NMP Newsletter

Do you only receive Sheri Abrams' monthly newsletter that focuses on Disability Issues?

Please consider also signing up to receive Needham Mitnick & Pollack's very informative monthly newsletter that focuses on Estate Planning & Elder Law Issues.

If you would like to receive both newsletters please follow the directions to update your profile by clicking here.

       UPCOMING EVENTS:

On Friday October 17, 2014, Sheri Abrams will be participating in the conference "Together on the Pathway to Wellness: The Good Life - A Vision for Recovery."

This day-long conference will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.  at the Ernst Community Cultural Center, Northern Virginia Community College- Annandale Campus, 8333 Little River Turnpike, Annandale, VA 22003

This conference is designed for persons with mental health issues and/or substance abuse disorders, and family members, professionals and others with interest in the topic of wellness and recovery.
 

Learn more about the conference and register online here. 

Some scholarships are available. 

Call 703-980-4641 or email the Conference Coordinators with questions.

This conference is sponsored by the Wellness and Recovery Committee, the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board, the Northern Virginia Mental Health Foundation, Inc., Pathway Homes, Inc.. and PRS, Inc.

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 August 2014

Welcome to our monthly newsletter. 

These monthly newsletters are designed to provide useful information on Disability Law & Issues with a special emphasis on Social Security Disability & Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits and Special Needs Trusts & Planning.

You may have been added to our e-mail newsletter mailing list if you are a client, business associate, a Facebook friend, a Linked-In connection, or another professional contact of Sheri R. Abrams, Attorney at Law, or the Law Firm of Needham Mitnick & Pollack, plc.

You may unsubscribe by clicking on the link at the end of this e-mail.

Can a Congressional Inquiry Help a Claim for Social Security Disability Benefits?

FCC Adopts Rules to Promote Widespread Text-to-911 Availability

The Federal Communications Commission has adopted rules requiring text messaging providers to enable Americans to text 911 in an emergency.

Building on commitments made by America's four largest wireless carriers to support text-to-911 by May 2014, the new rules will ensure that all remaining wireless carriers and certain IP-based text application providers are prepared to support text-to-911 by the end of the year.  After that time, if a 911 call center requests text-to-911, text messaging providers will have six months to deploy the service in that area.

This action will make text-to-911 more uniformly available and keeps pace with how Americans

communicate.  Reports indicate that more than 7 out of 10 cell phone users send or receive text messages.

Text messaging is also widely used by Americans who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have speech disabilities.

The Commission's text-to-911 requirements apply to wireless carriers and "interconnected" text messaging providers (i.e., those which enable consumers to send text messages to and from U.S. phone numbers). This includes providers of "over the top" applications that support texting to and from phone numbers but not, for example, messaging apps that only support communications among users of games or social media.

Although text-to-911 availability is currently limited, it is rapidly expanding. More than one hundred 911 call centers serving portions of 16 states and two entire states (Vermont and Maine) are now accepting emergency texts, and there are already reports of lives saved.

To help protect consumers as text-to-911 is

deployed, the Commission previously adopted rules requiring text messaging providers to send an automatic "bounce-back" text message to consumers who try to text 911 where the service is not available.

Text-to-911 can provide a lifesaving alternative in a number of different situations, such as where a person who is deaf, hard of hearing, or has a speech disability is unable to make a voice call; where voice networks are congested; or where a 911 voice call could endanger the caller.

Approximately 48 million Americans are deaf or hard of hearing, and approximately 7.5 million Americans have speech disabilities.

However text-to-911 is a complement to, not a substitute for, existing voice-based 911 service, so consumers should make a voice call to contact 911 during an emergency when possible; consumers who are deaf, hard of hearing, or speech disabled should use relay services or other existing methods to contact 911 if text-to-911 is unavailable. 

Sheri Abrams' Book "Don't Gamble With Your Social Security Disability Benefits--What Every Virginia Resident Needs To Know To Win A Social Security Disability Case" Is Available

"Don't Gamble With Your Social Security Disability Benefits--What Every Virginia Resident Needs To Know To Win A Social Security Disability Case" is now available for the Nook here,

and the Kindle here.

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