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The Social Security Administration announced in February that it would slash its staffing by 12%. The American Association of People with Disabilities and other organizations that assist the disability community filed a lawsuit against DOGE and the Social Security Administration earlier this month.
The lawsuit alleged that certain actions by the agency like recent mass staffing reductions unlawfully harm Americans with disabilities who rely on Social Security services.
Social Security disability lawyer John Heard, the board secretary of Disability SA, said long standing staffing issues existed well before the current Trump administration.
“Social Security was already at a 50-year low in staffing,” Heard said. “It was already taking eight months from the time you file an application for disability benefits, eight months to get an initial decision ‘yes or no,’ which is horrendous and unprecedented that it would take that long. There are over a million cases pending at the various state agencies on applications.”
Kay Chiodo, the executive director of No Barrier Communications (NOBACOMM) and the CEO and founder of Deaflink, said the deaf community has struggled to receive Social Security income.
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Chiodo offered one example of a widow who was not able to find an interpreter at her Social Security office: “We have a lady [whose] husband died, but she was deaf. Her husband was deaf. It's a nightmare, it's a nightmare. And then to show up and turn around and leave because someone sits there and just moves their mouth in front of you, or points to paper and gives you a pen or this and that.”
Chiodo said the woman had to use one of her young, elementary-school-age grandchildren to act as her interpreter.
Some disability advocates agreed that there may be wasteful spending within the Social Security Administration. But Wendy Walker, vice president of the San Antonio Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind, said she wants to see more thoughtful decision making to prevent the disability community from being severely impacted.
“As a person with a disability, I think that the cuts being made, they're not being transparent, and they're not investigating the cause and effect of their cuts,” she added. “I think it's just a short-sighted way of doing things. This is going to have a very adverse effect on those who rely on those funds to be a productive part of society and keep themselves off the streets and out of poverty.”
The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, the American Association of People with Disabilities, said about 30,000 people with disabilities died in 2023 while awaiting approval of their Social Security disability insurance applications.
The Social Security Administration did not respond to TPR’s request for comment.
