[nabs-l] Friedman Place and Upward Mobility

[Arielle Silverman]

Hi Sam,
Firstly, welcome to the list. My name is Arielle Silverman and I am a
blind doctoral student in social psychology at the University of
Colorado Boulder. I'd be glad to talk on or off-list about career
options in psychology and post-graduate programs if you are
interested. I was also a board member, vice-president and president of
NABS from 2005-2011 and still serve on the board for my local NFB
chapter and state student division. Because of these roles I am
sometimes in a position to give recommendations to blind youth and/or
their parents about resources. I was intrigued to learn about your
experiences at Friedman Place and I'm glad that you are happy there. I
guess I just have a few more questions I hope you might be able to
answer so I can decide whether or not to recommend a place like this
to others. Keep in mind, I am one who believes that every blind person
is capable of getting a job, marrying, raising a family or doing
anything else that they so desire, so I generally only recommend
resources that help folks achieve those goals. I am wondering whether
being at a place like Friedman helps people get closer to being
employed and no longer needing social security or Medicaid. To your
knowledge, about what percentage of the people living at Friedman have
full-time jobs, or do you know about how many of the folks who decide
to transition out of Friedman end up getting full-time jobs? Also, if
someone starts earning enough to no longer get social security, is
that person no longer able to live at Friedman? How much time are they
allowed to be off social security before they have to leave? If that's
the case, I worry that living at Friedman could discourage people from
seeking out high-paying jobs, because they would be concerned about
losing their housing. If that's not an issue, though, please enlighten
me.
I also have some concerns/questions about relationships. If two
residents at Friedman fell in love and decided to get married, would
that work? Could they stay at Friedman or would they have to get their
own apartment or house somewhere else? Are there married couples or
families living there? Or what happens if you had a serious partner
who wasn't blind and so didn't live there?
Thanks for any information you can give me about these issues.
Best,
Arielle