UNHAPPY BIRTHDAY

How booting 18-year-olds from disability rolls has lifelong consequences

- Mark Betancourt

IN SEPTEMBER 2017, the Social Security Administration sent Gabriel Burgos' family a letter warning that their income would be cut in half. Gabriel-a Brooklyn high schooler who lived with his mother, Marlena, and father, Jorge, in a public housing apartment-had recently turned 18. That meant the end of the monthly check he got because of his severe learning disabilities.

The family-their names have been changed-was already living in poverty. Three years before, Marlena lost her job as a home health billing clerk; Jorge, due to complications from lifelong diabetes, was unable to work and also collected disability support. The family received food stamps and subsidized rent, but now were facing a future where two Social Security disability checks that once totaled some $1,600 a month would be reduced to $800.

In first grade, Gabriel was diagnosed with severe dyslexia and a central auditory processing disorder that made it hard to read and follow instructions. But after Marlena and a legal aid lawyer got him placed in a specialized school, Gabriel made real progress. "It brought tears to my eyes," she told me, "when he was in the third grade and was able to pick up a second-grade book and read."