Oganizational Background

With the onset of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980’s a new and urgent need arose across the country for immediate benefits counseling for the thousands of individuals impacted by this disease in alarming and unbelievable numbers over a short period of time. The numbers on individuals infected and dying was rising at alarming rates and everyone from Social Security to private healthcare providers were unprepared to effectively handle these cases in such large numbers. It is important to note here that this new wave of disabled just added yet another layer of disease to the already growing number of individuals disabled by various conditions and other life threatening disabilities across the country.

Communities rallied and agencies specializing in counseling and helping the disabled transition from positions of health and gainful employment to dependence on local, state and federal programs, themselves burdened and unprepared. The importance of immediate action to secure healthcare and financial assistance to these individuals was often paramount to their security healthcare and survival. Federal, state and local agencies scrambled to cover and accommodate this new wave of individuals disabled and dying.

A quarter of a century later much has changed in the area of benefits for the disabled. New programs have been developed and put in place across the country; all designed to better serve and support the disabled community. All of this happened in a relatively small window of time and even though all of this happened to support the disabled, the end result was a confusing and often conflicted bureaucracy even at odds with itself.