Ticket to Work in Milwaukee
Accessible Career Options (ACO) is an authorized Employment Network in Social Security's Ticket to Work program, based at 3723 N 92nd Street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. If you receive SSI or SSDI and are between 18 and 64, you can assign your Ticket to ACO and get job placement, retention services, and benefits counseling at no cost to you, with your benefits protected while you try working.
SSI: Supplemental Security Income • SSDI: Social Security Disability Insurance
We Are a Ticket to Work Employment Network
ACO is an authorized Employment Network (EN) in Social Security's Ticket to Work program — a free, voluntary program that helps people receiving disability benefits move toward financial independence through work, with your benefits protected along the way.
Learn more at choosework.ssa.govFree of Cost
Ticket to Work services are free for eligible SSI and SSDI beneficiaries ages 18-64.
Protected Benefits
Your medical reviews are paused while you make timely progress, and work incentives protect your benefits as you earn.
Career Support
Job placement, resume help, interview prep, and training built around your goals.
Retention Services
Ongoing support to help you keep your job, plus benefits counseling for as long as you need it.
How to Get Started
- 1Confirm you receive SSI or SSDI and are between 18 and 64.
- 2Contact ACO to assign your Ticket and build your Individual Work Plan.
- 3Start working with your job developer toward steady employment, with retention services to help you keep it.
Sign Up Through ACO
You sign up for Ticket to Work directly through us — no separate application to figure out on your own. Call ACO or send us a message and we will confirm your eligibility, assign your Ticket to our Employment Network, and build your work plan together.
Who Is Eligible?
Ticket to Work is free and voluntary. Most people who receive disability benefits from Social Security already have a Ticket, whether or not they have ever used it. You are likely eligible to work with ACO if:
- You receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) because of a disability.
- You are between the ages of 18 and 64.
- You want to work, increase your earnings, or move toward leaving benefits behind.
- You live in the greater Milwaukee area or elsewhere in southeastern Wisconsin.
Not sure whether you have a Ticket? Call ACO at 414-239-6465 and we will check for you.
Try the Benefits Calculators
Estimate your gross earnings and how working could change your SSI payment or SSDI benefits with our free 2026 calculators. They live on their own page so the numbers are easy to work with.
Open the calculatorsHow the Individual Work Plan Works
Everything in Ticket to Work runs through your Individual Work Plan — the written agreement that says what you are working toward and what ACO will do to help. Here is the whole process, start to finish.
- 1
Free consultation
We talk through your work history, your goals, and what kind of schedule and support fit your life. Nothing is committed at this stage.
- 2
Assign your Ticket to ACO
As an authorized Employment Network, ACO can accept your Ticket. We confirm your eligibility with Social Security on your behalf.
- 3
Write your Individual Work Plan (IWP)
Your IWP is a written agreement between you and ACO. It lists your employment goal, the services we will provide, your responsibilities, and how we will track progress. You review and sign it before anything starts, and it can be changed later as your goals change.
- 4
Job search and placement
Your job developer works your plan with you — resume, applications, interview practice, employer introductions, and job shadowing where it helps.
- 5
Retention services after you are hired
Support continues after your start date to help you keep your job, plus check-ins on your progress toward the milestones in your IWP.
Work Incentives for SSI and SSDI Beneficiaries
The most common worry we hear is "will working cost me my benefits?" Social Security has rules called work incentives that exist to prevent exactly that. Our benefits analysts walk you through how each one applies to your situation before you accept a job offer.
If you receive SSDI
Trial Work Period
You can test working for nine months (within a rolling 60-month window) and still receive your full SSDI benefit, no matter how much you earn.
Extended Period of Eligibility
After the trial work period, there is a 36-month stretch where your benefit can restart in any month your earnings fall below the substantial gainful activity level.
If you receive SSI
Earned income exclusions
SSI does not count every dollar you earn. General and earned income exclusions mean your SSI payment drops far more slowly than your paycheck rises.
Section 1619(b) Medicaid protection
Even if your earnings grow enough to reduce your SSI cash payment to zero, you can keep your Wisconsin Medicaid coverage as long as you still need it to work.
If you receive SSI or SSDI
Expedited Reinstatement
If you have to stop working within five years because of your disability, your benefits can be restarted without filing a brand-new application.
Continued health coverage
Medicare Part A can continue for at least 93 months after your trial work period, and SSI recipients may keep Medicaid under Section 1619(b) while working.
Paused medical reviews
While you are making timely progress under your Individual Work Plan, Social Security will not start a scheduled medical continuing disability review.
Work incentive rules and dollar thresholds are set by the Social Security Administration and change from year to year. ACO helps you apply them to your own situation; for official program rules see choosework.ssa.gov.
Sign Up for Ticket to Work
You sign up through ACO. Leave your name and phone or email and our Ticket to Work team will contact you.
Or call 414-239-6465