Building Economic Futures for Americans with Disabilities
Real Economic Impact Tour
WID Featured Successes
Visions of the Future - Scott Batchelar
Scott Batchelar has vision. Photography is his passion and the environment and unique citizens of Portland, Oregon are his favorite subjects. Disabled since birth due to a complicated pregnancy, the preferred focus of his lens are people with disabilities. He hopes to one day assist disability organizations in their fundraising and outreach campaigns by professionalizing their marketing materials.
Scott will finish his photography classes at Mount Hood Community College in the fall. He would like to continue taking business classes; however, due to state budget cuts the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) has drastically reduced the level of funding for undergraduate educations. Far from letting that stand in his way, Scott is determined to mix and match numerous employment and asset building programs in order to further his commercial artistic pursuits. Having been a long-time recipient of a Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher from the Housing Authority of Portland (HAP), when Scott heard about the GOALS program he knew he would be an excellent participant. The GOALS program at HAP is their name for the Family Self-Sufficiency program. After being on the waiting list for nearly one year, Scott finally got into the popular program. He has received incredible support from his case manager- Sharon. Scott insists that there is a sharp contrast between the GOALS program and DVR in the employment services provided and the perspective of the case managers. GOALS cases workers provide job search facilities and assistance, a small business mentoring program, and financial literacy counseling- including repairing or establishing credit and maintaining a budget- and much more. In contrast, Scott felt like the DVR counselors were cold and detached and that they pushed employment options that were not Scott’s choice.
However, one of Scott’s DVR counselors did help him establish a Plan for Achieving Self Support (PASS). The PASS has been extremely beneficial in Scott’s photography career. Because he receives both Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), the PASS allows Scott to contribute some of his SSDI and earnings from his photograph sales into the PASS account, which actually increases the amount of SSI he receives each month. So, not only is Scott able to save money that helps pay for his equipment, he actually is able to earn more and receive more benefits without risking his health insurance or income supports.
As Scott’s employment possibilities increase through more education and exposure, so does his earning potential. This is where the real advantage of being enrolled in the GOALS program exists. As Scott’s earning rise, he has to pay more of a percentage of his rent. The Section 8 voucher is calculated on earnings, meaning that the rent that Scott pays is a percentage of his overall income. As he earns more money, he must pay a higher percentage of his rent. Normally, this would seem like a disincentive to working and increasing one’s income. However, with Family Self-Sufficiency programs or in Scott’s case- GOALS- the money that would have been paid through the voucher towards rent is now placed into a special savings account called an escrow. The more Scott earns the more that will be placed in his account. At the end of the five-year program, Scott will receive all the money in the escrow. Because of Scott’s tenacity and tapping into a variety of options that allow him to save for his future, it is only a matter of time before Scott’s vision will be on display for the entire world to see.