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
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.deaf-l
Date:         Tue, 28 Jul 1992 04:12:00 -0700
From:         I See U! <CONLEYJ@CUBLDR.COLORADO.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Getting your second opinion...

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
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU