Disabled new immigrant stranded in capital - by bureaucracy

Chicago family forced to pay for special-needs son's taxis to and from work/study program.

By RUTH EGLASH
Yehuda Noble 224.88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Yehuda Noble 224.88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
For Jerusalem resident and recent Chicago immigrant Barbara Noble, helping her special needs adult son acclimate to life in his new country and reach his daily work/study program in another part of the capital has turned into a bureaucratic nightmare. "We were promised a year ago, when we first arrived, that transportation from our house in Ramot to the program in Romema would be paid for," begins Noble, whose 25-year-old son Yehuda is mentally retarded and is not highly functioning. "But since confirming that it would be covered, every [government] office I go to for help passes the responsibility off onto someone else." Instead, Noble has been paying up to NIS 40 out of her own pocket for taxis twice a day to take Yehuda the 10 kilometers across town. The rest of her time is spent shuffling between the Jerusalem Municipality, which is responsible for organizing transport for disabled to their programs, the Welfare and Social Services Ministry - which, according to the municipality, has yet to release the actual funds - and the National Insurance Institute, which provides additional benefits granted to those with similar disabilities. Yehuda has a hearing at the NII scheduled for the coming weeks, says Noble. "It's been very frustrating making aliya with a special needs child," continues Noble, who lived here for a short period before Yehuda was born. "There has been no one here to help us at all. The social worker assigned to us was useless and did not manage to get a straight answer from anyone. Even Nefesh B'Nefesh [the family did not make aliya through Nefesh B'Nefesh] could not answer our questions. It's almost like the country does not look to encourage immigrants with special needs." According to Tzvi Richter, director of social services at Nefesh B'Nefesh, Yehuda should be entitled to receive the same immigrant rights and services as any other new oleh. In addition, he says, a disabled person making aliya should be granted the same benefits as any Israeli-born individual deemed by the authorities as mentally or physically disabled. Grants from the NII and the type of support received from the social services vary depending on the level of disability. In its response to Noble's situation, the Jerusalem Municipality said it was aware of the problem and admitted that a further 60 highly disabled adult individuals living in the capital were also caught in the same quagmire. "There [are] 60 other adults with disabilities who are still waiting for financial aid from the Welfare and Social Services Ministry to pay for transportation to their employment programs," wrote the municipality. "However, due to problems with the funding these people are being forced to stay home. The subject of transports costs is currently under discussions with the ministry and the Jerusalem Municipality Social Welfare Department hopes that a solution will be found very soon to this problem." At the Welfare and Social Services Ministry, the response was equally ambiguous, pointing out that in fact 75 percent of the transport costs for such individuals are provided by the ministry and 25% by local authorities. "The ministry transfers funds from its annual budget to local authorities exactly for the purpose of transport," a spokeswoman said. "It is the responsibility of the local authorities to make sure that the money is equally and carefully distributed so that it will be enough to last for the entire year." The ministry's comments seem ironic, however, following statements made last week by Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog that his office, together with the Histadrut Labor Federation, was embarking on a new initiative to ensure that the employment market found a place for disabled adults. "Ultimately, it's always the disabled who are mistreated," observes Noble, highlighting that such work/study programs are essential to enabling those like Yehuda to become "functioning adults that can eventually contribute to society." She continues: "Even with his disabilities, Yehuda is entitled to have a life, but I just don't know how much longer I can keep paying for his taxis."