Articles from prior issues of The Advocate

May/June 2001

Candidates Ken Forbes President-Elect I am announcing my candidacy for the position of President-elect of NADE for the 2001-2002 year. Although I have been with the disability program for seven years, I believe my varied background provides me with the unique experience this leadership role in NADE requires. My early experience in the field of Workers’ Compensation in the states of Oregon and Texas led to my hiring as the Operations Manager for the Oregon DDS. Since then my role has changed so I now manage Systems and parts of Operations. Altogether, I have been involved in disability issues for the past quarter century and I believe my variety of experience will provide a useful perspective as we deal with changes to the SSA disability program. Testifying in legislative assemblies in Oregon and Texas has provided some background experience should I be called upon to provide testimony in Congress. My experience with NADE began within a few months of being hired in the DDS. During that first year, I helped establish our newsletter and eventually took over as editor. I ran for and was elected to the President-elect post in our chapter and, while serving as Past-president, I ran for and was elected to the post of Treasurer in the chapter and Director of the Pacific Region. I held the post of Treasurer for two years and have been the Pacific Regional Director for four years. At the national level, I served on the Long-Range Planning Committee and chaired the Elections and Credentials Committee. We rewrote the rules while I was chairing the Elections and Credentials Committee and those rules are still in effect today.

There are many challenges facing each of us in the disability program and we as an organization will have to confront our own challenges as well as those facing the disability program. NADE has been influential in shaping what has happened with redesign and I believe that we can continue to be very effective in dealing with SSA, Congress, the Social Security Advisory Board, the General Accounting Office, and our partners in the disability program.

As we attempt to deal with the major issues in this program, we will have to confront problems we, as an organization, are facing. Some of those problems result from the incredible work pressure resulting from redesign and educating the public about the program. This makes it hard to get people to join, to participate in chapter activities, or to take on leadership roles. In an attempt to encourage members to step forward and serve in leadership roles, we in the Pacific Region have begun a Leadership Development Seminar which we have associated with our Regional Training Conference.

If elected, I plan to continue the tradition of NADE leaders in promoting understanding of the disability program and promoting the professionalism and skill of our members. I plan to continue the pursuit of professional recognition for our members. I also plan to maintain the role that NADE has established as an unbiased source of practical information about what does and doesn’t work with the disability program.

I am asking for your support in the election to be held at the Annual Training Conference in Austin.

Sincerely,

Ken Forbes