Articles from prior issues of The Advocate

January/February, 1996

President's Message

BY THE TIME YOU READ this, Christmas and New Years will have passed and you will probably be into the mid-winter blahs. Hopefully the holidays were good to you and Congress has passed and the President has signed the FY 96 budget so we are all at work. Now is the time to stop and rethink what the upcoming year will bring and what we expect to accomplish.

1996 promises continued change in the way we do cases and further proposed changes with the ongoing implementation of Redesign. Outside forces will attempt to influence the decisional process and make the disability examiners job even more complex and confusing. All of us as professionals must continue to process disability claims as we are instructed by SSA and the Regulations, in spite of the attempts to influence our decisions from other entities.

As disability professionals, we also have an obligation to try and insure that the Disability Program is serving its claimants in a just and equitable manner. If changes and proposals are perceived as not in the best interest of the claimant and the Program, we must attempt to influence and effectuate positive change. NADE, as an organization, will continue to accept this obligation. I hope each of you will also.