Persons with disabilities find many obstacles, both with their disability as well as their interaction with society. Human nature drives people to form organizations to assist the disabled. Part of this assistance involves providing grants to disabled people to help them succeed, or navigate through life. This article touches a few examples of these programs.
Disabled Veterans receive monthly compensation if they’re at least 10% disabled. Their disability has to result from their military service. Compensation rates are posted on the United States Department of Veterans Affairs website.
The monthly grant amount disabled veterans receives depends on the percent he is disabled, his marital status, and his dependent status. Disabled veterans with dependents get a higher monthly grant than those that are single. A deceased veteran’s spouse and children may also receive monthly grants.
Veterans Affairs related grants are administered by region. Click “Contact VA” on their main page, to access their contact directory. See Resources below. Click “Locations (Find a VA Facility)” to access a map of the US, its possessions, and veteran population concentration. Click on the area that contains your state to pull up a state directory. You can also access their benefits page by clicking on the “benefits” hyperlink on the left hand side of the front page.
Children with disabilities, earning less than a monthly amount determined by SSI, receive monthly grants from the Social Security Administration. The disabled child must have a mental or physical disability that’ll last more than 12 months. They’ll also be eligible if they have combined mental or physical disabilities. If that disability isn’t expected to last 12 months, monthly SSI grants may stop.
The disability should be one that severely limits the disabled person’s ability to function independently in society. You can obtain more information about these grants at 1-800-722-1213; or access the SSA website and type “children with disabilities” in their search box and click “go.” See Resources below. Children with disabilities can continue to receive monthly grants if their disabilities continue into their adulthood.
There are also grants for specific disabilities.
The American Foundation for the Blind website contains link to websites dedicated to sight disadvantaged people. Put “scholarships” in their “Search” box, and then click “go.” This foundation offers scholarship grants to visually disabled students. The Karen D. Carsel Memorial Scholarship is one; it provides a $500.00 grant to a blind graduate student. Contact them at the following address: 11 Penn Plaza, Suite 300; New York, NY 10001. Their telephone numbers are; toll free, 1-800-232-5463 and local, (212) 502-7600. You could fax them at (212) 502-7777 or send Email to this address: afbinfo@afb.net.
The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf offers grants to children up to 6 years old. They’d have to have a hearing loss. Students from 5 to 19 years of age, who are hearing impaired; can attend extra curricular courses in arts and sciences with grant money. Access their website; see Resources below, and type “grants” in their search box. Contact them at 3417 Volta Place, NW; Washington, DC 20007. You can also call them at (202)-337-5220, fax them at (202)-337-8314, or Email them at info@agbell.org.
Resources:
http://www.vba.va.gov/VBA/ Department of Veterans Affairs.
http://www.ssa.gov Benefits for Children with Disabilities.
http://www.afb.org The American Foundation for the Blind.
http://www.agbell.org/ Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/grants/3disable.htm Grants for Disabled.
http://www.disabilityinfo.gov/digov-public/public/DisplayPage.do?parentFolderId=500 Americans with Disabilities.