Articles from prior issues of The Advocate

September/October, 1998

Fire In Raleigh!
by Jeff Price, North Carolina DDS

FIRE STRUCK THE CITY OF Raleigh, North Carolina the week of June 2 - 5, 1998. The fire swept through the Four Points Hotel, site of NADE’s Southeast Regional Training Conference, and left the 145 conference attendees stunned by the degree of Fun, Information, Relaxation, and Entertainment. The Tar Heel Association of Disability Examiners (THADE) had planned for two years to stage this conference and they succeeded where so few would even have attempted to go.

Restricted by a legislated state mandate that limited the conference registration fee to only $30.00, the membership of THADE pulled together and “pooled” their resources. Nationally recognized speakers were brought in from the medical schools at nearby Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to educate the conference attendees about the latest developments in medicine. Dr. Norton Hadler asked the appropriate question, “Is Impairment-Based Disability Determination reasonable?” and Dr. David Gremillion sought to inform everyone about recent developments in Infectious Diseases and their impact on disability. A world renowned psychiatrist, Dr. Assad Meymandi, explained recent developments in Alzheimer’s Disease research and Dr. David Steele explained how to interpret all this data we see in childhood disability claims. Other medical sessions featured physicians from Duke and UNC engaged in research into retinal disorders, speech therapy and rheumatoid arthritis.

There were other speakers to inform the group about Lifelong Learning - the Why? What? How? and If? of learning styles. Emotional Intelligence - what is it?, have I got it?, and how can I get some?. Other speakers sought to inform the group about moving from the DOT to the O Net, how to communicate across different cultures, and how the disabled seek to fulfill their dreams of leading nearly normal lives.

NADE President Debi Gardiner was present to give everyone an update as to what their national association had been doing in the past few months since the national conference in Louisville last November, and Sue Roecker was present from SSA’s Disability Redesign Team to provide an update on redesign. SSA’s Deputy Inspector General, Daniel Devlin, presented one of the most interesting sessions on combating fraud in the disability program. Robert Kunzler, Director of Center for Disability Operations in the Atlantic Regional Office, was present to welcome everyone and to address important trends in disability adjudication. He also joined NADE! The closing awards session also featured a couple of renowned speakers who sought to highlight the differences in the sexes as to how we look at the same thing but see entirely different things. Entertainment was provided by one of the funniest musicians ever to come from an SSA Field Office!

Conference attendees were transported to the Murdoch Center, a nearby residential facility for mentally retarded adults, for a tour of the Center and how it seeks to provide a meaningful life for its residents. Included on this tour was a stop at the Tadpole Project, a special lending library of toys for children with special adaptation needs.

A “Taste of Carolina Hospitality” was the social highlight of the conference. Attendees were transported across town (they were provided with a quick tour of the city as their bus meandered through local rush hour traffic) to another hotel for a lakeside southern barbecue featuring as much food and beverage as the body could hold (and there were some who proved they could hold a lot!), dancing and lots of good fellowship among NADE members.

The evenings featured a well stocked hospitality room that, once again proved THADE deserved its reputation of feeding its guests extremely well while also making sure they did not experience any thirst!