Advocates for people receiving Social Security Disability benefits are protesting the Social Security Administration's plans to move its Seattle offices from their current location to the Jackson Federal Building downtown. Critics say the move could make it more difficult for people who need to meet with SSA employees, such as disabled people and the elderly, to do so.

Social Security Works/Washington and the Seattle Community Law Center are among the groups asking the SSA to consider another location to move into. The problem, they say, is that the Jackson Federal Building is a Level IV security building. That means that the building requires visitors to pass through metal detectors, submit to bag searches by security guards and present picture identification.

Such an ordeal can be difficult for people with mental illness to deal with, the executive director of Seattle Community Law Center said. She added that the security checkpoints at the federal building do not provide interpreters, raising the possibility of misunderstanding with people for whom English is not their first language.

Other options for reaching SSA face-to-face are limited. The agency has field offices in cities surrounding Seattle, but for people on SSDI benefits, it can be prohibitively expensive to arrange transportation. And SSA does not plan to provide transportation funds.

A spokeswoman for SSA said the planned move into the Jackson Federal Building is due to economics. She said the move will save the agency millions of dollars and prevent cuts to services. Regulations require federal agencies to look for federally-owned building spaces first, she added.

Source: Realchangenews.com, "Groups rally to stop closure of Social Security building," Aaron Burkhalter, Jan. 11, 2012