home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
- Path: sparky!uunet!paladin.american.edu!auvm!CUBLDR.COLORADO.EDU!CONLEYJ
- X-Envelope-to: DEAF-L@SIUCVMB.BITNET
- X-VMS-To: IN%"DEAF-L%SIUCVMB.BITNET@vaxf.colorado.edu"
- X-VMS-Cc: CONLEYJ
- Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
- Message-ID: <01GMWD2Q6XCW8ZEBVM@CUBLDR.Colorado.EDU>
- Newsgroups: bit.listserv.deaf-l
- Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 04:12:00 -0700
- Sender: DEAF LIST <DEAF-L@SIUCVMB.BITNET>
- From: I See U! <CONLEYJ@CUBLDR.COLORADO.EDU>
- Subject: Re: Getting your second opinion...
- Lines: 76
-
- David Andrew Vaughan writes:
-
- >...I asked her [his wife] to see if she qualified for any state disabled
- >benefits. We started going through the procedures with the Vocational
- >Rehabilition [VR] back in december. Can someone tell me if it is normal to
- >wait this long for decision?
-
- Since I do not know the state of where u reside, I can't say if it is typical
- for that state to be doing this long. I can however explain my experience
- going thru the State of Colorado VRs. Just getting an appointment takes about
- three weeks, unless it is a life-threatening situation (ie. suddenly losing
- ur home, and local shelters will not help out). Then u have to fill out the
- long forms which was about 10 pages for me. Hopefully there will be no
- mistakes filling out the form, or typing it in the state computer. If this
- happens, it will take a while to get another appt, and filling out the proper
- forms to erase the mistake(s) (no kidding!).
-
- After this, u will be notified where the local state-certified audiologist,
- and u will call them for an appt. usually within a week. The testing is to
- verify that yes u r handicapped, and in need to depend on the State Govnment!!
- After the testing, the Specialist will then send the results to the VR
- Counseler. Now depending on who the counselor is and what that person's track
- record is, s/he will look at it within 30 or 60 days, and then include the
- copy in ur files. U will then, in the next 30 to 60 days recieve a letter
- detailing when the next appt. is.
-
- My experience has been one of the longest delays with the Counselor I have.
- My friends have a different Counselor who is Deaf, and they can get thru this
- process in less than a month, whereas I was stuck with a Hearie and had to
- wait for almost three months. And the Counselor picks when the next appt.
- is, to boot! If I can't make it, I have to talk to the receptionist and risk
- having to wait another three weeks on top of the date the Counselor wants.
- The audiologist that was local happened to be a good friend of mine. She says
- she sent in the results two days after the testing. After waiting for a
- month, in which I have not recieved a letter from the Counselor, I called him.
- He says that when he recieves the results, he will mail me a letter. I am not
- to call him again with this subject until after I receive the letter. I had
- to wait a total of 14 weeks to recieve that letter, during which time the
- Counselor, or his sectratary (not to blame the poor woman!), says that he has
- not recieved the results from the audiologist. Some of my other friends who
- unfortionately have him also go thru the same amount of time. This is why I
- say it depends on the track record how long it takes for ur Counselor to
- respond. Mine was three and a half months, from beginning to end of the
- qualification process; Urs was since December, and it is not finished yet.
- Others go thru in less than a month. I am trying to find another Counselor,
- but my appeal has to go thru him first, and I am still stuck with him. I am
- trying to find out who his Supervisor is and go that way, but he is being
- tight-lipped. My friends have not found out who his supervisor is, and they
- have been looking since the beginning of the summer. Makes me wonder. I
- ended up not using any of the services that the State itself can provide thru
- him since I don't like the way he operates, and he does not really cooperate
- with me. He is only a moderate Signed English signer, and if I have trouble
- understanding him, it just delays the whole process.
-
- If u really need the services ur VR provides, I would recommend that u talk to
- the state's Social Services. They can provide u and ur wife with more options
- but beware that the qualification process WILL take six months to verify that
- one: ur wife is alive in the computer, and has filed tax returns with I.R.S.;
- 2) she is disabled; and 3) poor enough to recieve something from the Federal
- Govnerment (which is in sorry shape right now sadly to say). It is easier and
- potentionally faster to go this way, and it will cut the Red Tape that VR goes
- thru to provide limited services.
-
- David also askes:
- >Are there other organizations that offer some type of benefit to the hearing
- >impaired?
-
- I am sure that there is a Deaf club in ur state, if u and ur wife signs
- American Sign Language. If she is Oral, there is a group called Self Help
- with Hard-of-Hearing (SHHH) which has chapters in every state, and I think
- also each major city has a local chapter of the same name mixed up somewhere,
- maybe, with the town name. I can write the addresses for both of them at
- the National level, and u can write to them for the local chapter in ur area.
-
- Josh Conley
- conleyj@cubldr.colorado.Edu
-