Policy
Activism succeeds: MS added to
Compassionate Allowances Program
by Marcella Durand
In 1999, Yvonne Brown began experiencing symptoms of
numbness and tingling while
on vacation from her busy job
as a multimedia specialist for
broadcast companies such as
BET, Fox and NPR.
Once back at work, she began
having vision problems. After
her eye doctor referred her to
a neurologist in 2001, she was
diagnosed with MS.
“By that time, I’d lost my
job at NPR because I could not
keep up with the fast pace of
radio production,” Brown said
in her testimony for the Social
Security Administration’s (SSA)
Compassionate Allowances
hearing in March 2011. “I had
a home to take care of and a
car to pay for, not to mention
mounting medical bills. I was
living off unemployment and
infrequent freelance jobs that
were once plentiful.”
Brown applied for Social
Security Disability Insurance
(SSDI) shortly after her
diagnosis, but found the
forms challenging because
of her MS-caused cognitive
issues. “The forms looked
like crossword puzzles to me.
I was lucky if I understood
how to fill out my name,
address and phone number.”
She was turned down—the
first of several rejections as she
continued to appeal.
Marcella Durand is on the staff of
Momentum.
