When Tiverton resident Robert Thibault's daughter was born, he took a year off from his computer technician job at Gateway in Cranston and began looking locally for house call jobs he could do. Then, when his hips started to go in 2002, it got tougher and tougher to do repairs, like getting on the floor to plug and install computer parts.

Soon after, Robert, 50, was diagnosed with degenerative arthritis in both his hips and lower spine. As a result, he’s been out of work entirely since February of this year. His wife Deborah, 51, worked at Travelers Insurance for 25 years but was let go in 2006 for poor performance, not knowing at the time she had multiple sclerosis.

After some serious outreach to elected officials, it wasn’t until this month the Thibaults were finally approved for their disability insurance. Now they are able to pay off their car payments and use the rest of the money to buy Christmas gifts for their two children. For the Thibaults, it’s a Christmas miracle.

“The kids are all set as far as Christmas,” Robert said in an interview this week in their Bulgarmarsh Road home. Securing the insurance helped the family save their credit and did a little borrowing to finally pay off some outstanding bills. Robert said if this didn’t happen, his car would have been repossessed by now.

His first application for disability insurance was denied by human services, who told the couple to start writing the governor and every legislator they could. Deborah began writing letter after letter, hoping they’d get a response. It was Congressman David Cicilline’s (D, RI-1) office that responded to the Thibaults. Cicilline’s staff helped Robert re-apply for his claim, and assisted in the appeals process. Within a week, Robert’s disability claim was approved and he started getting paid retroactively from August 2010 to now.

“We have been able to assist a number of constituents in this situation with re-applying for Social Security benefits, a process which can be complex and difficult to get through,” said Cicilline on Monday.

He said whether it be Social Security benefits or another issue with the federal government, any one in need assistance with securing veterans benefits, a passport, securing a federal grant for the community, applying to a U.S. service academy, or needing assistance with a tax issue, his office is here to help. 

“You can be sure that we will do our best to make sure you have the information you need in order to find out how best the federal government can assist you,” Cicilline added.