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Disability Network Partners collaborate on upcoming projects
During a Disability Network Partners meeting at the Northern Marianas Protection and Advocacy Systems, Inc., stakeholders from various agencies convened to discuss much needed staff training for implementation and practice.
Among the topics discussed were equal employment opportunity and sexual harassment as well as ethics training from the Office of the Public Auditor.
Pamela Sablan of the Developmental Disabilities Council spoke of a Social Security webinar training on Ticket to Work slated sometime in December and asked for training to include the PASS Plan or Plan to Achieve Self-Support program under SSA in order to provide individuals with disabilities the opportunity to work and achieve a goal.
According to Sablan, PASS lets a disabled individual set aside money and things he or she owns to pay for items or services needed to achieve a specific goal such as purchasing a car. The objective of the PASS is to help disabled individuals find jobs that reduces or eliminates SSI or SSDI benefits. Ticket to Work offers beneficiaries with disabilities more choices when seeking service and supports to enter, re-enter, and/or maintain employment or to increase the financial independence and self-sufficiency.
Sablan adds that DNP self-advocacy and employment will continue in the new DDC five-year plan, of which a survey will continue being administered throughout the fiscal year to include employment statistics of individuals with disabilities.
