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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Success Stories Growing as More in TN with Disabilities Find Work

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Wednesday, December 4, 2013   

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - As the holidays approach, it can be a difficult time financially for many looking for work - especially those with disabilities. However, the number of success stories in Tennessee is growing.

Brad Henson of Knoxville will celebrate his five-year anniversary of working as a peer-support specialist next spring, a job he landed with the help of the Benefits to Work program.

"It gives me extreme self-confidence and higher levels of self-esteem," he said, "It makes me feel like I'm part of society and I'm not on the fringe of society because I have a diagnosed mental illness."

Benefits to Work is a free service provided by the Tennessee Disability Coalition. For those who rely on regular health care, Henson said, the incentives for employment that have minimal impacts on benefits are key.

"If they went to work not knowing about this service, when they went into their job they could lose their disability income," he said, "and then say, for example, they got sick again or had a relapse, then they would not have their disability to fall back onto and it would be just a whole big mess."

While the program helps remove some of the obstacles, Henson said those who want to pursue their career goals need to be driven and focused.

"I chose the profession that I chose to give back to society for the good help that I've gotten over the years years from the mental-health field for my own self treatment," he said, "and I think that's an important thing."

According to the Tennessee Disability Coalition, 1 million people in the state are coping with disabilities and, on average, they're more likely to be unemployed and in poverty.

More information on the Benefits to Work program is online at tndisability.org.


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