“How do I survive for two to five years if that is how long the disability application process could take?”
For years I struggled to answer that question, which gets asked in almost every one of my new client meetings. Usually my response was just to look down, shrug my shoulders and tell clients in a soft voice that Ohio has a lot of great community resources available that we can refer our clients to and which I hope can help them deal with challenging life circumstances as they are presented.
But that answer always left a sour taste in my mouth. That is not the answer that a Disability Warrior gives. In my 20/20 Vision article published in January, I wrote that I would investigate hiring a client care manager to proactively work with Liner Legal clients to help them avoid many of the circumstances that lead to homelessness, food insecurity, and other harsh realities that stem from the long wait times for SSD and SSI benefits.
Enter Jordyn Paratore, the newest Disability Warrior and first ever Client Concierge. Jordyn’s job description is simple: make our client’s lives better. If a client is losing their home, she will see if she can step in and help save the home by accessing our connections in the community. If a client has their food stamps (SNAP) reduced or does not receive those benefits at all and may be eligible, Jordyn will get involved and see if she can get the benefits increased or help the client apply to receive them. Because so many of our clients suffer from mental illness, sometimes Jordyn’s job will just be to call and ask “how are you?”
No job is too big, no task is too small. Taking the step of adding a Client Concierge to our staff is one more way we are committed to doing more than just saying we care about our clients—we actually take steps to show we care about our clients. And we always will.
– Michael Liner, Liner Legal Disability Attorney & Disability Warrior
