[blindkid] SSI question

[Arielle Silverman]

Hi Cynthia and all,

I have never received SSI or SSDI. It seems like most blind youth do,
but in fact I believe only about one in six blind adults is a social
security beneficiary. I don't know what the numbers are for youth who
are in high school or college.
In my own case I always considered SSI to be a backup option if I
couldn't pay my living expenses, but I never ended up needing to fall
back on it. I received a generous college scholarship that included
living stipend, and after I graduated from college I enrolled in a
Ph.D. program which includes a funded stipend. Before getting the
scholarship, I did have tentative plans to work part-time in my
university's disability office or doing other clerical part-time work
if I needed help paying my living expenses during college. I did have
a one-year gap period, between the termination of my scholarship and
starting grad school, when I had no income due to still being in
college and then attending Louisiana Center for the Blind. During that
gap year I utilized some financial support from my family, who also
supported my sighted sister during most of her college years before
she got a part-time job. I recognize that not all families are able to
offer this financial safety net.
The problem with SSI is that I have heard that it can limit a person's
earning potential and saving potential quite a bit. I don't see any
reason to get it for a teenager, unless maybe he has blindness-related
medical expenses and SSI could help pay what your health insurance
won't. Otherwise I would suggest waiting until college. During
college, the deciding factor I think is whether Jack is able to find a
job or whether there is financial support from family, scholarships or
loans that can help with his living expenses. It is true that blind
people often have trouble finding entry-level or part-time work before
obtaining a college degree. Jack is definitely employable but might
experience some delay in finding his first job, due to inaccessibility
in many entry-level jobs. If he is having trouble finding summer or
part-time work and there aren't other funds available to help with
living expenses, then a *temporary* course of SSI might help until he
is financially self-supporting. But I wouldn't advise getting it just
to have some extra money around, because from what I understand, SSI
beneficiaries are not allowed to save very much without losing
eligibility. If Jack has any kind of income stream, like from a
scholarship or job, it is probably best for him to stay free from the
social security system so that he can start to build up savings or
maybe even investments.
I hope this is helpful. If there are any good reasons for collecting
SSI as a teen that I have missed, or if I misrepresented any facts
regarding social security rules, please correct me.

Best,
Arielle

On 6/24/13, Cynthia Davis <cdfiets at gmail.com> wrote:
> Can anyone provide insights as to why I should/should not consider signing
> our partially sighted teen up for SSI?  We expect him to be fully
> employable, thanks to what he learns from his incredible TVI's and generous
> NFB mentors.
>
> Many thanks,
> Cynthia
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