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I'm Darian Slayton Fleming and thank you for joining me on GET what YOU need and feel good about it. Do you find it difficult to ask for what you need? Do you frequently feel misunderstood? Do you have a problem or cause that you would like to learn to manage more effectively? What makes it so hard for us to tell each other how we feel and how do we speak up for ourselves so we get what we need and feel good about it? How do we do this respectfully so that we honor the needs and feelings of others? Together, we'll explore tips, strategies and resources that, when used mindfully and consistently, will improve our results and enrich our relationships. Hello hello and welcome back to GET what YOU need and feel GOOD about it. I am Darian Slayton Fleming, your host. Today I have invited Edward Mitchell to speak to us about Able Savings Accounts and Edward is the director of the statewide Independent Living Councils in Tennessee. Welcome Edward. Thank you for joining us.

Well, thank you for having me.

It's so good to have you here.

Thank you so much for having me this afternoon.

Not only is Edward the executive director of the state Independent Living Centers in Tennessee, but he serves on several boards. In 2018, Edward was selected as an inaugural ABLE Ambassador for the ABLE National Resource Center. And we are going to talk about what Able Savings accounts are today. But just to let you know, Able Savings Accounts are tax advantaged savings accounts for individuals with disabilities. In the summer of 2018, Edward was confirmed by Republicans and Democrats to testify before the Washington, D.C. senate Special Committee on Aging. Edward was indebted into the Lane College hall of Distinction for the Young Alumni Achievement Award. He also accepted the Jefferson Multiply for Good Award leaders from the Leaders Credit Union. So welcome Edward. It's so good to have you here. I know we greeted already, but thank you for joining us.

No problem whatsoever. Thank you for having me.

All right. You have a very impressive bio, lots of achievements, a couple of awards, and you yourself have disabilities. Edward, tell our listeners what happened to land you in the land of disabilities.

Well, my journey into disability occurred on March 29, 2003 when I was riding a bicycle alongside my little brother on a country road. And at that time his, his tire deflated and he went back to the house. I decided to keep biking when I was struck by a truck from behind and tossed into a cornfield which left me with a C5, C6 incomplete spinal cord injury.

Wow. How old were you then?

I was 16 at the time.

Oh my goodness. So how, what was your process like? What did you have to go through to reach a point of beginning to heal.

1 After being stabilized at Jackson General, was recommended to go to the shepherd center by a young man that was involved in a football accident in the early 90s, Freddie Mitchell. His parents really spoke to my parents and pressed upon the need to get somewhere to where I could really learn. So that's when I, you know, after being stabilized I got down to the shepherd center and that was more like boot camp style therapy they took. They take you through what it means to live with a disability and put you through classes, put your parents through classes, your other loved ones so then you can be self sufficient once leaving in order to be able to deal with the life of living with a disability and continuing to go back down there for maintenance. But also again this therapy over the years was compounded with going to places like the Frazier center in Louisville, Kentucky, the Shriner center in Oak Park, Chicago, as well as TRC Smyrna in Smyrna, Tennessee in order to make sure that I had the best care but also the maintenance to keep on going and thrive.

So you've been on quite a journey. Tell us about your becoming and inaugural Able Ambassador. How did you come to receive that award?

I became an inaugural Able Ambassador with ABLE NRC after searching for a way of there has to be a way to be able to save. And my mother and I just scouring the Internet at that time Able accounts were very new, just getting started and we came across this thing called Able Accounts and after reading about it I said I'm applying for it. It sounds like such a great idea. So I applied for it. And then after establishing an Able account, finding out about Able nrc they were looking for ambassadors, people that had established Able accounts and you know, were thriving. And I said why not apply? And from there that embarked my to this day being involved with ABLE NRC which is the Able National National Resource center and being one of their Able Account ambassadors.

Tell us about Able Savings Accounts. What, what does ABLE stand for and how do Able Savings accounts benefit people with disabilities?

Achieving a better life experience. Able their 529A style savings accounts based on the college saving counts. But again the a again transformed it into working for individuals with disabilities. There are tax advantage savings accounts for eligible individuals with disabilities that allows them to save for qualified disability related expenses without jeopardizing any federal means tested benefits such as Social Security, Medicaid and other programs such as that.

Right. So if a person creates an Able Savings account they can put their wages or parts of their Benefit money into these accounts and they are protected from their assets are then protected.

Yes, that money that is contributed is then protected. And I would advise anybody to go to Able NRC first. Almost every state in the United States has its own Able account. But also some other states offer different benefits such as more investment options, a debit card option. Again, each program is unique but, but some programs do take in out of state enrollees. So again, I would encourage anybody to visit Able NRC just to get an overview of every state's Able program and pick the one that best serves you, but also has enrollment for people that are not from that state originally.

In fact, I have a current client who lives in Oregon, but may end up moving to Illinois in the future. And she discovered that she could create her Able account in the state of Illinois and still access it in Oregon. In the summer of 2018, you were confirmed by Republicans and Democrats before the Washington D.C. special Committee on Aging. There was a hearing titled Supporting economic stability and Self Sufficiency as Americans with Disabilities. How did that come about that you were, that you were able to speak before them and how did that make, convince them or help people with disabilities? That committee, that committee.

Well, I believe it came, came about through my own advocacy in Tennessee, but also also, you know, nationwide being with Centers for Independent Living, continuing to not only push my story, but others on how to make improvements to the quality of life for individuals with disabilities. And then again my advocacy work with Able nrc. So this, you know, subcommittee was looking for individuals. They reached out to Tennessee. I had questions from the Democrats and Republicans in Tennessee. They approved of my message. And then swiftly I'm off to D.C. to you know, meet with the committee along with several other um, great, great advocates from around the United States. In this subcommittee was Susan M. Collins, Senator, and also Bob Casey being the chairperson. And we really tried to bring the lived experience into this meeting, letting them know about. Again our testimonies are saved on the website and in the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging for anybody to go view. But we wanted to bring that light on what individuals with disabilities are dealing with day in, day out. How rules set up for Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security were so antiquated that again, where you know, some people think they're truly being a benefit is truly a hindrance because there are people that need long term supports. And again people are having to pick between the long term supports as. And then getting off of this assistance and because of the cost of inflation and other things going on, it's hard for for anybody to do, you know, to have both. And there has to be that support as people are trying to work themselves off and get themselves into a place of sufficiency. So within this testimony, one, I wanted to bring my lived experience from what I've experienced being a victim of a hit and run, but also things I learned being an independent living specialist at that time, being in different disability support groups and making sure that they had the raw, unfiltered look at a day in the life of an individual with a disability and the hurdles that must be, you know, accomplished from just everyday living to then trying to go on to pursue higher education, then master's degrees, but then also again trying to live what long term supports are like with having them and not having them. And then, you know, as you know, they say, you know, driving is a luxury. Well, it's not when you live in rural communities and you need to be able to get yourself around self sufficiently.

In fact, advocacy is very powerful self advocacy and systems advocacy. And you have the opportunity to really talk to our congresspeople about what it's like to live and try to provide for ourselves as people with disabilities and even get ahead. And I am thinking that of course we don't have time on this podcast to talk about all the rules and regulations that might be come into play that might challenge our benefits, especially right now in this political climate with Medicaid and Medicare. But it is so important that we speak up for ourselves and not just for ourselves, but what we say to people can help everyone in our community. What do you think about that?

Oh, you're absolutely correct because disability is one of those doors and clubs that anybody can enter at any point in time. You can be able body right here at this time and in five minutes you can step out and your life can be completely altered. So it's not only just you know, affecting and protecting those that already have disabilities, but those that were acquiring them and those that we have from the aging baby boomer population making sure that they are taken care of as well.

Right. In fact, I often think about how I would like to remind those senators and representatives that they might have a grandmother that this could affect or a child that could be like you at age 16 suddenly get hit by a vehicle while riding a bike. And this could disability can happen to anyone across all walks of life. Yes. Tell us about your Money magazine inaugural award. That for it was about change makers, correct?

Yes, yes. Money magazine sought me out for again my at national advocacy efforts with able continuing to do POD podcast webinars on different platforms and making sure that ABLE isn't the best kept secret out there. Money magazine sought me out because of my ongoing efforts to help educate about ABLE accounts on many different platforms. Because of my testimony and others at the Senate age hearing that led to the ABLE Age Adjustment act, which is the law that expanded eligibility for able account owners for individuals with disabilities to be able to save. So it pushed the onset of disability from age 26 to 46, which is a complete game changer, which, which is taking effect January 1, 2026, which raises the age of disability onset, which now opens it up for millions more of individuals to be able to save.

In fact, I have another client whose son had a stroke as a. As an adult and in January will be able to have an able account. So let's talk about your College hall of Distinction for Young Alumni Achievement Award.

Yes. Well, I attended at hbcu, which is in Jackson, Tennessee, Lane College, founded by a former former free slave and one, Lane College is near and dear to my heart because they made sure to make it accessible when they didn't have to, with the help of the shepherd center. So I could live on campus like any other student, partake in all of what it means to live on campus and be a part of the college life. And also, again, it led me to be into, you know, enter into a fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, which is the first national black fraternity founded in 1906. So receiving the Lane College hall of Distinction Young Alumni Achievement Award, I was so honored that the college recognized what I was doing despite my disability to make sure that I go on to achieve great heights. But knowing that alumni were looking to me as a beacon of hope and knowing that I was exemplifying what it means to be a lay knight and be a graduate of a hbcu and always making sure to put that out in the forefront that I am a product of a h, of a proud hbcu, and I'm continuing to blaze trails, you know, and make a name for myself as well as the college.

What year was that?

That was 2018.

So it was. You were. The ADA was already in place. And there's always work to do to educate our institutions about becoming more accessible. Was there some advocacy you had to do for yourself to make that happen?

Not for Lane College. With them being a private institution, they took it upon themselves. Dr. Wesley Cornelius McClure, who has passed, was my college president. He saw the need of making these institutions, and especially Lane, accessible. So him, along with their board of directors as well as the CME Church. Because Lane College was founded by the Christian and Methodist Episcopal Church, they saw fit to make sure that it was accessible. Not to be prodded, but knowing it was the. The great thing. The great thing, but also the right thing to do. Not only to make it accessible for me, but also to make sure that there are other individuals, no matter being African American or whoever, if they wanted to attend Lane College, they there weren't any barriers keeping them from attending.

Okay, how does one set up an Able account?

Well, that is great. First, as I mentioned before, visit Able NRC and take a look at all the state programs from there. Once you pick a program, you log into their. You go to their website and again you don't put off tomorrow what you can do today. You log into the website and it will ask you a series of questions. The individual with a disability is the one that can set it can set it up. They need no other help or any prompts and they will just follow through those prompts information to set up their their Able account. As far as knowing their bank account information and other identifiable information and easy peasy is done.

Talk about what people can do with their Able savings account. And I do have a couple of supplemental questions about that. But first, from the very personal level, people can transfer personal funds and also work work wages into this account. And what can they do with those funds?

The buckets as we call them are limitless, but they have to relate back to your disability. So again, if you need to purchase computer equipment for yourself, you can do that. If it is purchasing a vehicle, you can do that. Again, it's just keeping good receipts and making sure that it relates back to your disability. So it could be used for burial expenses and you name it. People use it for other, you know, their day to day living expenses. For me, I use my ABLE account for long term big expenses. So when I purchased my wheelchair accessible van, I grabbed a chunk of money from my ABLE account. But again, it's really limitless. And visiting Able NRC and looking at one of their webinars really gives you the gamut of it's limitless what you can use your Able account for as long as it ties back to your disability.

Okay. And there are some special provisions or aspects that I'm also interested in. One of them is the gifting pages because I know that some people can. We can also receive funds from family or our families can set up trusts and gift our accounts with funds to help us as well. Can you talk about the gifting page at all?

Oh yes. The U gift portal is one of my favorites. One I encourage anybody to set up their able account early and one we all like gifts, we all like presents. But again the gift you can really give your loved one is making sure that they're financially supported for the long term. So setting up your U gift portal is like setting up anything else such as any other mechanism. You would go into the able account, you would click on you gif, you get a specialized code and this code can be posted on their loved one's social media page, what have you. So their money so when people birthday, Christmas, any other special religious holidays, that money can go straight to the individual and it goes straight into their into their able account so then they can use it in the future for housing, transportation, education, employment, health and wellness, assistive technology, personal support services. It's limitless. Again, the you give portal is so easy and it works much like any other platform where you see where someone has a unique identifiable code. But again this one goes directly into their able account so they can have it for their future qualified expenses.

That is just so wonderful. Can we talk about investments account? Can you talk about that?

Yes. With an able account again you when once you set it up, if there are investment accounts that you would like to move over again, you can work with your employer to where your employer can make contributions to your able account. Again it's really limitless of what you can do with it as long as again everybody is within lockstep of knowing exactly how to operate inside each state's individual able account. When I had a family member that passed that money was again was contributed to my able account and I'm thankful to that loved one for that and knowing that, you know, they thought enough of me but also again knowing that it is protected and in that able account. So again it wouldn't count against me at that time against any long term supports that I was getting.

Are there limits to how much can be gifted or put in an investment capacity?

Really that is per each state's able account but the the average limit is about $15,000 per year. If you're working I believe you can contribute up to 19,000. But because aver every able account, every able state account is a bit different. I would definitely advise you to check in with your local state's able account to make sure you know those mechanisms and know those limits per each state.

I get a newsletter periodically about national able accounts and that's how I discovered you. Do you automatically get subscribed to that newsletter when you set up an account.

Depending on if you go to Able nrc, you're automatically subscribed to it. If you go to your state account, you're subscribed to your state account, your state account newsletter. But I would encourage people to have both because again, they work in tandem to make sure people get those webinars from the state side, but also the national side and making sure everybody is educated and staying up with the latest of Able accounts and anything that may be trickling down.

Okay, so you've mentioned in passing a couple of ways that your Able account has worked for you. Can you tell us any a success story, maybe one of yours or someone else's that you might know about?

All right. Well, my success story one is again, driving is independence for me. And my first wheelchair accessible van had went down right before the pandemic and it was devastating because again, we're all trapped inside, do you know, due to the pandemic. But then afterwards, really knowing what is next because again, you know, everything was starting to open up. So one, being able to use funds from there as a down payment on my wheelchair accessible, my next wheelchair accessible van, which is a 2021 Honda Odyssey Elite, was a game changer for me because again, I put away that money and that allowed me to take some of that financial burden off of myself and making sure to lower my payment. So for me, that is my success story. And my next success story is again, just continuing to save money for my own home so that next down big down payment will come out of my Able account. But if you were to visit, visit Able nrc, you will see the other ambassadors. And we've had many different ambassadors throughout the year. But one of our ambassadors, Katie, she always wanted a tiny home and with a white picket fence. And she saved and saved in her Able account. And from there, her parents, on a plot of land near their home, purchased land and built that home to her specifications, her tiny home. And she is thriving and doing well. And just again, that's what Able Able was able to do for her.

That is so wonderful. And my success story is I knew that I wanted an Able account. I wasn't sure exactly what I would use it for, but I managed to save a nice little chunk of money. And after my husband died, I went back to live with my parents for a while and I decided I really needed to be on my own and experience my autonomy and my independence. And I started looking for a place to rent. And housing is so Housing costs are so exorbitant that when I began to see how much my rent would be for the type of home that felt right for me, I decided I might as well purchase a home. And I approached my mortgage broker because I had owned a home before and the first mortgage plan wasn't going to work for me and I thought that I wouldn't be able to do it. And she came up with another plan and I had saved $12,000, which was just enough to put a 3% down payment on my home. And I purchased my home in 2022. And I am just very happy and feel free here. And so I would encourage anyone who receives government benefits has disabilities to investigate Able accounts at Able nrc. Is that right? Able nrc, yes. Okay. Edward, do you have a quote of any kind that you would like to offer as we close?

One of the ones that always resident resonates with me is Robert Frost. Stop snow, stop by woods on a snowy evening. The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep and I have miles to go before this, before I sleep. And that has always resonated for me because even since I've had this disability, I've had people say, oh, you know, you, you, you know, you should rest, you know, you should just stay at home, you should just do this. And that's not what I want to do. And that's why I continue to push myself to the limit because again, I have promises to keep, not only to my grandfather as well as my parents, but also the promises to myself because again, I want to be a thriving, active member of my community, but also my career. And no matter how tired I get, despite my disability, I have miles to go and I'm never going to stop.

That's just so inspiring. Thank you for sharing that. And Edwards bio will be in the show notes as well as the web address where you can go to set up Enable account and share that information with your families in case there are opportunities for them to help you achieve your dreams by contributing gifts to your account. Thank you for joining me today, Edward.

Thank you for having me.

Take care everyone. We will be back in November. Thank you for joining me today on get what you need and feel good about it. Remember, when you speak up for yourself assertively, you will get what you need and feel good about it. You will also be showing respect for yourself and for the other people in your life who are important to you. Until next time, try thinking about it like Stephanie Lahart says it say what you mean, mean what you say, but don't say it me.