2019 Legislature Advances Employment for Persons with Disabilities
By David DarmStella Young was a witty Australian journalist and strong advocate for people with disabilities. She was born with “brittle bone disease” and used a wheelchair her entire life. Before she passed away in 2014, Stella gave a profound TEDx Talk, articulating a vision where society could learn to see people with disabilities not as “exceptional,” but as normal individuals wanting and doing the same things in life as everyone else. This vision includes individuals with disabilities working alongside their non-disabled peers in the workforce.
This year, the Florida Legislature advanced Stella’s vision by addressing one of the most significant barriers for Floridians with disabilities who want to work. For many individuals and families served by APD, Medicaid and Social Security are essential programs for their health and quality of life in the community. Yet these programs also discourage many from seeking employment due to the restrictions placed on their income and assets. In Florida, an individual receiving Medicaid waiver services can earn no more than $2,250 per month. This presents individuals with an unfair choice: risk losing your much-needed benefits to go to work, or risk living with a low income to maintain your benefits. Sadly, the latter choice is often made.
In response to these challenges, the Legislature passed a budget that directs the Agency for Health Care Administration to seek federal authority to allow individuals served by APD’s waiver program to earn $50,886 in income per year without losing their benefits. Further, individuals would be able to have up to $13,000 in cash savings accounts (and $24,000 for a couple) without an impact on their home and community-based services. If approved by the federal government, raising these limits will provide more opportunities for individuals to seek employment and live independently within their communities. This will also strengthen APD’s commitment to making employment the first and preferred option for individuals with disabilities through Florida’s “Employment First” Act of 2016.
In the coming months, APD will work with our state and community partners to inform individuals and their families about these changes. Like Stella, our hope is that this will be one step closer to a world where individuals with disabilities working in the community are “not the exception, but the norm.”
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