Disability Work as Race Equity Work

CLE Information May 2021 This course was approved for NOSSCR's Spring 2021 Virtual Conference. It is eligible for On-Demand credit, please check with karyn.reffsin@nosscr.org, if you have questions about your states eligibility or check with your Bar Association for their rules and regulations.

This session will explore how race impacts claimant’s experiences obtaining disability benefits and will provide practice tips on how to combat issues of racial bias experienced by claimants on a systemic and individual basis. We will address how claimants of different racial and cultural backgrounds approach medical and mental health treatment, and the disparities in the treatment received. We will also explore how issues like education attainment, a history of incarceration, and drug use cut across racial lines and impact a Social Security claim. We will also include a discussion of our own implicit biases, and how we can work through those biases and our privilege as advocates. Understanding these complex issues will help attendees leverage their disability work as race equity work.