SSI and Disability: Quick Review Diagnoses

Yesterday, Cathleen Weber of the Community Health Education department at Bloomington Hospital advertised this piece of news:

The Social Security Administration has, for some time, had a list of 50 diagnoses that allowed people to get a "quick review" and immediate social security income or disability benefits (days vs. months or years). As you can imagine, this is imperative for some people with a limited life expectancy, children who need significant medical care, some cancers, etc.

Today the Social Security Administration released the attached news release adding an additional 38 diagnoses to the initial list, including early onset Alzheimer's Disease. This was a huge lobbying effort and a great success and will benefit many families.

The SSA press release is linked below, along with a National Public Radio blog segment about it. For those of you working in areas that help diagnose people (they had added several diseases affecting children) keep these handy and use the list to educate and advocate. Please feel free to share widely.

Link to initial list of 50 diagnoses: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/compassionateallowances/conditions.htm

Link to SSA Press release and expansion list of 38 added effective March 1, 2010: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pressoffice/pr/cal021110-pr.html

NPR Blog segment Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/02/social_security_expands_disabi.html?ft=1&f=103943429

Still no power

Hello, we are still without power, but hopeful that we will be able to reopen tomorrow morning! In the mean time, check out this recent story at NPR on a new diagnosis for children who would have been labeled as having bipolar disorder in the past.

CeDIR Closed Today

Due to power outage, CeDIR will be closed today. Please email us your questions and requests and we will get back to you as soon as possible!

Friends of the CeDIR Library

We launched a new section of the website today: Friends of the CeDIR Library!

Friends contains a list of books we have pulled from the collection to sell to the public, sorted by subject area. Each listing includes a picture of the item for sale, author and year published, pricing and, when applicable, the WorldCat page for the title.

Call (812) 855-6508 or email us to inquire about purchasing any of the materials.

ArtsWORK's Featured Artist: Gina Golden

ArtsWORK Indiana, an organization that "facilitates access to careers in the arts for people with disabilities through awareness, education, and encouragement," has selected Gina Golden as this quarter's featured artist.

Golden inherited the family flare and aspiration towards the arts: her genealogical tree includes a visual artist grandfather, a similarly inclined grandmother, and a graphic artist father. She studied illustration at Minneapolis College of Art and Design and at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. After building her career, she settled in Indianapolis and has contributed to several galleries and private collections.

Golden is also hearing impaired. Thanks to abnormal bone growth in her ears, her hearing gradually declined throughout childhood. She eventually lost it completely a decade ago. However, she has embraced who she is and refuses to concede to cochlear implants that aren't advanced enough to "listen to music or have a conversation with [her] eyes closed." Hearing loss has nothing to do with her identity as an artist, she says. "Being deaf is not a great selling point. I want people to remember my work, not that I’m a deaf artist."

You can read the ArtWORK article on Gina here. Also check out her website for samples of her paintings, drawings, sculptures and decorative walls. For an archive of past featured artists, visit http://www.artsworkindiana.org/index.php?pageId=47.