2008 - 2009 Disability Advocacy Program Report to the Legislature
September 28, 2011
The Disability Advocacy Program (DAP) has served the State by providing legal assistance to disabled New Yorkers who need legal help in seeking federal disability benefits under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) programs. Significant savings have resulted from the transfer of thousands of disabled New Yorkers from State public assistance programs to federal disability programs. Additional savings accrue each year due to the avoidance of State public assistance costs that otherwise would have been paid for those individuals for whatever period they remained a part of the State's public assistance caseload. In addition, disabled New Yorkers served by the program have received retroactive federal disability payments of over $26.5 million for 2008 and over $27 million for 2009; these retroactive awards have a positive effect as they are spent in local economies.
DAP is a successful and cost-effective component of the State's efforts to assist its disabled residents. DAP advocates were able to provide representation in 2,381 cases in 2008 and 2,692 cases in 2009. They prevailed in 85% of the cases in which they provided representation in the most recent program years.
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