Articles from prior issues of The Advocate

March/April, 1998

President's Message


SINCE MY LAST MESSAGE, recently appointed SSA Commissioner Kenneth G. Apfel has completed the long awaited top-to-bottom review of childhood disability claims. The results indicate that, overall, the Social Security Administration and the state Disability Determination Services have done a good job of implementing the provisions of the welfare reform law. It was a pleasure and honor for me, and certainly one of the highlights of my professional career, to meet with SSA Commissioner Apfel on Friday, February 27, 1998 at his office in Washington, DC. The Commissioner and his staff were very hospitable and extremely receptive to NADE’s input. The cover story of this issue of the Advocate highlights the details of this historic visit between NADE and the Commissioner. I would like to express my personal appreciation to Mr. Robert Nickerson, Executive Assistant to the Commissioner, for his assistance in arranging this meeting and for the many courtesies he showed, including arranging for a photo with the Commissioner, as well as his personally guided tour of SSA’s Washington DC office. NADE has gone on record supporting the Disability Adjudication Training System (DATS) in a letter sent to Susan Daniels, Associate Commissioner for Disability. We are very fortunate to have three NADE members on this group --Anne Graham (MD), Karen Gunter (FL) and Dayle Smith (MD). DATS has quarterly meetings scheduled for the rest of the year and will begin looking at certification and standards at their next meeting. The NADE Board has requested the Certification Committee, the Continuing Education Committee and the Professional Accreditation Ad-Hoc Committee work closely with the NADE members on the DATS group. A longtime friend of NADE, Hilton Friend, Deputy Associate Commissioner, has retired. Hilton has been very supportive of NADE and was always available to assist our organization whenever he could. We wish him well and look forward to seeing him at our conferences. NADE’s Mid-Year Board meeting was held March 5-8, 1998 at the Tremont Plaza in Baltimore, MD. In attendance was Susan Daniels (Associate Commissioner for Disability), Bill Anderson (Director, Division of Medical and Vocational Procedure in Office of Disability), Joe Markovic (Director, Division of Disability Policy and Procedure in Office of Disability), Chrisann Schiro-Geist, Ph.D. (DATS Coordinator), Sue Davis (Director, DPRT), Sue Roecker (Deputy Director, DPRT) and Cindy Bascetta (GAO). We also enjoyed an exchange with NCDDD Board Members: Doug Willman (NE), Mike Brennan (Washington DC), and Art Spencer (NJ). Some of the topics on the agenda were childhood claims, DATS, rationale writing and redesign. Between now and mid-June all of the regions will hold their regional training conferences. I will have the pleasure of attending most of the conferences and look forward to meeting new and long time NADE members. A lot of hard work and planning goes into each of these conferences. The training conferences are a great place to learn and exchange ideas and new methods of doing things. They provide an opportunity to introduce new disability adjudicators to the national association. NADE has obtained many new members from regional and national training conferences and I hope all of you will take advantage of this opportunity. I send all of you my best wishes for a successful conference. I will be attending the SSA/DDS Management Forum on March 23-27 in Denver, CO, along with President-Elect Jeff Price. Highlights of the Forum will be provided in the May/June issue of the Advocate. I would like to thank each of you who took me at my word and called with ideas, suggestions, and concerns. Your input is welcome and helps to improve the service of our organization. I have really enjoyed hearing from you. NADE is all about teamwork, dedication and positive attitudes. There is no way we can be successful without teamwork. Your involvement is strongly encouraged.