or for TTY users, 1-866-833-2967. You can learn more about the Ticket to Work by reading the blog, reading the success stories, at www.socialsecurity.gov/work. That's a great way to get information, because as I said, that website is very user-friendly, it has every bit of information you need, and you don't have to talk to anybody. There's no obligation. It's free to use as you see fit. So look at those success stories. Some of them are really, really inspiration. They're great people who took the Ticket to Work and went back to work and were successful. Find that Employment Network who's going to work for you, or work with your state VR agency, or as Katie said, maybe you want to put them together and work with both of them. And stay connected to that employment team. Once again, you're driving the truck. The employment team is going to listen and take direction from you. And let's talk about some other resources to get you in contact with folks before we get to some of your questions. I really want to encourage you to visit the Social Security website, www.socialsecurity.gov/work. You can use that website to locate Employment Networks, you can get information about your VR agencies, information about the Ticket to Work, information about the work incentives that apply to Social Security disability or to SSI. And you can do lots of other things. You can begin to file applications, you can file appeals, you can get all kinds of help and information about your benefit status on that website. And as always, the Ticket to Work helpline is available to you at 866-968-7842, or for TTY users, 866-833-2967. Now, on to your questions. Let me see what I've got here. We've got quite a few questions. And I'm going to just toss this one out to all three of you and hear what you have to say. "If my disability isn't apparent, does the VN or the ER agency need to know why I'm disabled?" >> Katie: Well, I can speak for vocational rehabilitation -- this is Katie. In order to receive services, we have to have documentation of your disability, so VR does need to know what your disability is. >> Ken Williams: And on the other end of that spectrum, ENs don't necessarily need to know. It's helpful if we know only if it's going to be really come into a factor as it's going to be presenting a barrier with the type of job that a person is looking for. So in most cases we look to align our client so that their disability doesn't actually come into the equation on their job duties. There are exceptions to that, because somebody may need an accommodation, and we address those on a one-by-one basis, but generally speaking, your disability does not need to be disclosed to an Employment Network. >> Ray: Yeah, and I think it's safe to say that both Employment Networks and VR agencies are going to keep this information confidential and only release it to potential employers with your permission, and as Ken said, if necessary. Sometimes it doesn't really matter. >> Ken Williams: Ray, I'd like to just expand on just that a little bit. >> Ray: Sure. >> Ken Williams: Out of all the individuals that we have placed externally -- that means in community-based competitive employment, there's only two individuals that their disability is known to the employer, and that's because they both make use of a wheelchair. Outside of that, none of the employers are aware that they hired a person with a disability. >> Ray: That's great. That's absolutely great, and while you're talking, Ken, I got a question for you. Do I have to prepare one of these IWPs myself before I talk to an EN? >> Ken Williams: Absolutely not. That's part of the dialogue that takes place, and it'll be the same with VR agencies, they have an IPE, an Individual Plan for Employment or an IWP under the ticket, and we utilize the IWP. That is the conversation that takes place with you and the EN to do that exploratory job planning, set up those goals and the path in which you're going to take in order to accomplish those goals. So that is a one-on-one interaction with the beneficiary and the Employment Network in developing that individual work plan. >> Ray: Okay, thank you, Ken. And Katie, I think this one's for you. Somebody wants to know if they can start working with a VR agency and then move to an EN once they finish their training. >> Katie: That's correct. That's the whole idea of Partnership Plus. With the Ticket to Work Program, you can use the ticket sequentially but not concurrently. So you can't be working with a VR and an Employment Network at the same time and have your ticket assigned to them. You can work with the VR, get the services you need, get the education, the training you need. They help you get back to work, your case gets closed, and then you can get referred onto an Employment Network and get your ticket assigned to them. >> Ray: All right, thank you very much. Now, for everybody. What if I found my own job? Do I get to keep my benefits? What happens? >> Ken Williams: That's okay. I'd like to just take that one because I think there's some important things to realize when you're a recipient receiving these disability benefits. Regardless if your ticket's assigned or not, the activity that you have with your employment is still taking effect with your ticket and those work incentives. So say for instance, an SSDI recipient goes to work and they're not partnered with an agency, their trial work months are still being used up and they're still entering into their extended period of eligibility and so on and so forth. So it's a really good idea to partner with a VR agency or an Employment Network so that they can help assist that individual in identifying where exactly they are in the program, and more importantly, take advantage of work incentives that may be available to them to extend the period of time in which they receive their benefits. That could be their Medicare, Medicaid, their cash benefits, so on and so forth, and it also prevents any complications with any type of overpayment situations. An SSI recipient, as soon as they go to work, anything beyond $85, it's a 2 for 1 reduction to their benefit. So it's really important to be able to expand so you know what to expect as you progress in employment. >> Ray: Yeah, thank you, and as Jessica pointed out there are benefits planners out there as well. Many VR agencies have planners, or their staffs have been trained to help plan, many ENs have planners on staff, and as Jessica pointed out, we are also looking at benefits planners. As of August 1, the benefits planning programs that were sponsored by Social Security will again begin taking clients. So benefits planning is going to be available as well, and it's a critical service. It's a critical service, because as Ken said, all of these work incentives happen, whether you know about it or whether you plan, and it would be a shame to go back to work without planning and see that they've all been wasted. So I want to thank everybody. I want to thank Ken and Jessica and Katie and thank Jayme for funneling the questions my way, thank Jeff for getting us through this, and we seem to have survived the storms. And if you have further questions, give us a call. You can call the Ticket to Work helpline at 1-866-968-7842, again TTY users, 1-866-833-2967. Follow us on Twitter. If you have a Twitter account, www.twitter.com/chooseworkssa. Or like us on Facebook. You'll find lots of great discussion and stories on Facebook, www.facebook.com/choosework. Again, thank you for attending today's webinar, look, watch your e-mail -- however you found out about us for the next webinar, we'll be doing one again shortly on a different topic. And I just want to alert you that as you sign off there will be a survey that will appear on your desktop. We would love you to complete that survey and let us know what you thought. And with that said, I'm going to once again thank our panelists and wish everybody a good afternoon. Take care, everyone.