Jump to content
VA Disability Community via Hadit.com

VA Disability Claims Articles

Ask Your VA Claims Question | Current Forum Posts Search | Rules | View All Forums
VA Disability Articles | Chats and Other Events | Donate | Blogs | New Users

  • homepage-banner-2024-2.png

  • donate-be-a-hero.png

  • 0

Independent living

Rate this question


ghost14d

Question

I just enrolled in the independent living program through voco rehab.I was told i will get a good computer and printer. Anyone else know anything about this program? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Recommended Posts

  • 0

Look up VA OGC precedent 34-97. It promises a computer to any whose needs show it is necessary and vital. I had to go to Admin. Review in DC to win mine in 2012. VA is turning into a tightwad over this whole program.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Just started my 2nd shot (06/16) at IL, 1st attempt was 08/14, councilor and I couldn't come to terms, I was really just trying to get a riding lawn mower. She spent the majority of the time telling me what the IL program couldn't do, due to New VA Regs, cut-backs and restrictions.

Following week, I received an appointment letter, to take a 3 hour interview/skill assessment test, with a private contractor. I declined, siting I had the test results from the same type of test, on file from my 2012 Voc Rehab contact.

I contacted the VA Voc Rehab/IL program councilor the following day, explained again that I was IU (06/14), not able to work and not looking for employment. As such, I didn't think the testing was necessary, just wanted to know what the IL program could help me with.

Let's just say. we agreed that we disagreed. She said she would have to close my file. I said I wanted a complete copy of my IL file, at which point, she said goodbye. Never did receive the file copy, got an IL Denial letter about a month later. Didn't NOD it.

Will have to see how this 2nd shot at IL goes. New Voc Rehab/IL councilor seems more agreeable and cooperative.

Semper Fi

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
  • HadIt.com Elder

It wouldn't surprise me if those ILP COUNSELORS  are trained to discourage the veteran and hope they drop out of the program.(so they get that promised bonus)

I advise the veteran if he qualifies for what he is requesting via ILP  keep at until you win  because being persistence is what it takes  when dealing with the VA.

jmo

.......................Buck

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

They changed the regulations as written and described in M28.March 31, 2014. It's now the M28 "R"  Only problem is the VA hasn't changed the underlying regulations that control it in 38 CFR 21.160/.162. Nor have they consulted with Congress who passed 38 USC 3120 in 1982. They feel we are not entitled to "toys" and the like henceforth. From now on the metric is grab bars and can grabbers in the house. In ten years, absent any intercession on our part, ILP as we know it will be extinct. This is why I dove in and fought so hard from 2011 to 16 for a greenhouse. It sets precedence for all of you who come after. If you don't exercise that right, VA will erase it. 

For decades Vets got woodworking shops, greenhouses, riding lawn mowers, metal detectors and even small tractors or attachments to them. Starting in 2001, they began shutting it down saying it had to be "necessary and vital" to our independence in everyday living. 

Face it, ladies and gentlemen. The program is a word game. If you say the right things and get a vocational therapist to write you a nexus letter, and you have severe disabilities, you win just as if it was a regular claim for compensation.If you just send in a Santa Claus Christmas wish list without the rest of the ingredients, you get a "Sorry Charlie. You don't qualify" letter back. VA is so practiced at denials and most Vets are such wimps when denied on ILP that they never push back. 

Once upon a time up in Laos when someone told us  we couldn't drop napalm without the US Ambassador's permission, we just waited until Friday and called it in. We knew he'd be in Bangkok chasing the fluffers.  We snuffed 200 gooks and by Monday it had blown over. We apologized and promised we'd always ask for permission in the future. Two weeks later, we couldn't get an answer in time so we did it again. Sometimes you just have to ignore the way things are done and do it your way to get results. ILP is headed to extinction if we do not exercise the NOD lever and complain. I'm accumulating a nice package of the history of ILP for my Congressman. I plan a sit down with a powerpoint presentation of why it's important-especially for bent brains. It gets you interested in life and living again. It gives you a reason to get up in the morning. 

Personally, there's nothing more rewarding to me than to go out to the garden early in the morning when the birds are chirping and find a bunch of presents under the tree (free fresh veggies). Or a bunch of raspberries. Every month the presents change all summer long. The peaches are almost ready. Then the plums and apples. It beats the pants off a Thorazine/Valium haze.

Since they haven't changed the statute, and the CFRs are still the same, it makes no difference what the M 28 R says. It's merely "guidance" on how to proceed. As such, it's grossly illegal. VA will keep doing it until they get their chain yanked and they clothesline themselves. That's how I got my greenhouse on appeal. They can't win because the regulations say I'm entitled to these things. Ignore the M 28 and quote their own laws right back at them. About the time you get to the BVA or the CAVC, someone finally agrees with you. 

How bad do you want it? Are you willing to throw down and fight? The last straw with VA for me was in 1994 when they told me I never served in country. Excuse me? Are you saying I got three combat Vs for doing an exceptionally good job scrubbing the barracks latrines? Now, when someone there says "You can't do that" or "VA no longer offers that program", I laugh.  I get on the horn and call in the nape.You'll never get what you don't believe you've earned. Win or Die.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
  • HadIt.com Elder

Ain't that the truth!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Here's the results of the nonadversarial, Veteran friendly meeting to mutually discuss the greenhouse size and location. Sad to say we hit a few bumps. 

https://asknod.org/2016/07/16/cavc-16-2098-ex-writ-respondents-response/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Guidelines and Terms of Use