Independent Living Program

[FormerMember]

Always be prepared for your VR&E win. In my case, it's been advanced on the docket at the BVA and is ripe for a decision within a month. Thus, I contacted Farmtek's ILP coordinator and asked for a "bare bones" greenhouse suitable for the NW and cold weather. Since VA has $180,000.00 available for each and every one of the 2,700 annual applicants who pass the audition. it behooves one to have it all compiled so as not to appear like an FNG chucklehead when contacted after the win. I do hope VR&E Director Jack Kammerer has a high-limit credit card because Farmtek is a FOB kind of outfit where VA is concerned. VA tried the slow pay technique several times and now their credit is damaged. The install cost also isn't included nor are the electrical/plumbing connections.

Go big or go home, folks. To think that they denied me a little ol' 12X20 in 2011.Grambo's greenhouse.pdf

Oh shit, Lieutenant. A gook just walked into the prop. I yelled clear prop. I did. I swear I did. I'm not cleaning off the windscreen this time. No way.

Solar star 24X48.PDF

Edited July 27, 2015 by asknod

[Notorious Kelly]

Looks like a sweet setup, Alex!

[FormerMember]

Being on the cusp of 65, I'm rather pragmatic. It won't be that awfully long before I'm driving a wheelcharriot. Best to go hydroponic with the raised tables while VA's footing the bill and make it ADA. The gal who wrote it up said she's familiar with the IL program so this must be the standard package. Makes you wonder what the full meal deal is, huh?

[Tbird]

sweet, i so enjoy the way you hold their feet to the fire, it warms my heart :-)

[Gastone]

I'm past the "Cusp." Applied for IL program after IU T&P 06/14. All I really wanted at the time, was a riding Lawn mower. Voc Rehab Councilor that also handled the IU was the 1st VA Employee that has ever given me a difficult time.

I had already been through the Voc Reb Program 09/11 and it didn't work out. She kept wanting to address the possibility of getting me back to some sort of retraining. When it became apparent that she wasn't going to cooperate, I asked her for a letter as to why she couldn't oblige my request and a complete copy of my IL file. At that point she went NAZI, refused to discuss anything else. I'll deal with her attitude at a later date. I recently received a letter from the VA asking my opinion regarding my recent contact with the IL program.

My prior research on the IL program indicates there is a plethora of benefits available. From small to very large $$.

Semper Fi

Gastone

[FormerMember]

The thing about ILP is the VA gomers are slaves to the word 'vocational'. They refuse to consider 'avocational' (or hobby) as described in OGC Precedent 34-1997. In each and every denial on the way up the ladder to the BVA, the discussion always ended with "There is no avocational application for ILP. We have numerous items to increase your independence in activities of everyday living but there will be no talk of hobbies." Towards the end, they got the denial language directly from VACO VR&E in DC. One could tell a new author had been drafted to write it. They then began focusing on the fact that I had a 6X8 greenhouse and several raised planter boxes with glass over the top. This segued into "Jez. What gives? He has three Greenhouses which are adequate for his needs of everyday living."

https://asknod.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/sesame-street-count-the-greenhouses/

Remember that denials, be they for claims or ILP grants, are the same. The logic for the denial must always remain constant. They cannot keep moving the goalposts and changing the rhetoric for the denial as they did with me. The last straw was when they waited 8 months until the revisions to M28 Chapter 9 (ILP protocols) came out in March 2014 to fabricate a beautiful, well-reasoned SSOC. The only problem is that it was inapplicable. I filed in 2011 and thus fall into the old regulations. These are the mental giants you will be dealing with.

The new regs forbid motorized devices that might be construed as mobility devices. Electric wheelchairs fall into Chapter 17 prostheses help and are exempt. Riding lawnmowers, tractors and golf carts are now verboten...or are they? The only way you can roll back illegitimate regulations is to appeal. I plan to bust the ILP back open to what was envisioned in 1980 when it was inaugurated. That's why I upped the ante a bit from a $4,000 unheated one to the $85,000 Lexus with an electric ass scratcher attachment.

Once you win, the boys at the VR&E have to comply with the finding that you need the item. They hire a real expert and allow him/her to decide the parameters. Since the expert is not constrained to think in pennies and bonuses, s/he focuses on what you need-not what VA thinks you need. I got far more than I asked for when they gave in on the computer and all the software/peripherals. This tipped their hand and showed what they really were supposed to do from the beginning. For instance, the computer expert assigned noticed I didn't use two fingers on my right hand due to peripheral neuropathy. He included Dragon Speaking Naturally to the software package. I merely asked about Adobe 9 PRO and the Microsoft Imaging Program and he threw them in too. In for a penny-in for a pound folks. In the ILP world, once you win, the sky is the limit.

VA will lie and tell you there are limited funds available for ILP. They will tell you that you only get one shot at this. All lies. After you have been successfully 'rehabilitated' with your new greenhouse (3 years), you can go to the end of the line and sign up for a new ILP. Remember who you are dealing with here. They denied the program existed in 2011 when I filed for it.

Remember--Win or Die. What do you have to lose?

[Pete53]

I got twin tempurpedic beds, 2 high toilets, bathroom remodel took out tub and replaced with walk in shower also had both bathrooms painted. The lady who wrote up what I needed also recommended a new a/c system but they would not do it. Maybe I should go back.