WISE Ticket to Work Webinar Working from Home with Ticket to Work May 27, 2020 Speakers: Sarah Hyland (Moderator); Ray Cebula, Paula Vieillet, & Lori Adler (Presenters) SARAH>> Good afternoon and welcome to today’s Ticket to Work webinar, Working from Home with Ticket to Work. My name is Sarah Hyland. I am a member of the Ticket to Work team and I will be your moderator for today’s webinar. We are so glad you were able to take time to spend with us today to learn about Social Security’s Ticket to Work program and how it can help you as you start on the path to financial independence through work. Each of us has our own path to follow and we hope you find some information today that will assist you in moving forward on your path to employment and financial independence. Let’s get started by going over some functions of the webinar platform so that you can interact and get the most out of the information presented today. First, you can manage your audio using the audio option at the top of your screen. The audio option is an icon that looks like a microphone or telephone. All attendees will be muted throughout today’s webinar, thus, when presented with the options to joining the audio conference, choose “Listen Only,” which is here at the bottom right in the audio menu. Clicking “Listening Only” allows the sound to be broadcast through your computer speakers or your headphones. Please, make sure your speakers are turned on or your headphones are plugged in. If you are unable to connect to the audio with your computer or prefer to listen to the webinar by phone, dial 1-800-832-0736 and enter access code 4189148#. Next, we will share some information about webinar accessibility. On the Adobe Connect platform you will notice that on your screen there are four different boxes. These boxes are called pods. We have the presentation pod where the slides appear, below that is the closed captioning pod. In the top right-hand corner, you will see the Q&A pod. And below the Q&A pod is the Web links pod. We will talk about these pods in more detail in a little bit. If you need assistance navigating Adobe Connect, an accessibility user guide with a list of controls is available at http://bit.ly/adobe-accessibility. This link is also available in the Web links pod at the bottom right-hand corner of your screen and is titled “Adobe Accessibility User Guide.” Real-time captioning is available and is displayed in the captioning pod, which is the box that appears below the slide that is on your screen right now. The captioning link can be found in the Web links pod under the title “Closed Captioning.” If you are fluent in ASL and would like support for today’s webinar, follow the link below that provides instructions to connect with an interpreter through the Federal Communications Commission, FCC, Video Relay Service, VRS. The ASL User Guide can also be found in the Web links pod under the title “ASL User Guide.” We are here today to answer questions you have on the Ticket to Work program. Please go ahead and send your questions to us at any time throughout the webinar by just typing them into the Q&A pod. We will direct your questions to our speakers during the Q&A portions of our webinar. We will be addressing questions at three different points throughout today’s presentation, so go ahead and send in those questions and we will do our best to answer as many of them as possible. If you are listening by phone and are not logged in to the webinar, you may ask questions by sending an email to Ticket to Work, the email address being webinars@choosework.ssa.gov. Another resource available that we think you will find extremely helpful in connecting to the different resources mentioned today is the Web links pod, which you will find at the bottom right hand of your screen. This pod lists all of the links to resources presented during today’s webinar. To access any of these resources, simply highlight the topic you’re interested in and would like to connect to, and then select the “Browse to” button at the bottom of the pod. You will then be taken to the website requested. If you are listening by phone and not logged into the webinar, or don’t have access to the Web links pod, you can always email Ticket to Work, the email address being webinars@choosework.ssa.gov, or reference the confirmation email that you received for today’s webinar for a list of available resources. Also, please note that SSA cannot guarantee and is not responsible for the accessibility of external websites. Today’s webinar is being recorded and a copy of it will be available within two weeks on the Choose Work website, which can be accessed at http://bit.ly/WISE_OnDemand. This link, as well as others, can be found in the Web links pod we just talked about at the bottom right-hand corner of your screen, and it is titled WISE Webinar archives. We hope everyone has a great experience on the webinar today, however, if you run into any technical difficulties, please use the Q&A pod to send us a message and we can help you out with that. You can also send us an email at the Ticket to Work email address, which is webinars@choosework.ssa.gov. As I mentioned earlier, my name is Sarah Hyland and I am a member of the Ticket to Work team. I’m very excited to be here with you today as your moderator. We are delighted to have with us three excellent speakers today, Ray Cebula, Paula Vieillet, and Lori Adler. Ray Cebula received his law degree from the University of New Hampshire’s Franklin Pierce School of Law. He spent 23 years providing legal services to individuals with disabilities in their interactions with Social Security. He became part of Cornell University’s Work Incentive Support Center in 2000, and, in 2005, he joined the staff of Cornell’s Yang Tan Institute on Employment and Disability, where he now serves as the program director of YTI Online, which is Cornell’s work incentive practitioner credentialing program. Paula Vieillet is the CEO and Founder of My Employment Options, Inc., also called MEO. Paula has been helping people with physical, mental, and emotional challenges find suitable jobs for over 20 years as a nationally-certified vocational evaluator. She is also nationally recognized as a consultant, author, and speaker. My Employments Options has been a part of the Ticket to Work program since its beginning and specializes in both work-at-home and on-site job placement for those receiving SSDI or SSI in 47 states. Many of her staff have also used the program personally to return to the workforce. Lori Adler is a communications manager at My Employment Options, MEO, and is also a Ticket to Work program participant. Lori has used the program personally to return to work remotely from home, as that was the best option for her in visible disability. The program allowed Lori to gradually return to work and, over time, she was able to use the program to work off benefits and have a career. She now helps promote the Ticket to Work program in her job to help others like herself on SSDI and SSI to learn more about it. Lori was also chosen by SSA as a program success story, which you will hear later. And thank you all again for joining us today. Today, we are going to discuss how Social Security’s Ticket program can help you and answer your questions relating to Social Security’s Ticket Program, Ticket to Work Service Providers, benefits of working from home, finding work from home opportunities, and then putting it all together. And with that, it is my pleasure to start off and introduce Ray Cebula who will be starting off with the Ticket to Work program and support on your journey to work, and service providers. Thanks, Ray. RAY>> Thank you, Sarah. We are going to talk about the Ticket to Work program and the supports that you can receive on your journey to work. And I think you’re going to find the other speakers very helpful in that regard. Before we get started, however, we have to tell you that we are not going to be answering any questions involving COVID-19. It’s the 500-pound gorilla in the room and we just don’t have time to answer those questions. But you can find them in the Web links pod at Society Security COVID-19 resources and online at https://www.ssa.gov/coronavirus/. Find lots of good information there. I check it every morning. Okay. We have two programs that we’re going to be talking about today, the Social Security Disability Insurance program and the SSI program. The Social Security Disability program, generally called SSDI, is what it says it is, it’s insurance. When you get paid for working and FICA taxes are withheld from your paycheck, they are sent to Social Security and begin to insure you in case you need it for disability, and insure you for retirement. The SSI program, Supplemental Security program, is a needs-based poverty program. It functions as a federal welfare program. The definition of disability is the same, however, because this is a needs-based program, it’s providing people who either are not insured because they haven’t worked enough or have never worked. And it’s very, very sensitive to both income and resource issues. First thing you need to know in order to return to work and talk to an employment network or a benefits planner is what kind of benefits you receive and how much. A good place to find out is by setting up a My Social Security account that you can also do on SSA.gov. Starting that journey to work is a big decision. It’s a little difficult to talk in this environment about starting a journey to work but it’s actually an incredibly wonderful time because you have a lot of time to prepare for what needs to happen in order to go to work in three or four months, we hope, when the country opens up. This decision is your decision. The Ticket to Work is voluntary. The services that you receive are free. However, we’ll talk about that in a bit, because you do have obligations. And you have to make the right decision for you as to whether or not you’re ready. And you can do that by talking to an employment network, talking to a benefits planner, talking to a friend or neighbor who is working, and see what the benefits of work are. Make a pro and con list, what’s good, what’s bad. And it’s much more than the money that we’re talking about here. All of the other things that come with work and getting out of the house and being able to go out to dinner. I understand we can do that in Santa Fe tonight, if we can eat outside. Why the Ticket to Work? Ticket to Work is a really, really good program. I’ve been a believer since it started in 1999. Work may not be something that’s right for you. I believe that, contrary to what the slide says, everybody can work, we just have to find out what you have to sell. You may not be able to work a lot. You may only be able to work a little. So, whether the Ticket program is available to you or going to be your best way to work will depend upon that, your tolerance for work. Once people understand what happens with the Ticket to Work and the services and all of the work incentives that are available through Social Security, they’re often going to find that the financial rewards and the social rewards far outweigh the risks of losing benefits. Again, the employment networks, the benefits planners can make sure that your return-to-work plan is, in fact, going to make you better off. Nobody in this business is looking to take things away from you without fully replacing them. So, what is this Ticket to Work program? As we said, it’s free and voluntary. It offers career development for people ages 18 through 64, who receive benefits from Social Security based on disability and want to work. Now, remember, if you are 18, you have to have been determined to be a disabled adult. There’s a redetermination process that happens at that age. So, if that process hasn’t happened, you will not have a ticket. Otherwise, you have a ticket. You definitely have a ticket, and there are places where you can find that out that are also in the Web links pod. Contacting a benefits planner, an employment network, the first thing that’s going to happen is they’re going to find out if you have a Ticket to Work available. What does that Ticket allow you to do? It allows you to look for services, for free employment services that are the best for you and your situation. They can help you decide if work is right for you. They can help you prepare for work, and, even more than that, potentially prepare for a career; help you find a job. And once you find a job, the game’s not over because we want to stay with you until you succeed, so we’re going to continue providing on-the-job services if it’s necessary, to allow you to stay at work. Now, notice there, free services. I said that you had an obligation, too, and that’s very, very important. Social Security is paying your service provider for these services, and, in return, you are keeping pace with the plan you’ve put together so that your SSI is either significantly lowered or that your SSDI ends up being zeroed out. That never happens without you ending up with more money. That’s the point of all of this planning that we’re doing. But your obligation is to complete that plan that is built. And when you do that, your employment network gets paid by Social Security. So, it’s kind of a three-way contract. Now, the Ticket to Work service providers, let’s talk a little bit about them. There are lots of them. The employment networks -- and we have somebody here from an employment network who’s going to talk to you -- great, great organizations. Some of them are national. Some of them are statewide. Some of them might just serve a few zip codes. They’re all different. They all specialize in different things. They specialize in working with different populations. So, you need to make a decision as to whether the EN that’s available to you is the right EN. And most of the ENs are more than willing to tell you whether or not they’re going to be able to work with you based on the type of disability that you have. Workforce ENs -- I’m trying to think of what they’re called. They were called one-stop shops and they were called American job centers. They are also employment networks. They’re networks that you can use along with your other network. If you don’t have a computer at home, they have computers that you can access -- of course, when we open up the country again. They have job banks. They can help you put a résumé together. There are various types of services that you can get, depending on what you need. State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies, that’s the 500-pound gorilla. They are the big state agency that are going to help you get lots of expensive services. If you need educational assistance, if you need durable medical equipment, it may be that a smaller EN wouldn’t be able to fund that. However, working with state VR agencies, you may be able to get that type of assistance, and will, fortunately, be able to tell you a little bit more about how you can work together with those people. The Protection and Advocacy agencies -- I should be moving these slides along, and I don’t do that very well. I just talk. They are there -- I’m sorry, I don’t want to talk about protection and advocacy. I want to talk about Work Incentive Planning and Assistance projects first. They are the planners here. We’re going to talk about those folks as I do move the slides. The last thing is the Protection and Advocacy. If you do happen to run into a legal issue, there’s somebody there to help you, free of charge, if it’s involved with your search for work, if it’s involved with a discrimination event that occurs on the workplace. So, we’re not just getting you a job. We are preparing you in every way that we know and believe that you need to be prepared in case something happens. Now, we talked about the ENs. They’re, again, nationwide, local, great places to start with. And the workforce ENs, if you’re not ready to work with an EN and get that ticket assigned to somebody, maybe you want to look at one of the American job centers and play around with their computer, and try to build a résumé with them. They’re there for that purpose. And hunt for what’s available in your area. Get a little information to take to an EN. It will help you make some decisions. Now, how can an EN help? I’ve talked to many a client and when I ask what do you want to do for work, they don’t know. They’re not sure what they can do. They’re not sure how much they can work. Well, an employment network is a professional who can help you identify work goals that are consistent with your ability and your stamina. They can help you write and review résumés. Now, do you have a résumé? You may be thinking what am I going to put on a résumé, I’ve been on disability benefits for the last seven years. Well, that’s what the ENs are good at. They can help you fill in those blanks so you’ll have something to discuss with an employer. You really haven’t just been sitting around, watching TV. There are things that you have done, hobbies that you have, chores that you’ve taken on, babysitting your grandchildren, babysitting your sister’s kids, that can be turned into a résumé. Help prepare for interviews. As I like to say when I’m doing the slides, I would need help right now if I had to go for an interview. I don’t know what goes on in interviews now. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to prepare a résumé or go to an interview. So, practicing interviews and being ready to ask that prospective employer questions when they say, “Do you have any questions for us,” is critically important. What about reasonable accommodations? If you need an accommodation, when do you ask for it? If you ask for it, you have to tell somebody, your employer, that you have a disability. That’s up to you, but if you do need the reasonable accommodation, you don’t need to tell your prospective employer that. You can tell them that when you get the job offer. Your EN can talk to you about that. The PABSS program that we talked about can help you talk about that, when do we need to bring it up. And the more information you have about that accommodation, the more you have information about how much it’s going to cost, how much it’s going to affect production, the better off you’re going to be when you get asked about that. And benefits counseling, benefits counseling is a very effective way for you to know what’s going to happen. You are going to receive a paycheck. It’s going to affect your SSI one way, your SSDI the other way. And we can sit down with you and build a plan. If you’re starting work part time, what will happen to that SSI check, what will happen to your SSDI check. If you go up to working 25 hours a week, what happens to your SSI? Is your SSDI affected at all? And you will then know if this plan continues on the way we expect it to, what will happen when. And you will also know how much better off you’re going to be financially at that point as well. And I consider that knowing what’s happening to be very powerful, because we don’t want to surprise you with things when you’re going to work. You’ve got enough to worry about. State rehab agencies, I told you they’re the big agencies. If you need to be rehabilitated, that’s a good thing. Maybe you have a disability that was incurred as you got older and you’re using a prosthetic and you need to learn to do the same job a different way, or you need training and education in order to not only use that prosthetic but get a job that will allow you to stay still a little bit longer because we’re not going to be picking up 50-pound bags of cement at Lowe’s anymore. VR can help provide you with that. Those are big-ticket items and they’re the likely suspect to get that type of help. This is a gift to all of us. Partnership Plus came along in 2008 and a lot of us did the happy dance. There was a time when you had to pick between a state VR agency and an employment network, but now you can work with both. If you do need an education and some heavy-duty training or medical equipment, you can go to VR and not assign your ticket, give it to VR and they put it in use status. That’s a special status that not only gets you services but gets you some protection against medical CBRs, the same protection that you get if you assigned your ticket. Now, VR generally closes the case after 90 days. If you work for 90 days at what we call a substantial gainful activity level, you are a success to state VR and they’re going to close your case, which means a lot of services are going to stop. We don’t want that to happen because we don’t think 90 days makes a worker. It has certainly found you a job but it doesn’t necessarily give you time to adapt to all of the changes that have to come along with going to work every day. That means, since the ticket was never assigned, it was in use, you can take it to an EN, an employment network, who can offer supports to maintain your efforts to work. And that generally will last until the ticket funding is exhausted, and it’s going to depend on how much VR spent and all of that good stuff, but your EN will let you know that. And they might be able to provide you with six months ongoing services and keep you on the workplace. After nine months of working, I think you have a much better chance of becoming a successful worker with a disability. And by that point, everything will have caught up and everything you’ve been told about the fact that you will be better off and still safe and still have safety nets will come true. All right. So, if your state doesn’t have a formal Partnership Plus agreement -- and a lot of them do, and they’re growing -- you can still work with a private EN if VR closes your case. You don’t need to have that formal agreement. This is something you can do on your own. And there is the choosework.ssa.gov/library/partnership-plus site. And you’re going to want to look into your web pod for that as well. And I read that out because it’s important. That’s a really good program. What about the WIPA programs, Work Incentive Planning and Assistance projects? They are benefits planners. They provide free counseling to anybody who receives a Social Security benefit based on a disability, and they will talk to you. If you’re still receiving a cash benefit, they’ll talk to you about what’s going to happen to your SSDI, what’s going to happen to your Medicare, what’s going to happen to SSI, what’s going to happen to Medicaid. And if you’re in public housing, they’re going to talk to you about that. If you receive SNAP benefits, they’re going to talk to you about that. So, you will know exactly what happens when you get paid and start working at very specific levels that apply to every program you’re talking about, what’s going to happen. And if your rent is going to go up, the planner’s job is to make sure that you’re working enough in order to make that up, so that you will never be behind. They’ll talk about the benefits of employment. They’ll talk to you about the myths. I’ve been at this for a very long time and there are still myths out on the street that say if you go back to work, you’re going to lose everything. And I can tell you that is so far from the truth that it’s difficult to even see it from the truth. The Social Security Work Incentives that are out there now are pretty fantastic. And when you look at them and do the math and see how they work and can assist you on this journey, I think you’re going to be very surprised. And your work incentive planners are all very well trained and supported, so you can believe them when they tell you things. You can believe them. All of these people are there to help you make that ticket work for you, to find out what type of job is going to be the job that you want, hopefully a job that could turn into a career. So, who do these WIPA projects serve? Right now, they serve people who are working or self-employed, or have a job offer pending, or are actively interviewing for jobs, which means you’ve had an interview in the past 30 days or you have a job interview scheduled in the next two weeks. If you are a transition-aged youth, age 14 to 25, they can talk to you about what is available to you. Now, that’s a small subset of the people who are listening here, but please know there are other benefits planners out there that don’t have these constraints and you can look elsewhere for those planners. Protection and Advocacy, that was my last job before I moved to Cornell. What I did was provide free legal services to people who received benefits based on disability and have a disability-related employment issue. That could be anything from a Social Security overpayment to discrimination. One of my last cases was a reasonable accommodation case with Home Depot, and we were successful in having that accommodation set up for this gentleman who was working in a wheelchair. And he got his job, got his pay, and everybody was happy. Little things or great, big things, you know, legal support, advocacy. What about a problem with the EN? If you run into a problem with the ENs or your state VR agencies, or even the WIPA projects, you can talk to the PABSS, Protection and Advocacy program, and they can intervene on your behalf and help you talk to these folks to straighten out any issues that may come up. So, we’ve pretty much covered all of the bases. We’re here to protect your rights. Again, these are trained attorneys, trained paralegals who know how to request a reasonable accommodation, who know when that might be appropriate, what kind of equipment might you need, what kind of training might you need, are there licensing courses that you need to take, or any other work-related disability. They can talk to you about that. How do you find a service provider? The good thing about finding service providers is that everybody that I just mentioned is the right door. You can talk to an EN, you can talk to a Workforce EN, you can talk to the State VR agency, you can talk to the WIPA agency or the PABSS agency. And if you have called the wrong number, they will get you to the right number. But you can also look at choosework.ssa.gov/findhelp and look by zip code. Simple enough, type in your zip code and every provider that provides services to your zip code will show up. What about the types of services offered? That’s going to be important. If you know what type of services you offer or if you want somebody who works with somebody with visual impairments, you can find that out. The disability type is going to be important. If I have a mental impairment, I don’t want to go see an employment network that only works with people who have physical impairments. What about language ability? Does the EN, does the WIPA or PABSS have the ability to speak to you in a language other than English? That can be very important. And, again, the provider type, if you know you’ve already been to a benefits planner and you’re searching for an employment network, you can look specifically for an employment network or any of the other agencies. If you have an EN that doesn’t provide planning services, you can search for a WIPA. There’s almost no way to get lost on the way here, because all of these helpers are going to point to the right person, it just may be a second phone call. That brings us to questions. Do you have anything in the box for me, Sarah? SARAH>> We sure do, Ray. Thank you so much for kicking us off today. We’re going to pause and take a few minutes to address the audience questions. And the first one is for Ray. “I’ve heard that I’ll lose my benefits right away if I go back to work. I’m afraid that I can’t work full time. Can Ticket to Work help me?” RAY>> Okay. First thing is the first notion is wrong. You will not lose your benefits if you go to work. If you go to work full time, there will still be some time where you’re going to be covered under either program. If you go to work part time, it could take a long time to lose your benefits. And I want to emphasize that cash benefits go away first, but your health care is going to be with you for a very long time. You don’t need to really worry about that. Now, if you can’t work full time, part of this deal is, as I mentioned, your SSI must drop significantly, and your SSDI must eventually end. If you’re able to earn at certain levels, your EN will be able to tell you whether or not the ticket is going to be useful. If you’re limited to very part-time work, it may not be a good match. It may not be a good program for you. That doesn’t mean you don’t go to work. That means you work with a benefits planner to find a part-time job that’s a great match for you. And we can determine what that part-time salary is going to do to your benefits, and how much better off you’ll be. So, in any case, we’re going to make sure you’re better off, even if it happens to be that you believe you have the capacity to work full time and find out after three months you can’t keep it up, all we have to do is do the math again to figure out what’s going on. SARAH>> Thank you, Ray. The next question I have for you is can retired individuals participate in the Ticket to Work program if they are still within the age limitations? RAY>> Yes, if you are retired, you’re not necessarily receiving a benefit based on disability. So, I’m assuming we’re looking at that group that’s 62 to full retirement age. It would be -- if you’re receiving your benefits based on retirement at this point, you may not have a ticket. If you’re receiving your benefits based on disability, you do have a ticket. And it’s possible, as you’re working with that Ticket to Work and using it, to accept early retirement. On the SSI side of things, if you’re working, you actually are required to take retirement. We’re not going to pull the rug out from under you until you turn 65, at which point we’re all retired. SARAH>> All right. Thank you, Ray. Another question I have for you that came in, “I have been on SSDI for a few years now. Is there specific criteria I must meet before I can work full time?” RAY>> Well, if you’re on SSDI and you’re receiving the cash benefit, no, there’s no criteria to participate in the ticket. Is there a criteria that you have to meet before you can work full time, all we need to know is what you would like to do or help you to figure that out, and make sure you have the capacity to work 40 hours a week. And if that’s not the case immediately, we can work with you until you can get there. Just having that SSDI cash benefit is going to be your door into the Ticket program, to get you started to make those other determinations along the way. SARAH>> Okay. And I have a final question for you, Ray, for this question period. If I find a job on my own, do I need to report my employment status with Social Security? RAY>> I don’t care who finds the job for you or when you find the job, it’s reported to Social Security. And that can be done today. You can do it through the 1-800 number and they will get you in touch with your local offices, if necessary, to make that employment report. Anytime anybody goes to work and starts earning money, they need to report that to Social Security. You agreed to that when you signed on the dotted line when you applied for benefits. SARAH>> Okay, Ray. Thank you so much. Thank you for your thorough answers. We are going to move right along and turn things over to Paula who will share information about working from home. Thanks, Paula. PAULA>> Hi. It’s Paula Vieillet. And I am with Employment Options. And we, as Sarah mentioned, have been Ticket to Work providers since the very beginning. So, it’s exciting to see how the WISE webinars have grown. We would go to these centers and there would be -- we’d have a small WISE webinar. So, it’s just -- I just love this program. I think that it’s the best government program out there, and I’ve worked with a lot of them. So, I just want to mention that, that I’m still so passionate about it because I see how it helps so many people. And now, with work at home being mainstreamed, we are seeing a lot more different kinds of jobs out there and more acceptance towards the idea of working in a job from home instead of in an office. So, why work from home? When is it a good idea? If may be that you have special needs, if you have special transportation arrangements due to your disability. So, you may have to always find somebody who can drive you to work if you can’t drive yourself. And so, it’s not always that easy to find somebody to drive you, or it’s too expensive. And then, once you get there, there’s no handicap accessible parking, it’s too far. So, a lot of people do work from home as a reasonable accommodation. People who maybe have an immune disorder or Lyme disease or ADD, where they just get distracted at work, sensitive to environmental issues, there's construction, there's dust, there's temperature sensitivity, there's lighting. I do poorly with fluorescent lights. Don't ask me why, but I just know I do. So, I have been working at home since 2006, and that's when we brought our company virtual. And I'm so excited to see how it's growing, and to see how many more people were able to help with work-from-home jobs than we could before. You might have difficulty with getting a caregiver to even take you to work. So, when would be another way to decide working from home is right for you? So, first idea is maybe you just can't drive, and so that's an issue, using the restroom, noticing you're receiving different kinds of treatment. People sometimes are hesitant to go in the bathroom for their insulin, or they need to get up and use the restroom more often, and there's a lot of work-from-home jobs that can accommodate that. I actually had a client who posted a GoFundMe page, and it was for cancer, and so we have a little policy that we always help people out a little bit if they're having major problems, and he was about ready to get evicted. So, I'll call him George. So, George, we sent him a little GoFundMe, and then two weeks later, I got a call from George. George lives with in his apartment with his wife and two teenage kids. And he said, "Guess what, I'm working." One of the [inaudible] tech companies came, and they called me, and they're rehiring me for a seasonal position. And he says, "Well, I work from my bed." I mean, where do you see workers that are so committed. It's just amazing to me. It's just amazing just how different our worlds have become now that we have the computer, and just how that so accommodates people with different abilities. So, you might want or need a more flexible work schedule, so for this, we are seeing more and more jobs with flexible work schedules. My company, for example, has flexibility in many of our jobs. Our counselors can work in the afternoon or the evenings or they could work, you know, however. They want to take an hour or two lunch as long as they catch up later. Then there's other people in my company that I really can't accommodate as far as their time. I feel like our receptionist, the person who answers the calls, needs to be there. We don't want to miss incoming calls or inquiries. So, you know, my company is reflective of what I'm seeing out there in the community as well. Some of the companies, the call centers, the tech support, they're very strict about their hours. And then other environments, they just aren't. They just want you to get the work done, which is the way I look at it. So, some people want to work at home because it's less stressful. Well, it depends upon how much your dog barks and your kids interrupt you. In general, it's a less stressful work environment. It can be a little isolating unless you really work on it and find some outside activities that you so you're not always in the house, because sometimes that's difficult for people. You can say, if you're working from home, you can say this is one of the best parts about it is goodbye office politics. This person clicking her pencil on the desk isn't going to bother you anymore. You might not need to walk in front of everybody when you're on the way to the restroom. So, this work from home is wonderful. A lot of people choose work from home because there just aren't any jobs where they live. We hear that over and over again. They live in a rural area with there are few job opportunities, and we help people figure out what the right job is for them. So, you can learn for about the Ticket to Work program from the blog post published each month at Choose Work. Look over on the Web links pod to see that, so you can learn a little bit more about our work- from-home operations. So, what kind of jobs are available now, Paula? Well, we are still seeing a lot of the work-from-home customer-service jobs, the people who do have a problem with your cell phone bill or they want to order some merchandise. So we're still seeing a lot of those kinds of jobs, and I'll go over the requirements in just a little bit. We still are seeing transcription. That's usually a piece-rate type of job. Some of the jobs are 1099 and some of them are W-2, and I'll go into that little bit. But the W-2 generally, they say, is more of a schedule, but not always. So, I am seeing jobs out there in the medical profession, in every single part of the medical profession. I'm seeing a lot of nursing positions, quality assurance. I'm seeing physicians actually being recruited. There's a lot. Everything's gone online. I mean the doctors are now doing teledoc services. Who would have guessed ten years about that? You just wouldn't have guessed you could be doing that. So, there's the writing and the editing and the proofreading. There are websites everywhere. I guess everybody knows that. That's the way we communicate. Somebody has to right the scripts in there. The technology support, what about when your laptop starts heating up, who do you call? And then there's outside sales. A lot of times they don't have to go into an office anymore, these sales managers, but they have a certain region where they will call on different clients, and we're seeing that. We're seeing tutoring even more and more tutoring. We're seeing a lot of contact tracer positions. Those are to try to track down where do we spread. So, there are a lot of different types of work-from-home jobs. We have one that I think is kind of cool that you can advise people on fashion, so that's what your job is. Why don't you consider this blouse, and so helping people shop; kind of fun. And there's just a huge variety, and it changes every week. Every week, there's something new that comes about. So, we have our jobs posted, some of them anyhow, on our website, some type of work-from-home jobs that we do have. And My Employment Options have been helping people find virtual jobs since 2006. I had already moved into a home office, and I started getting a lot of calls, more work-at-home positions. At that time, we were very small. I already hired Flora, and she and other people who came through the program, and so -- where was I. So, you know, we were way ahead of the curve in 2006, and so some of our successes is that you should have as quite of an office as possible. Have a comfortable chair. Have good lighting. And this is the biggie, eliminate as many outside noises as possible. We might want to change the slide. Oh, maybe not. So, what do you need to get these jobs? You kind of have these work-from-home jobs, you have to have computer skills. There's no way around it. Every single work-from-home job I've seen requires some use of the computer. You have to have internet now. Some rural positions, people don't even have internet. And then you have to do some kind of typing or keyboarding in almost every work-from-home job I've ever seen. I know there's a lot of people that ask us, well, do you have any assembly or non-phone jobs or that you don't need a computer, envelope licking? And those jobs really aren't generally real. They're not there. I don't see a lot of those kinds of jobs that are legitimate. One thing I do mention is that if you're not sure if a job is legitimate, well, then you need to look them up, and there's ways to kind of find out if a job is a scam or not. So, you need to have a professional phone presence, customer service experience, if you want a customer service job. They all look for about one year of customer service experience, waitressing or cashiering, that counts. Okay, so advice on working from home: I think I got my slides a little rambled. We were talking about you have your separate work space, and then eliminate as many outside noises as possible. Let people know that you're working and what hours you're working. It's always very difficult at the beginning with friends or family that say, oh, you're home now, can you run a load of laundry for me? But you're really at work, so it's important to work with the people around you so they understand that you're really working. For a lot of people, it really helps to set work hours and stick to a schedule. And most of the jobs that I'm familiar with don't let you have kids and pets in the background. Although I think people are getting a little bit more tolerant now since so many people are working from home. So, as we were saying, there needs to be -- it can get a little isolating at home. I think everybody's really familiar with that right now, and so it's important that you think about those things; that you really need to schedule breaks and get exercise and have time with friends and family, and work at home is great for that. All of a sudden, people have more time to be with their family and friends. They don't have to commute to work anymore, so the half hour getting ready and dressed, and the half hour driving to work, that 15 minutes parking the car, you know, you don't have to do all that. What about the traffic jams? So that's a lot less stress as well. Maintain focus by getting organized. I wouldn't say that that's -- you need to. The better organized you are the less stressed a person is, because you can kind of see where your work is and set some limits about what you're going to accomplish in the day. So, use a planner, clean your desk daily. I'd probably throw in the disinfectant right now. And some jobs you might have to travel to the office for presentations. You might have to work in their office first before they'll let you work out of the house. So, the world has changed, and with it, there have been so many more work-from-home jobs, and with it, so many more people now who don't have to disabilities are kind of in the same boat, in that now, all of a sudden, their Missouri is restricted and so employers are getting a lot more tolerant about that. It's just a lot easier right now, and it helps accommodate so many people. I'm all about work from home. So, I guess are there any questions? SARAH>> Paula, thank you very much for all that information on working from home. I am going to dive right in so we have as much time for as many questions as possible. The first question I have for you, Paula, is, if I already have a job, can I apply to work from home? PAULA>> Yes. I mean, if you're looking for a different job, absolutely. That's part of what employment networks do; we help with career advancement. It's not just getting a job, but we work with people for up to eight years, so we get to know your family and lots. So, yeah, we have absolutely can help people get a different job if you have the skills and ability. SARAH>> Absolutely. Speaking of skills and possible education, the next question I have is, what if I need more training or would like to pursue a degree to gain education and skills to pursue my career goals? Is education and training supporting within the Ticket to Work program? And that's for you, Paula. PAULA>> Yes, it is. But a lot of networks do not offer it. More government agencies seem to have more opportunity for continuing your education. So, the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation for these one-stop centers, they have more access to retraining than most work-at-home, more employment networks. But, you know, you can always call and ask these women, hey, can you support me with this? I want to go for training for two weeks, and then I can work in this profession. So, things like that go to sponsor some training, but I think you're usually best off with state agencies. SARAH>> Thank you, Paula. The next question I have for you is, if I am working from home, can I determine my own work schedule? PAULA>> Depends upon who you're working for, so, that's a yes and a no. I can't tell you until we look at a person's skill and abilities and with those skills, will you be able to get a job that's more flexible in nature? I think right now at least the employers are a lot more tolerant. SARAH>> Understood. So, it depends on the situation. PAULA>> Absolutely. SARAH>> Perfect. Thank you, Paula. Follow up to that, if my employer denies my request to work from home, can I appeal the decision? PAULA>> Well, that's a legal decision, and I can't help you with that. It's all about reasonable accommodations and how big the company is. The larger companies have to make more reasonable accommodations than smaller companies. And, you know, it depends on what your position is. Is it something that will easily translates to a work-at-home job? So, that's a good question, and something that, as an employment network that works with people on disabilities, it's one of those kinds of questions that we're able to help answer. SARAH>> Thank you, Paula. New equipment, such as phones and computers, can be very expensive. Will my employer provide these things for me? PAULA>> Some of them will and some of them won't. It's kind of hard to get a work-from-home job if you don't have a computer at all. But we do have some employers that offer them, but you still have to be able to apply for these jobs. SARAH>> Ray, I have a question for you. Where can I find a list of common job accommodations for my disability? RAY>> You know, I think I'm going to take a guess at this and say JAN. It's a great organization, www.jan.org, and they're probably likely to have that. You know, each region of the country has an Americans with Disabilities Act Center, so you could contact one of those regional centers for a list. But, you know, there's really -- that list is going to give you some ideas, but it's never going to be inclusive, because the disability, the reasonable accommodation has to fit you, so it may be something particular to your situation rather than looking down a shopping list. But it's almost anything you can think about. It could be a matter of changing those work hours from 8:00 to 4:00 to 9:00 to 5:00, you know, or being a little more flexible while you're working at home. You know, I've done it for 20 years now, and absolutely love it and have a terribly flexible situation, or I should say wonderfully flexible situation. It wasn't a reasonable accommodation, but I mean, you know, you can request anything that you think you're going to need to be successful. But I'd check with JAN. SARAH>> You are absolutely correct that it is JAN, and the website to go to for the Job Accommodation Network, which is JAN, is www.askjan.org, and that's www.askjan.org, so you were right, Ray. And with that, we are going to move forward and go back to Paula, with a little bit of help from Lori, and go over an exciting success story. Lori, do I have you on the line? Okay. Paula, I am going to have you go ahead and have you start your slides, and then we will turn it over to Lori when she is ready on Slide 51. PAULA>> Okay. Okay, so let's prepare for our work search. So, before you start working for a work-from-home job, you're probably going to want to take the time to update your resume and think back to your work experience and take an inventory of your skills. And so, these are all things that an employment network can help you with. I don't really recommend doing your resume yourself, unless that's the only option. I feel like a resume is a great tool to really assess what a person can do and how to present it. So, employment network has more experience with knowing what employers are looking for in a resume. You know, we know that we're looking for the key words, and there are certain employers that we know about. We have employer partners, and so we meet with them about once a month, and we give them our list of candidates, and they look at them all and give us feedback, you know, this one didn't have flexibility work hours, or this one didn't finish the application. So, it really allows us to have better idea if a person can work or not, and what they would need to do to get back to work, since we have information on that. So, you know, an employment network will know what your transferable skills are, what you used to do at one job, you can do at another job. So, it's a wonderful, wonder program. We help people with their applications to make sure that they know how to fill in active employment and what kind of references would be the best references. We actually know the interview process with a lot of our employers. They let us know, well, they're probably going to ask you to do a screenshot, so we're able to at least let our clients know ahead of time that, you know, you're going to have to do a screenshot for the testing they're doing. And if they don't know how to do it, then we teach them. So, there's a lot of resume and interview tips in the August 2019 WISE webinar, so look in the podcast, and I think you could find it in the Web links pod, or I guess there's a link right there. So, next? Okay. So, need help finding a job, so if you haven't been to the Choose Work website yet, you are going to want to go there. There's a lot of information about different employment organizations, including those that specifically are for people with disabilities, and you can also look for an employment network to help you with getting you back to work, with that transition. So, there's a lot of resources on that page, and it's a good way for you to learn about the different organizations so you can better think about, really, what would work the best for you. So, things to keep in mind, be cautious. Not all work-from-home opportunities are legitimate. The red flags may include promising high incomes for little work. I'm sure we've all seen those. Providing an unclear or vague description of the job. Well, we sometimes get job orders from different employers and agencies that want us to pre-screen people for them, and if the employer can't put together any kind of job description or they really don't have a really good knowledge of what we can offer this person, you know, we want employers that know specifically what they need so we can help them find the right person, so we're a little worried about that. Short or no interview process, I don't know what kind of work environment that would be. Sounds like a scam to me. And then charging applicant fees to apply for the job or to do the job after you've been hired, so, no, you do not want to buy that envelope package or the package to build a bird cage; that's not a real employment. Or the company isn't reliable, hasn't been there very long. I mean, it might be okay. But it is something that we would want to double check before sending you out to that kind of employer, and that's what we suggest you do. If I want to check out a certain company, I might put in the company's name and then scan and see what comes up in the search engines. That's one way of finding out. You know, Glass Door is another way of finding out how employers are doing. And, you know, you can also use your gut a little bit. If it just seems too good to be true, then it probably is. So, then I think we're going to talk about your taxes. Everybody's favorite subject. So, we mentioned that a little bit earlier, there's two different ways to work for an employer. One way would be that you're just like any other employee working in a company, the standard, that you have standard hours, that you may have employee benefits, days off, a set schedule, and not always though. I mean a lot of, like, counselors, they don't have a schedule if they're W-2. But some of them are paid salary. Some of them are paid different ways. And so the W-2 employment is really what we try to focus on, because that's gold in the Ticket to Work program to try to help people get back to substantial gainful employee, and when you are an employee, that seems to happen a little bit faster than when you're a 1099. Sometimes 1099 now is for people who started their own business or they're working for a company that pays you per word typed or per gig, like Uber or Lyft. You don't have to have set hours. One of the big differences, 1099s, you have to pay your own taxes. So, that's tough for a lot of people, because they're just not good at setting aside money, and then they get in trouble with the 1099 job. So, the W-2 job, you're more likely to have benefits, and your taxes are withheld. That's basically the difference between the two. And I think we might have time for Lorena putting it all together, so here we go. So, we are one of more than 500 authorized employment networks in the Social Security Ticket Program and for over 20 years, Employment Options have offered job seekers assistance with assessment of skills and abilities, the job-seeking skills, working with employers, figuring out what's the best kind of job for you. I think that's one of our biggest abilities is to really look at you and talk to you and try to figure out what would be a good job for you. We have knowledge in so many different types of jobs and people who usually have knowledge of the jobs of people around them but not necessarily other kinds of jobs. So, we actually have a sister employment network, Ask [inaudible], and they're actually going to be helping a lot with employment screening, free employment screenings. So, Employment Options, we've just grown. It used to be just me, and now I think we've got about 28 people. So, it's a wonderful, wonderful program, you know, and the wonderfulness about it is that there are other employment networks besides just ours. Not everybody's going to be a good match for what we do. So there's other employment networks, like Ray mentioned, that maybe they work with people more with, you know, know with autism or developmentally disabled, and or there's just all sorts of different kinds of specialties. And our specialty, work at home, just came about because so many people that I talked to, they just wanted to work from home, and so that's when we went out and did some door knocking, and it's all exploded from there. So, to receive free Ticket program and apply for remote jobs, visit our website. You can see that in the Web links pod. We do screen people. There's an application, and then [Sheika], or someone from our company, will call once we've had time to review your application. So, because we need to know what your online skills are, if you want work at home jobs, we are going to test those skills. We have to know that you have the skills and abilities to work in these types of positions that we find. We try our best not to set somebody up for failure. So, if we don't think you are going to be able to work these set hours or that you might not be able to handle the job task easily, you know, I'm not going to help you find a job that you're not going to be successful at. That's a slippery slope, but, you know, that's why you want to choose an employment network with some experience. It just might be easier. So, what are we doing next? So, Lori, Lori came to us in about 2006, I think. She's been here with us for a long-long time, and she's an amazing woman, and she's such an incredible worker. She took our company up to the next level, and I want Lori to have a few minutes to tell her story. I know she's just a great testimonial to this program. SARAH>> Thank you so much, Paula. Lori, were you able to join the line? Is it possible that you're muted on your phone, on your phone screen? Okay. All right. Unfortunately, we're having some technical connection issues with Lori, so, Paula, I am going to have you review her story. And, Lori, if, at any point, you are able to come off of mute, go ahead and interrupt us, because we'd love to hear from you. PAULA>> Right. So, Lori came to me in 2006, I think, and she has a disability that makes it difficult for her to leave her home. She has anxiety and depression, and she had early young onset of it, which just became totally disables for her. And she didn't think she was going to be able to work, but, for her, you know, her whole life has changed since she came on board with Employment Options. She used to try to figure out what she was going to do and always wanted to be productive, and she told me from the very beginning, yeah, that she wanted to be a manager one day and had specific goals. Lori was a valedictorian of her high school class, and I'm going to go ahead and click on her link a little bit. I think I can do that. Lori's success story, the link will be in the Web links pod. If you look for "Lori's Success Story" in the Web links pod, you will be able to access that story to the audience. Right. Well, it's a great, great story. I suggest that everybody read it. So, when she first contacted me, you know, I could tell that she was a very bright lady, and but, you know, had anxiety and panic attacks, and she was actually hospitalized in high school and college when she was growing up. That's not everybody's experience. So, when she expressed interest, we brought her on, and then I helped her find a job at a company, a medical research company, something like that, and she really did well in the job. But after three months, they discontinued that position. They discontinued the program, actually. So, then she came back to us, and I said, well, I had been watching her on social media, because this was all brand new back then. This was 2006, you know, social media. So, I was trying to learn a little bit more about it, and she always acted very appropriately on social media, so I decided to give her a chance, and I'm sure glad I did. And I'm sure Lori is really happy that she can. I didn't know if she could call in on the computer possibly so people could hear her. She tells her story a lot better than I do, but she has been a big bonus, and she's proof that this program works. And then, you know, a lot of my staff also are my clients, and the fears that people have, they are really able to understand like nobody else what a Ticket to Work person is going through, the ideas and what's going through their heads as far as questions and concerns and worries and how to handle these, and is that really true that I won't lose my disability. And we had one of our staff, Suzanne, and Suzanne had cancer, and she worked for me, and then she relapsed and it came back a second time, and so she was off work for about six more months, and then she was better and she came back, and during the time that she was off work, her disability payments just picked right up, because she was too disabled to work. And there was the first three months, the first three year, the second three years of benefits, so she went back to work. And then about a year later, she got sick again, and the cancer had come back for the third time. But, by then, she had almost finished the program. She only had two months to go before she was going to have graduated from the Ticket to Work program, but she couldn't work, so she called her social security rep up, and she was in the expedited reinstatement phase, which meant that she had to reapply for disability at that point, but the social security rep helped, and she got paid while she was doing that. So, you know, it really is not risky. People are afraid, oh, I'm going to lose it. It took me so hard to get this disability. But it is a great, great program. We have helped so many people, so many people get a much more -- you know, there lives have just improved so much. People who wouldn't have been able to work at all are now able to work at home and excel. We work with people's strengths, you know, and working at home can accommodate some of the things that aren't as strong. So, if you haven't, if you're trying to decide whether, you know, you think you want to try this program or not, feel free to contact Lori or any of my staff on our staff page. They all have stories, and I'm happy because they are the best team ever. They're just a really great team that really cares about others and the Ticket to Work program. So, Lori, maybe another time we can get you to tell your story. SARAH>> Paula, thank you so much for covering Lori's story. And, again, Lori, I'm sorry you weren't able to connect with us today. We do have a lot of questions and comments, “I would like to get in touch with you,” the My Employment Options; so if you go to the Web links pod under "My Employment Options," that's the best way to connect with both Lori -- sorry, Paula, and Lori. I tried to combine your names. That is the best way to connect with them, by going to the My Employment Options, which is in the Web links pod. Unfortunately, we have so much great information that we ran over, and that will be all we have for questions for the two sessions we already have. Paula, Ray, and Lori, thank you all so much for being with us today and sharing your expertise. We appreciate it. PAULA>> Well, thank you so much. You're welcome. We really enjoyed having you sponsor us here. Thank you so much. SARAH>> Absolutely. Okay. If you would like to know more about our monthly WISE webinars, we encourage you to subscribe in order to find out our upcoming topic and be amongst the first to register. To learn so much more about the Ticket program, employment service providers, and other topics, please subscribe to the Choose Work blog. You will get weekly updates sent directly to your inbox. Both of these things can be found in the Web links pod under WISE webinar subscription and choose work blog subscription. Social Security Ticket to Work program has a number of service providers and other resources ready to help you get started. To get a list of providers in your area, or to get answers to your questions you may have about the Ticket program and other work incentives, you can contact the Ticket to Work helpline at is-866-968-7842, or for TTY, 1-866-833-2967, and that's Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Or you can always visit the Ticket to Work website at choosework.ssa.gov. You can also find us on social media or subscribe to the blog, and e-mail updates by visiting choosework.ssa.gov/contact. This link appears in the Web links pod under Ticket to Work contact information. Please join us for our next WISE webinar. It will be Ticket to Work for People with a Mental Illness, Wednesday, June 24th, 2020, and that will be from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. Registration is open, and we look forward to having you attend. To register online, go ahead and go to choosework.ssa.gov/wise, or you can call 1-866-968-7842, or for TTY, 1-866-833-2967. Your feedback is very important to us. It helps us plan future webinars. Please provide your feedback and tell us what you think about today's webinar by taking our survey. To take the survey, you can follow the link that will pop up after the webinar or visit the Ticket to Work website to complete the survey. The survey can also be found in the web links pod. Thank you again for attending today to learn about the Ticket program. Please take the opportunity to reach out to any of the resources discussed today, and take the next step in your career path. This concludes today’s webinar. Have a wonderful evening. Thank you.