People With Disabilities Foundation (PWDF) recently participated in a training session for designated Social Security Administration (SSA) staff pursuant to the settlement agreement in Davis v. Astrue, Case 3:06-cv-06108 EMC (NC) and Doe v. Astrue, Case No. 3:09-CV-980 EMC (N.D. Cal. 2012). In this settlement agreement, the SSA agreed to a number of reasonable accommodations to enable it to meet its obligations to provide Plaintiffs Davis and Doe with effective communication to ensure equal, meaningful program access. (See the accompanying article, Update on Davis-Doe Settlement – Three Years Later, for an update on the status of Davis–Doe settlement agreement.)

One of the terms of this agreement is that the SSA will make designated SSA claims representatives available to attend a meeting with the professionals of Mr. Davis’s and/or Mr. Doe’s choice to learn about the plaintiff’s impairments (schizophrenia, cognitive, depression, and anxiety; autism, reading level, depression, anxiety, and psychosis) and how to effectively communicate with him, given those impairments. Specifically for Mr. Davis, PWDF arranged for this type of training in 2012 with Mr. Davis’s original “program experts;” however, the SSA recently assigned new program experts to communicate with Mr. Davis and these experts did not have the benefit of the prior training as they began working with Mr. Davis.

In advance of this training meeting, I submitted a letter to the Assistant U.S. Attorney who represents the Commissioner of the SSA, suggesting that the SSA incorporate this type of training into its standard processes so that it is able to communicate effectively with all claimants and beneficiaries for equal, meaningful program access, as is required by law. The SSA serves over 5 million people who receive disability benefits based on mental disorders[¹]. Because of their disabilities, some of these individuals have difficulty understanding the SSA’s notices; complying with the intricate SSA policies, procedures and practices that are used to continue or cease their benefits; and/or communicating with SSA staff. PWDF strongly recommends that the SSA provide a robust process for effective communication as a reasonable accommodation that is permanently available to claimants and beneficiaries who need it. Currently, there is none.

PWDF hopes that the SSA will quickly establish a plan for providing training for its Claims Representatives to better serve their clientele with equitable access, despite their disabilities. It has been 39 years since Congress mandated that federal agencies provide equal program access under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

You can read my letter to Michael Pyle, the Assistant US Attorney who represents the SSA, here.