News  Work is Possible: SSI and SSDI Myths Debunked Panel Presentation

Members Lounge, 3rd Floor, Massachusetts State House and on Zoom — Ask the Experts!

As part of the Commission's Inaugural National Disability Employment Awareness Month Celebration, we will hold a panel session on the most common misconceptions on how work income impacts public benefits such as Supplemental Security Income, Social Security Disability Insurance, Medicaid and Medicare, and other public benefits.
This is a hybrid event: in the Members Lounge on the 3rd floor at the MA State House and on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84128204975

The panel session will be co-facilitated by Kathy Petkauskos, Disability Employment Subcommittee Chair, from the Commission on the Status of Persons with Disabilities and Imene Bouziane Saidi, Program Director.

Panelists joining us will be:

Brian Forsythe, Community Partner Work Incentive Coordinator (CPWIC), Work Without Limits Employment Network, For Health Consulting at UMass Chan Medical School
Brian is certified by the U.S. Social Security Administration as a Community Partner Work Incentive Coordinator (CPWIC). Under the Work Without Limits Employment Network, a program of ForHealth Consulting at UMass Chan Medical School, Brian assists individuals in Massachusetts and across the country to make a smooth transition from receiving public benefits to self-sufficiency from work. Additionally, Brian develops and conducts training for employment specialists and case managers on how income from work affects eligibility for public benefits. Brian has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Lowell, over thirty years of experience in special education and vocational rehabilitation, and over twenty years of experience as a full-time benefits and work incentives counselor.

Andrea Jackson, Community Work Incentive Coordinator (CWIC), Benefits Counselor, Project Impact Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission
Andrea is certified by the U.S. Social Security Administration as a Community Work Incentives Coordinator (CWIC) Under Project IMPACT, a Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission (MRC) program. Project IMPACT provides personal benefit counseling to people who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and/or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and are employed or looking for a job.

As a Community Work Incentives Coordinator (CWIC), Andrea Jackson provides in-depth counseling about benefits and the effect of work on those benefits. I also provide in-depth, personalized benefits summaries and analysis plans. Andrea assists individuals in Massachusetts to make a smooth transition from receiving public benefits to self-sufficiency from work. Additionally, it conducts training on how income from work affects eligibility for public benefits. Andrea has a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree from Mount Ida College.

Linda Landry, Senior Staff Attorney, MA Disability Law Center
Linda is a senior attorney who has worked at the Disability Law Center since 1990. Her focus is on Social Security benefit issues and work incentives, as well as the related health benefits, MassHealth and Medicare. She has over 35 years of experience in legal advocacy in these areas, which has included individual representation, training, impact and policy work, class action litigation, and backup, support, and technical assistance to a statewide project of attorneys and advocates who represent individual Social Security and SSI disability benefits claimants. She writes and presents on a variety topics for local and national audiences. She is a graduate of Northeastern University School of Law and worked at Neighborhood Legal Services in the 1980s before coming to DLC. She received the NOSSCR Distinguished Service Award in 2006, the Massachusetts Bar Association Equal Access to Justice Award in 2011, a Massachusetts Top Women of the Law Award in 2013, and the Marie Feltin Award in 2018.

Kathleen A. Petkauskos, Director, Work Without Limits, ForHealth Consulting at the UMass Chan Medical School
Kathleen is the director of Work Without Limits and oversees all its programs and services including training and consulting, networks and events, benefits counseling services, and its Employment Network under Social Security’s Ticket to Work program. Under her direction, Work Without Limits received the UMass Chan Chancellor’s Award for exemplifying the mission of the medical school, and the Northeast Human Resources Association’s Diversity Champion Award for consistently demonstrating an unwavering commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Ms. Petkauskos is an inductee of the Susan M. Daniels National Disability Mentoring Hall of Fame and has extensive experience in vocational evaluation, supported employment, benefits planning, and job placement for people with disabilities. Ms. Petkauskos has an associate degree in physical therapy and certificates in Vocational Evaluation from Assumption College and Non-profit Finance and Administration from Suffolk University.

ASL and CART services will be available.
Access the flier in pdf format here

If you have questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to the Commission's Program Director Imene Bouziane Saidi at imene.bouzianesaidi@mass.gov

What You Need To Know About Your Supplemental Security Income (SSI) When You Turn 18

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-11005.pdf English

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/ES-05-10915.pdf Spanish
 

What You Need to Know About Earning Money and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) (Transition Age Youth)

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-64-121.pdf  English

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/ES-64-121.pdf Spanish
 

How Can Work Incentives Help You Receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid While Working? (Transition Age Youth)

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-64-120.pdf  English

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/ES-64-120.pdf Spanish
 

What Resources and Services Are Available to Help You Earn Money?

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-64-119.pdf English
 

Red Book A Guide To Work Incentives and Employment Supports for People Who Have a Disability Under the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Programs

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-64-030.pdf English

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/ES-64-090.pdf Spanish
 

What You Need to Know When You Get Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-11011.pdf English

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/ES-05-11024.pdf  Spanish
 

Reporting Wages When You Receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10503.pdf English

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/ES-05-10503.pdf  Spanish
 

What You Need to Know When You Get Social Security Disability Benefits

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10153.pdf English

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/ES-05-10903.pdf  Spanish
 

Working While Disabled: How We Can Help

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10095.pdf  English

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/ES-05-10995.pdf  Spanish
 

Schedule of Social Security Benefit Payments 2023 (How to tell what benefit you receive by when you receive it)

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10031-2023.pdf

Schedule of Social Security Benefit Payments 2024 (How to tell what benefit you receive by when you receive it)

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10031-2024.pdf
 

Understanding the Benefits (which Social Security benefit do you receive?) 

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10024.pdf English
Also available in 12 languages

Info on SSA's language access policy:
https://www.ssa.gov/site/languages/en/

MassHealth Redeterminations Resources
https://www.mass.gov/masshealth-eligibility-redeterminations

Toolkit
https://www.mass.gov/lists/masshealth-redetermination-resources#renewal-help-guide-