Communication Equipment for Low Income People with Sight and Hearing Loss

Right now I'm in San Francisco at a Foundation Center network convention, picking the best brains in nonprofit funding. Among them is Sally Freaney of the Public Library of Youngstown-Mahoning  County. Her library's website included a link to I Can Connect, a federal program to put low income deaf-blind in touch with communication equipment and people who can train them to use it.

In this program, "deaf blind" means that the person has enough loss of hearing and sight to hinder their ability to communicate and use communication equipment.  Likewise, the income guidelines are more generous than you might think--as much as over $40,000 for individuals, and more for families. For more on the guidelines on who is eligible for free equipment and training see their website. For more information or a referral to a partner in your state, call 1-800-825-4595.

Grants for Individuals Who Need Help Paying for Mobility Equipment

The Ralph Braun Foundation has opened up a new grant cycle (meaning that they are accepting applications) from now through August 31st.  They are looking to fund mobility equipment for individuals who need the equipment, are pulling money together, and just need a bit more help to get them over the top.  The grant is meant to pay up to 25% of the needed funds, with a cap of $5000.  Equipment can include things like van conversions, wheelchair lifts, car top wheelchair carriers and more. 

You need to apply online, and here are the qualifications.  All applications must include a price quote from a NMEDA (National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association) dealer. 

Financial Help for Special Needs Kids to Go to Summer Camp

A whole network of angels helps make this blog easier, and one of them is Tammy Eisenreich of both iTaalk and the Lucas County Board of Developmental Disability.  She just sent along a whole bunch of links with information about financial help for disabled kids to attend summer camp.  

First was a link from the Flying Horse Farms in Mt. Gilead, Ohio, a camp for children from 7-15 who can only attend camp with medical support, so that children with serious medical conditions can enjoy the camp experience.  This camp is FREE OF CHARGE.  They have camp experiences for individual kids and family camp times.  For more information on how to apply and their special camp periods (for instance, one for kids with hematology and oncology needs, another for kids with heart conditions, etc.) see the link.

Here's the rest of Ms. Eisenreich's list:  

www.aboutprojectiam.com Deadline is June 1st and must live in Toledo area.

www.act-today.org (Application open April 1st-April 30th) $100-$5000 with an ASD diagnosis

www.challengedamerica.org  up to $500 for equipment or services

www.dsagt.org $100 towards summer camp for children with Down Syndrome

www.maggiewelby.org (Next award meeting is in July) $250-$2500 grants for many services

www.marksmoney.org $500 grants for quality of life of children with Down Syndrome

www.mccdcares.com must volunteer hours with their organization equivalent to amount granted.

www.mollybear.org grants for children with Trisomy 18

www.msfocus.org many grants for children and adults with Multiple Sclerosis

www.nwoapraxiasupport.org (Deadline to apply is April 14th) up to $1000 for therapies and equipment 

www.parkerspurpose.net up to $1000 pay directly to family

www.prayerchild.org Board meets every month to review requests

www.smallstepsinspeech.org next deadline May 1st for anything speech related (therapy, camp, ABA, apps...)

www.specialkidstherapy.org deadline is May 31st, must have insurance denial

www.thinkalive.org fund activities to further a child's dream

www.umbrellaclub.org helps with physical/mental/emotional needs not being met elsewhere

While some of these are Toledo-area specific, some are nationwide.  Hope this helps someone find funding for a child's camp experience.

New Place to Look for Financial Help for Disabilities

There's no such thing as a source of information that has everything, so you look wherever you can.  After some bounced email, I got a very welcome link from Tammy Eisenreich of Itaalk Foundation the foundation that works to provide communication devices like ipads for kids and teens with autism spectrum disorders. Itaalk has created a searchable database of about 200 sources (right now) of financial assistance, wish organizations, medical equipment and more--not only for families affected by autism, but any type of disability.  

And they are  gathering more sources as they go.  If you know of a source not listed, suggest the source to Tammy at www.facebook.com/itaalk and win a $20 itunes card.  

For more sources of financial help dealing with disability, see the disability links in this blog, and the disability sources in No Free Money. 

Modest Grants for the Disabled, and Churches Who Work With Them

While picking across the internet for stuff for the disabled, I stumbled across a source for small grants for the disabled from a Christian group called Joni and Friends, The grants are small (up to $2500; $1500 for scholarships), and are for grants that deal with assistive technology and need the endorsement of a Christian church.  The fund is called the Christian Fund for the Disabled, and the application is here.  Note that they also have some small funds for churches that are trying to serve the disabled by making their church more disabled accessible.  While this small sum may help, it might also be good for churches to check other sources in their communities.

Another site with some promising sources is E-Special Needs, a website with financial help listings for disabled children.  They list some sources that are localized, and some national ones that need to be dug into.

Finding Financial Assistance for the Disabled at Disability.gov

Disability.gov is a federal one-stop shop of (mostly) federal resources for the disabled, both financial and other assistance.  How do you hone in on financial assistance, though?  You do it through their search engine, which allows searching by key word, or allows you to "filter" your search by a number of factors. 

You can do it by topic, including benefits and specific types of benefits, like heating and energy, prescription drugs, civil rights, employment, and housing.  You can filter results by states (if you do this, it will pull up all the items for your state and nationwide, and just weed out sources from other states).  You can filter by the type of disability you have, like blindness or hearing disability.  And you can search by words.  For instance, if you are looking for emergency money for your state, you can filter by your state, and put the words "cash assistance" in the search box at the top of the page, and it will pull up links for the cash assistance program in your state.  And you can filter by "audience" (the person looking for information).  So caregivers, employers, veterans, students, and job seekers can narrow down the search to things they are looking for. 

If you are specifically looking for money and financial resources, here's some topics that would be most useful to you: scholarships and financial aid, food and nutrition assistance, paying for prescription drugs, and guide to disability benefits.

Places to Find Single and Mismatched Shoes

When people think of "adaptive equipment," they think of sophisticated tools. But for people in need of shoes in different sizes--or only one shoe--where do you look?  As it turns out, there are a number of places. 

The National Odd Shoe Exchange matches up people with a need for shoes of different sizes--due to accident or congenital conditions--with people who have them.  To register you need to write via snail-mail at post office box 1120, Chandler, Arizona 85244-1120.  For more information, check their website or call them at 480-892-3484.

Another source of exchanges is at the website of the Amputee Coalition.  They feature not only the Odd Shoe Coalition, but the One Shoe Crew, which provides one shoe for amputees (and whose services are free to veterans), and Birkenstock Express Online, which sells single and mismatched shoes.  They list the Odd Shoe Finder, where people who need mismatched sizes can hook up with sellers.  They list Nike as a seller of single/mismatcheds, too, but their link is dead.  Try their toll free number at 800 806 6453. 

snssn1120
Chandler,  Arizona  USA
85244-1120 T

Sources of Scholarships for the Disabled and Discounts on MRI/CAT Scans, Courtesy of Needymeds

As a freebie hawk, I have long had a link from No Free Money to Needymeds, a site loaded with information on prescription assistance programs for the uninsured.  I always made sure the link was still alive, but didn't look at it too closely recently.  And what I was missing!

For one thing, they now have a link to scholarships for people diagnosed with various conditions  illnesses.  I was taken aback when they listed "acne," (no, there AREN'T scholarships for acne sufferers), but it does list over 200 scholarships for people with other conditions, like burn sufferers and those with mobility disabilities.  There are listings that end up with zilch hits, but altogether, it's a worthwhile place to look if you have a disability or diagnosis.  They also have a listing of financial aid for people with various diagnosis and conditions.  Both are worth looking into.

If you are in need of a CAT Scan or MRI, they also offer deep discounts for uninsured and underinsured people, or those with a high deductable --with savings of between 50% and 75%, with over 2,500 providers around the country.  For these great aids and more, see the left-hand side of the Needymeds page, and see what both of us have been missing.

 

Homestead Property Tax Exemptions--in Ohio, and Other Places

"Homestead" exemptions are exemptions on the value of a home to shield the homeowner fromtaxation, or to shield the home from creditors in case of bankruptcy.

In Ohio, the homestead exemption on property taxes are available to everybody over 65, or totally disabled, or the surviving spouse of a qualified homeowner who was at least 59 at the date of their spouse's death.  It shields $25,000 of the market value of the home from property taxes. At one time, there was an upper income limit for eligibility, but that was repealed several years ago.  And while this is a statewide law, you have to apply for the homestead exemption at your county auditor's office.

In Florida, there is a homestead exemption of up to $50,000 for which Floridians may be eligible if it's your permanent residence.  There are also exemptions for the disabled, blind, widows and widowers, and disabled veterans--all the links are on this page.

In Texas, those over 65, disabled, or a partially or totally disabled veteran may also qualify for an exemption on their principle residence.  More detailed information on Texas property tax exemptions here.

Faster Processing for Social Security Disability for Wounded Warriors

Did you know that soldiers who have service-related disabilities received after October 1, 2001 can get speeded-up processing of their Social Security disability claims?  Of course, "speeded-up" is a relative term when you're talking about Social Security, but every bit helps.  This question and answer page deals with Social Security disability claims and how they relate to wounded veterans.  It tells you exactly what information you need to provide to get the "expedited" processing of your forms.  It also tells you under what circumstances a disabled veteran is eligible for Social Security disability and Medicare, how Social Security relates to Tricare (the health insurance program for uniformed troops and retirees which can be a supplemental program for disabled veterans who receive Medicare), and work eligibility while receiving disability benefits.  It also has information on benefits for the dependents of the disabled.  For more information on filing for disability, check out this disability starter kit.

More Housing Assistance for Veterans

This weekend, I learned of two more programs to help veterans get housing.  One is in northwest Ohio, and involves the joint efforts of Jaftak Realty and Toledo Area Ministries.  Jaftak has donated mobile homes for veterans who are financially unable to buy their own housing.  The requirements are: veteran status, clean criminal record, at least 18 years of age, with a monthly income of at least $1,000 a month.  They are down to the last 10 homes or so, and are looking for veterans to which they can donate the homes.  Call toll-free 877-850-2143 for more information.

I've also learned about the charity Homes for Our Troops, whose mission is to provide free adaptive housing to the most seriously wounded of the troops that have received their wounds in wartime after 9/11/01.  We've already written about the adaptive housing grants available to disabled veterans.  If you can qualify for that, Homes for Our Troops will pay the rest of the cost, so that honorably discharged veterans can get the home free.  See this site to see if you are qualified. If so, you can fill out an online application.  If you need more help or information, call or email Laura Butler at  vetinfo@homesforourtroops.org or 508-823-3300. 

Money for Women Athletes to Train and Travel, and other Athletic Training Money

The Women's Sports Foundation has a fund to pay for serious, competitive women athletes to travel and train. It's for individuals and teams (and by teams, they don't mean a community, club or school team, but a group unto themselves), and the deadline for 2012 is June 8th.  The applicants have to have a successful competitive record outside of their region, either nationally or internationally, and have amateur status.  The purpose of the grant is to get the training needed to improve their game.

How to find out other grants for individual athletes?  There's a couple of strategies.  One is to find the governing body of the sport in which you are interested.  These national or international groups may have grants for individual competitors.  Access for Athletes is a fund sponsored by the Challenged Athletes Foundation for equipment and training for disabled athletes.  Often, you have to be a member to be eligible for a grant or scholarship, such as the scholarship by the American Painted Horse Foundation.  You can also go to a library close to you that has the Foundation Center Grants to Individuals Online, and choose the "advanced search" option, using "athletics" in the "field of interest" field. 

Autism Awareness Day Celebrated With Free or Reduced Cost Communication Apps

Today, April 2nd, is World Autism Awareness Day, and many producers of communications apps are offering them free or at reduced cost for today for iphones or ipads.  And while android apps are not in the program, you can see the emerging list of android communications apps at this link.    And if you use the italk widget (available at their website), a percentage of the sales will go towards this great organization that provides communication devices for kids with autism spectrum disorders.

More Charities that Provide Adaptive Equipment to Children

In addition to the various loan closets throughout the country that help disabled children and adults--and various ways of financing or receiving donations for adaptive equipment that I've found in the past--there are some charities that accept applications for adaptive equipment for children.  Here are three nationwide programs:

Firsthand Foundation covers many medical needs for children, but also vehicle modification and adaptive equipment.  They don't do van purchases or home modifications, but will finance many smaller things.

Wheel to Walk Foundation provides many adaptive devices that may not be covered by insurance, like shower chairs, therapy tricycles, etc. 

Variety, the show business charity, has a program called Kids on the Go, which provides mobility equipment for disabled children, including tricycles, car seats, stollers, van lifts, house ramps, wheelchairs and more.  Variety suggests that if there is a local chapter of their organization near you that you apply there first,  but if not, you apply to the national office.

K-12 Scholarships for Private Schooling in Ohio for Disabled Kids, and Vouchers and School Choice for Children Around the Country

The state of Ohio, besides having school choice programs for children within the boundaries of failing publicschools, has two programs for alternative education for special needs kids.  One is the Jon Peterson SpecialNeeds Scholarship program.  Children from kindergarten through 12^th grade who have an IEP (individual education plan) that is current and finalized are eligible for scholarships of up to $20,000 for education and supportive services from a private provider.  There aren’t enough scholarships for all disabled children—by law, no more than 5% of children identified as disabled in a district are eligible.  If there are more entries, scholarships will be distributed by a lottery.  If you have a child who’s eligible, you have to move fast, since the deadline for applying for a 2012-2013 scholarship is April 15^th.

Likewise, there is a separate Ohio program providing for state aid for the private education of young people with autism between the ages of 3 and 21.   It provides up to $20,000 a year for educational services outside of the school district.  Application for aid for the 2012-2013 school year begins in May of 2012.  Parents who want to be on the Ohio Education Department’s mailing list for more information about state programs for autistic children can sign up for it here.

For state, regional and nationwide programs for state-subsidized alternatives to public education, see this website by the Alliance for Choice.  It shows state “choice” and voucher programs, and has a separate state-by-state rundown on availableK-12 scholarships.  Here's another list of possibilities.

New Student Income Repayment Program, and Other Forgiveness/Cancellation/Discharge Options

Barak Obama got a fair amount of p.r. mileage out of expanding the student loan income repayment option.  In this proposed plan (the details which need to be hammered out), repayments will be limited to 10% of the student's income, with a forgiveness of loans after 20 years of payments.  However, a plan of this sort has already been in place for a couple of years.  In the current scheme, students can have their payments reduced to 15% of their income, with forgiveness after 25 years of payments.

There are other plans for federal student loan reduction, forgiveness or cancellation, too.  If you are a teacher, explore this page to find forgiveness (for teaching in low income areas, under certain circumstances) and other options.  Nurses also have options for partial loan forgiveness for public service.  And there is another program for public service for other professions, too--assuming you have already made 120 payments towards your loans.  You may be eligible for total cancellation of a federal student loan if you are permanently disabled.  You may also be eligible for loan cancellation if the school closed down before you could graduate, or within 90 days after you quit studying there.

To check out all your cancellation options, see this page.  For more options for delay,  forebearance, or "income sensitive" options (like the new one announced last week) check out this page.

Rebate Money to Buy Mobility Equipment for New Cars

Awhile back, I wrote an entry on a program that helps disabled veterans buy adaptable vehicles.  However, many automobile manufacturers have programs of their own to make it easier to put mobility equipment into their cars and vans.  Most have a program that will give rebates of up to $1000 cash back for the cost of installing adaptive equipment.  These include Toyota, Ford, Lexus, Honda, Acura, Chrysler, General Motors, Mercedes Benz, Hyundai, Jaguar, Volvo, and Scion.  Volkswagen and Kia do not have a companywide program, but individual dealers might.  Ask a dealer if he or she does.   

Here’s two good websites on buying adaptive equipment.  One is from the National Mobility EquipmentDealers Association on where to find equipment dealers and other possible sources of funding, and one from Disaboom on how to choose equipment.

Financial Help for Disabled Veterans Who Need Home Care

I’ve written about financial help for home health care for the aged or disabled kids.   Various programs exist specifically to aid disabled veterans.  There is funding to help disabled veterans purchase an accessible home, or modify a house that they already own.  There is also financial help for veterans and their surviving spouses who are disabled enough to need help with their daily living and self-care, too.  The Aid and Attendance and Homebound Pension are supplements to other pensions to help with the expenses of self-care or nursing home or assisted living, and a veteran must be qualified for another military pension to be eligible.

To qualify, a veteran must have served 90 days, at least one day during a period of war, and for veterans who have joined after September, 1980, must have 24 continuous months of service.  Discharge must be under other than dishonorable conditions.  Income limits for veterans applying for either of the pensions is $19,736, $23,396 if the veteran has a dependent, and $2020 for each additional dependent.  For surviving spouses, the limit is $12,681--$15,128 if there is a dependent child, and $2020 for each additional dependent child. 

Aid and Attendance and Homebound pensions are two separate programs, with different qualifications.  For the Homebound pension, a veteran must be 100% disabled with one condition, and confined to their home, or 100% disabled with one condition, and at least 60% disabled with another.  For the Aid and Attendance pension, the veteran requires requires the aid of another person in order to perform personal functions required in everyday living, or is bedridden, or the veteran is a patient in a nursing home due to mental or physical incapacity, or is blind, or so.

See this website for more information, and apply online.

A Roundup of Some Good Places to Start Looking for Scholarships for the Disabled

In looking up some other stuff for a previous blog entry, I found the Disaboom website, and, one of their subsites for scholarships for the disabled.  It got me to wonder what else was out there.

Of course, there is the wonderful book, Financial Aid for the Disabled and Their Families, one of the books in the terrific series by  Reference Service Press on financial aid for various groups, such as African Americans, women, Hispanics, etc.  Check it out at your nearest library if you can.  Here's some other stuff you can find right on teh internets:

The venerable Disability Resources has a scholarship site, with a list of books and a short list of scholarships, as well as links to tips on how the disabled can finance a college education. 

Michigan State University's site on grants for individuals includes a subset on scholarships for the disabled.

Disabled World has a section on scholarships.

As always, check the usual suspects: the financial aid pages of the schools in which you are interested (many have scholarships exclusive to that school), and the higher education department in the state in which you live.  States, like individual colleges, may have their own programs.

Finding Money for Telework and Business Starts for the Disabled

A constant question that runs across my desk is “all the grant money that is out there for disabled people to start businesses.” Once again, there is an ounce of truth lying under a ton of baloney. There have indeed been grants given for self-employment for the disabled, but once again, they've been given to state, local, and regional nonprofits and government agencies to create programs for the disabled. They can be identified by finding groups that have received funds from the Assistive Technology Act of 1998 and Access to Telework Loan programs (money for adaptive equipment that makes it possible for the disabled to work from home).
And these grant-receiving groups have mostly created programs that provide low-interest loans, as opposed to grants, for disabled consumers.  There are occasional exceptions, but that's mostly the rule.

Also remember a couple of things: first, this is federal funding that can change from year to year, and even disappear, depending on the whims of politicians. So if you are a big supporter of cutting federal funding for “all that useless crap?” Remember that this might be one of the things considered "useless crap." Also, the organizations themselves can run out of funds, as individuals seek money for their needs.


That having been said, here’s a list of state organizations that have received money from these funding streams, courtesy of RESNA (the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America ). This is clearly an old link, because many of the links within it are dead. The root links to organizations are o.k., but the links to particular programs are dead, meaning that the state organizational websites have changed, but RESNA did not check and update. So, when you run across a dead link, just backspace until you get the website of the organization, then click it on and search for the low-cost loan program, or contact the organization via the phone or email information provided. (I dunno. That could be outdated, too). But once you have identified the organizations that have received these federal funds, you’re in fat city, because you can then google them to find their current website and program information. For a more exhaustive listing of statewide programs that work in providing adaptive equipment programs for the disabled, including equipment loans, see this RESNA list.  As a bonus, here's a link with a list of grantees to the telework programs.  These organizations may have funds to help disabled people who need resources to do telework.