Welfare cap, disability services are focus of final Massachusetts state budget hearing

Advocates for the “Lift the Cap on Kids” campaign attend a Statehouse budget hearing on March 16, 2018.

A decade ago, Bruce Howell, who is blind, was depressed and financially dependent on Social Security disability insurance and family members. He did not have a plan for his life.

Then the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind sent him to the Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton. He received training to reenter the workforce, and is now a homeowner and taxpayer. He chairs the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind’s Rehabilitation Council and also works on developing web accessibility for businesses.

Howell was one of several people who testified Friday in support of a request to increase funding by $1.55 million for the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, up from the $30.8 million that Gov. Charlie Baker is proposing.

Read more at article source: http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/03/welfare_cap_disability_service.html