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Community Legal Services

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As we close out Pride Month, we're reflecting on the ways our social safety nets can better support and uplift queer youth. Making the process of applying for SSI disability benefits more trauma-informed is one way to do that, say CLS Youth Justice Project staff members Kynaat Mirza and Kiki Miles. “Our clients are emerging into adulthood and discovering who they are. They deserve to do that in a safe and beautiful way. Queer youth need to know there is someone rooting for them and for their successes in life," Kiki said. To learn more about YJP's services and fill out an intake form, visit https://lnkd.in/eTbeyC9V Photo sources: School's Out Washington (left) and the New York Times (right) Image descriptions: A series of graphics on a rainbow gradient background. The black text of the post appears in rectangles of various pastel colors imposed over the background. Image text in alt text.

  • A graphic on a rainbow gradient background. Text in the top left reads, 'QUEER YOUTH DESERVE TO GROW UP IN A SAFE & BEAUTIFUL WAY.' Text in the bottom right reads, "How SSI Can Better Support Queer Youth." Cut out photographs of queer youth wearing rainbow and holding rainbow flags appear in the top right and left center of the graphic. Photos from School's Out Washington (left) and the New York Times (right)
  • A graphic on a rainbow gradient background. Black text on the graphic reads, "CLS’s Youth Justice Project (YJP) focuses on helping low-income youth ages 16-24 access SSI disability benefits. The process of applying for SSI can be long and grueling, with applicants forced to prove their disability or repeat over and over the things they can’t do. “It’s a very deficit-focused process,” say YJP paralegal Kynaat Mirza and Social Worker Kiki Miles. “It’s hard enough to navigate these systems as a person who is cis and straight.”
  • A graphic on a rainbow gradient background. Black text on the graphic reads, "For queer youth receiving YJP services, anti-queer and anti-trans discrimination and violence compound the challenges of accessing SSI. Trans youth are often dead-named throughout bureaucratic proceedings. For many youth, dead names can be reminders of trauma “that make it harder to go through the long process of getting on SSI,” Kynaat said.
  • A graphic on a rainbow gradient background. Black text on the graphic reads, "You must be in treatment to receive SSI, yet “the mental health system for poor people in Philly is already so limited,” Kynaat and Kiki say, with people frequently waiting six months or more to see a therapist. Queer youth also face lack of access to culturally competent mental health treatment. “If you are constantly being misgendered or not seen as a person by your therapist, why would you go back?” Kiki said.
  • A graphic on a rainbow gradient background. Black text on the graphic reads, "Supporting queer youth via SSI requires systemic transformation. The SSI application process should be trauma-informed and incorporate an understanding of how disability could impact how someone navigates the process. Those deciding who receives benefits should be experts in trauma and disability. There must be culturally competent services readily available to meet treatment requirements."
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