Request Help

To request help, you are required to go through our intake team by phone or our  online intake form. We do not accept requests for assistance by email, social media, any of the other forms on our website, or direct contacts to other staff members. If your disability requires an accommodation to request help in a way other than the above methods, you can send an email to [email protected] with your request.

We do not provide services in the following areas:

• Applications or appeals for Social Security or disability benefits (such as SSI or SSDI)
• Applications for Medicaid benefits (You can request help with reductions or denials of services.)
• Finding housing or housing issues that are not related to a disability (such as eviction for failure to pay rent)
• Workers’ compensation
• Divorce, child support and other family law matters
• Wills, trusts and estate planning
• Malpractice and personal injury
• Criminal, probation, or parole (DRSC may provide technical assistance to an attorney with a juvenile client facing criminal charges by assisting in locating community services and thus diverting the child from the SC Department of Juvenile Justice).
• Petitions to obtain guardianship of a person with a disability

Please contact us if you need a referral for any other issues above.

Disability Rights South Carolina is federally designated to protect and advocate for the rights of people with disabilities. However, federal law gives us discretion in deciding which cases we can accept. Because our resources are limited, we evaluate each request for assistance based on our current goals and priorities and our review process, as explained in the dropdowns below.

Our goals and priorities are developed each year from public input we receive through surveys and other outreach. Our Board of Directors reviews our goals and priorities to make sure they reflect the input we receive as well as the mandates of our federal funders.

DRSC does not have the resources to provide direct legal assistance for everyone nor does everyone need a lawyer. We may offer:

• Information and referral to help you address the issue.
• Self-advocacy assistance to help you take action.
• Investigate reports of abuse, neglect, or exploitation.
• Provide direct legal or advocacy support (most people are helped without needing this).

DRSC staff members will review a new request for help based on multiple things. After this review, the team will decide what type of help DRSC can offer. Some of the things they are looking at are:

• The facts of your problem
• Whether your problem falls within one of our service areas. This is determined through our board-approved goals and priorities (see above) and priorities for assistance (see below).
• The likelihood of success
• The urgency of the issue and potential consequences for the person
• The resources needed to provide high-quality representation, balanced with the resources available to DRSC
• The availability of alternative advocacy resources in the community, including the capacity of the person for self-advocacy
• The impact that the resolution of a particular matter will have on the community.

Below are DRSC priorities for assistance.  Please note that assistance may include information and referral, self-advocacy assistance, short-term advocacy assistance or legal representation.

• Allegations of abuse, neglect, and exploitation of adults or children with disabilities.
• People with disabilities residing in facilities who want to transition to the community.
• People with disabilities who are facing institutionalization or re-institutionalization due to a lack of community-based programs and services.
• People with disabilities who are seeking or who have been denied vocational rehabilitation services.
• Recipients of SSI or SSDI are facing barriers to work.
• SSA beneficiaries reporting Representative Payee exploitation.
• All other legal rights cases, dependent on staffing availability.

DRSC provides advocacy services to people with disabilities.  We make decisions about when we can help based on multiple factors listed above. DRSC is required by federal law to have a complaint or grievance procedure so clients, prospective clients, and their family members may express concerns about the services they received or if they were denied advocacy assistance from us.  If you are dissatisfied in any way with the services you received from DRSC, please fill out our grievance form.