Articles from prior issues of The Advocate

July/August, 1999

President's Message

SUMMER GREETINGS TO ALL OF you! Now that the warm, sunny days of summer have arrived, I would encourage you to please take some time to enjoy the great outdoors with your friends and family. There is life outside of the DDS and life even beyond Star Wars! My son would probably disagree with the latter statement and some of you might have come to believe that the former statement is not exactly true either. However, I assure that this is the case. Get out! Remember, no one ever said on their deathbed, “Gee, if only I had spent more time at the office!” John Lennon once sang “Imagine” and I ask you only to imagine the possibilities. NADE recently had its second meeting with SSA Commissioner Ken Apfel (see cover story). This meeting took place on June 9 at the Commissioner’s office in Washington, D.C. NADE President-elect Terri Spurgeon, Legislative Chairperson Martha Marshall, and I were invited to share the concerns and issues of our Association with Commissioner Apfel and Principle Deputy Commissioner John Dyer. This meeting provided NADE with an opportunity to communicate NADE’s position on the need to revise the federal quality assurance process, the need to abandon the five month waiting period of Title II claimants, and many other issues and concerns in addition to the obvious ones about the redesign process. The meeting also afforded the Commissioner an opportunity to share with the NADE leadership his vision for the future of the disability program and what our individual and collective roles will be in that vision. Please take the time to read the cover story if you have not already done so for further details regarding this meeting. I would like to express the sincere appreciation of our Association to the Commissioner and Mr. Dyer for giving us this opportunity. On behalf of our Association, I also want to thank the Commissioner for his message of appreciation to the membership of NADE for our support of his efforts to insure the integrity of the disability program. NADE shares the Commissioner’s opinion that the public’s confidence in the disability claims process must be maintained. I would also like to express my personal thanks to Mr. Robert Nickerson, the Commissioner’s Executive Assistant, who helped arrange this meeting and coordinate the schedules of Mr. Apfel and Mr. Dyer so that both could be present. Mr. Nickerson also took time from his own busy schedule to escort the three of us on a personally guided tour of the Commissioner’s Washington, D.C. office. Thanks Bob! The NADE regional training conference schedule was recently completed and I must say that the quality of training and the opportunities for friendship and fun these conferences provided to our members were terrific! I was able to attend all but one of these regional conferences and Terri Spurgeon delivered my message to the membership in the Great Lakes Region. I hope that all of you who attended these conferences enjoyed yourselves and that you are making plans now to attend the national conference in Denver. I know that the Colorado NADE Chapter has been very busy preparing for our arrival in October. The conference program for Denver looks great and there are still a couple of sessions to be added (including commitments from Mr. Apfel and Mr. Dyer). I want to express my personal appreciation to each of the NADE Chapters that hosted our regional training conferences this year. The hospitality shown to the members attending these conferences was second only to the quality of the training that was provided. I know the amount of work that is required to host a regional conference and each host chapter did an excellent job this year. Congratulations! I also want to thank the members of the WYNADE Chapter in Buffalo, New York for their generous hospitality during my visit to their chapter in May. Across the nation, NADE members have proven themselves to be extremely generous with their warm smiles, friendly manners and great spirit. This is what NADE is all about and this is one of the messages I have tried to convey during my presentations at the various regional conferences - “The best investment will always be in the human spirit.” The other message that I tried to convey to NADE members across the country is that NADE is YOUR professional association. It is also the professional association for more than 2000 of your colleagues across the country. While it is true that NADE offers the disability professional a way to be heard at the national level, it is also true that NADE offers our members a great deal more. Through NADE our members have opportunities for training and continuing education, for professional certification, for awards and recognition of world class professional service. NADE offers the opportunity for our members to develop leadership skills and other individual talents. NADE offers the opportunity for our members to make new friends. In the months and years ahead, there will be a great need in the DDSs for training, and lots of it. Whether this need for additional training results from the Commissioner’s decisions about redesign, new SSA initiatives, updating of the medical listings, judicial and congressional mandates, or a renewed emphasis on process unification, the need for training will increase significantly. Unfortunately, the time available for DDS personnel to acquire this training will not. NADE members will soon begin to realize just how valuable their NADE membership is and of the opportunities they will have, through NADE, to acquire new job skills and enhance their knowledge of the disability program. The disability program is changing to keep pace with the technology of our times and we must adapt to the changes or accept the risk of becoming dinosaurs in our own field. The Commissioner has shared with NADE his vision for the future of the disability program. It is a vision that will require some time before it is finally realized. The Commissioner is extremely grateful for the support of NADE and is well aware of our concerns and issues. If it is true that a journey of a thousand miles must begin with the first step (and, I guess, it is true) then we have taken that first step. Hopefully, the claimant, the taxpayer, and the adjudicator will be more satisfied with the new process. Like a turtle, we can only achieve progress by sticking our neck out. While skeptics may sit back and content themselves by offering only criticism but never any constructive ideas, NADE’s response must be similar to the response Yoda, The Jedi Master gave in, “The Empire Strikes Back” when Luke Skywalker made the cry, “I can’t believe it!” Yoda responded, “That is why you fail!” As disability professionals, we are deeply committed to providing the best possible service to the claimant. Our professional integrity is something that we should take great pride in. Instead of trying to be like Mike, let us try to be better than Mike. We must realize that we are measured by the level of professional service we provide to those who seek our help and by those who pay the administrative costs of the program. We should offer our best effort. As technology and medical advances create the need for changes in the disability program, we must individually and collectively respond to this necessity for change and learn the new skills and acquire the new knowledge that will continue to identify each of us as true professionals. While NADE offers each of us the opportunity to learn these new skills and acquire this new knowledge, NADE also offers each of us a great deal more. NADE continues to offer those opportunities I identified earlier in this column, including opportunities for excitement, fun and friendship, and opportunities to develop as disability professionals and as individuals. I hope that each of you reading this column have already made a commitment to renew your membership. NADE needs you! You need NADE (yes, you do!). NADE needs you to be an active member! I can assure you that no other organization will speak on your behalf. I would encourage you to not be the kind of person who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing. The price of NADE membership is $50 ($25 for support professionals and retirees) but that price is inconsequential to its value to you as a disability professional. One of the ancient philosophers declared, “The man who dwells upon the past will not see the present. The man who sees only the present, will not see the future.” During my travels as NADE President, I have issued this challenge to our membership: See your future as a disability professional. Help make your future what you want it to be. Be a part of the process that will help mold and shape what the future will be.

NADE is YOUR professional association. Be a part of it! Be involved in it! Thank you. Jeff