[NFBMO] BP Letter follow-up

Fri Sep 21 21:04:39 UTC 2018

Gary,
You are correct that, as it turns out, the majority of us will not
receive such a letter but you should be extra vigilant  about your mail
as it sounds like they can send you such a letter on little more than a
whim until you have completed  an annual review that includes the
driver's license question.
As far as how long it takes to get your Blind Pension reinstated there
are two scenarios.
Scenario #1 you send the form in timely but the BP office does not code
it in timely. In this case you will get cut off for only a few weeks
before they do what they call a cancel-closing. Of course, your check
will be delayed and be without MO healthNet during this time. You will
get the back check once cancel-closed and the MO HealthNet  will be
reopened back to the closing date.
Scenario #2 You do not respond to this letter or any other request in a
timely fashion  in which case you will be required to complete a new
application. Depending on how lucky you are it can take from 4 to 9
months to be approved.  Again, this is with backpay and backdated MO
Healthnet. One way to shorten is to submit whatever you think FSD will
want with the application including pay stubs and bank statements.
The bottom line is do NOT let your case be closed!
Gene

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBMO <nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Gary Wunder via
NFBMO
Sent: Friday, September 21, 2018 3:46 PM
To: 'NFB of Missouri Mailing List' <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Gary Wunder <GWunder at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [NFBMO] BP Letter follow-up

So if your review has been recent or is in the next couple of months,
you are probably going to get the letter. If it is later on this year or
in the next seven or eight months of the following year, you will
probably get it along with your normal review. Am I reading this right?

While I in no way intend to defend the way this is being handled, I do
think it makes a tremendous case for looking at your mail frequently,
and by frequently I mean at least once a week. There are lots of things
that we have been successful in demanding be translated into a format we
can handle directly, but there are still many important items that come
in print. We have done a session or two about this at NFB state
conventions, but I think more blind people than we would believe simply
consider print and inconvenience that they can't handle and shouldn't be
expected to. In a more perfect world perhaps this would be the case, but
in the world in which we live, where so very much can hinge on whether
or not we are responsive, I really do believe each of us needs to think
about a way to read and track incoming mail and to be responsible for
the paperwork that leaves our homes.

As some of you know, I have been allowing, or some would say fueling, a
war or a conversation about this in the Braille Monitor. Some people
claim that to use readers is a relic of a bygone era and even that those
of us who do use them are at some level selling out to the kind of
accessibility that blind people deserve. They believe that we should
stand firm or in terms of demanding Braille or large print and that we
should boycott or sue any website or computer application that is
difficult or impossible to use with a screen reader. The counter
argument, just as strongly represented in my mail, is that blind people
don't yet have enough efficient access to information that we can throw
tools out of our toolbox. Proponents say that to be efficient in
research, especially where archival materials are involved, having a
cited reader is indispensable. 

It is a wonderful debate, but while we are in the midst of it, let's
make sure that we don't lose access to things that are so vital to us.

Gene, can you verify or refute my understanding that when one is tossed
off blind pension, applying and being put back on can take several
months and that this is true even if you can show that you have
qualified for it for decades and that this new letter was what got you
suspended? Thank you.

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBMO [mailto:nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Gene Coulter
via NFBMO
Sent: Friday, September 21, 2018 1:35 PM
To: 'NFB of Missouri Mailing List'
Cc: GeneCoulter at Charter.net
Subject: [NFBMO] BP Letter follow-up

I sent an inquiry to the Blind Pension office as a lot of people have
gotten the blind pension driver's license letter and a lot of folks have
not. 
Here is my inquiry to them followed by their response.:
Greetings,
We are aware that some Request For Information forms have been sent out
regarding the driver's license issue. Some folks have received them and
others have not. Were these all sent out at once or they being
staggered? When should everyone expect to receive their form in the mail
(are a quantity being sent out each week or some other method )?
Just inquiring so that no one misses their form and has some idea when
to look for the forms. And, if they have all been sent what do folks,
like myself, need to do if they do not get the form?
Thanks for your guidance.
Eugene Coulter, Social Services Liaison
National Federation of the Blind of Missouri

The Reply:
Forms have been mass mailed to our pending applications and our review
cases for September and October.  The November review forms will have
the question on them and so they will not be sent a form.  We may send a
form at other times while we are completing an action outside of an
application or review.  Otherwise, it may not be until the next review
form that the information is needed.  Does that make sense?
Also, when they do fill them out they need to make sure they sign the
form as we are getting a lot back that are not signed and having to
re-mail.

Kristin Gentry, IMCM

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