How many of you'll are on disability?
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I’ve had seven doctors recommend i apply, but I don’t. So I’m not on it (yet), though my Rapidly Degenerative Osteoarthritis and Degenerative Disc Disease may soon mean I need to.
I’ve taken two classes taught by Stanford and the NIH. One was called living with chronic conditions, and the other was called living with chronic pain. In those classes I met a lot of people who are on disability. On average it took them 3 to 5 years to get federal disability. They were all denied multiple times before they were finally granted the disability. The process sounds like real hell. While they waited for the federal process to work its way through, of course they had been granted the temporary Medicaid by the state. UT has low taxes and therefore has crappy, inadequate social services like Medicaid. It’s not yet “expanded” here.
I’ve taken two classes taught by Stanford and the NIH. One was called living with chronic conditions, and the other was called living with chronic pain. In those classes I met a lot of people who are on disability. On average it took them 3 to 5 years to get federal disability. They were all denied multiple times before they were finally granted the disability. The process sounds like real hell. While they waited for the federal process to work its way through, of course they had been granted the temporary Medicaid by the state. UT has low taxes and therefore has crappy, inadequate social services like Medicaid. It’s not yet “expanded” here.
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@ThatFLGuy
After my employer's disability ran out they paid for a professional company to assist me with getting permanent. Like you, I have a multitude of problems instead of one, simple, obvious disability. I had a very tough battle, but with the help of that company I was approved.
Now I am on Social Security and life savings; hoping to live long enough to die.
Giving thanks to God my Savior every day. ✝
After my employer's disability ran out they paid for a professional company to assist me with getting permanent. Like you, I have a multitude of problems instead of one, simple, obvious disability. I had a very tough battle, but with the help of that company I was approved.
Now I am on Social Security and life savings; hoping to live long enough to die.
Giving thanks to God my Savior every day. ✝
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I’ve been on disability since 2007. I got approved the first time but I know that’s not the norm. I was deemed permanently disabled due to mental health. And now that I’ve had my leg chopped off that’s another disability. My incontienence has nothing to do with my disability at least as far as I know. I don’t think you can get disability for that alone.
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Wow, those of you who have a company to help you navigate the mess of applying for disability are very lucky.
I thought of another thing I’ve heard: the disability department won’t care about your case unless you have an attorney working for you. I imagine that through the company that’s helping you, there is at least one attorney working on your case.
I have also heard that incontinence does not count as a disability, basically because diapers exist and they think you can work in diapers. I’ve also heard that you can only apply based on one condition. That is why I have not applied, because it’s more like the sum total of all my conditions are what disable me, not just one of them. I don’t know which one I would choose to file under.
I thought of another thing I’ve heard: the disability department won’t care about your case unless you have an attorney working for you. I imagine that through the company that’s helping you, there is at least one attorney working on your case.
I have also heard that incontinence does not count as a disability, basically because diapers exist and they think you can work in diapers. I’ve also heard that you can only apply based on one condition. That is why I have not applied, because it’s more like the sum total of all my conditions are what disable me, not just one of them. I don’t know which one I would choose to file under.
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A few years ago my dad had alztimers and we had to get fed and state disability. We hired a really good lawyer who took the job on spec. He got like 18 months of back pay and took a percentage of that. So no money up front. Just a 35% smaller backpay check. Worth every cent after trying ourselves. That relationship also worked super well when nursing homes give us crap, we politely disagree, smile, leave, call the lawyer and have him call the nursing homes lawyer and suddenly everything smooths out. $200 an hour for the handful of calls were worth every red cent.
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Long one; sorry.
The way it worked when employed last job, you had to qualify for the health insurance. Just work a year's worth, but they didn't "dispatch" you when you got close to the hours, so for a lot of us, it took 2-3 years. You were on it while working, but we worked week-on-week-off. Once you qualified for "permanent" relief employee, the week off was considered "employed", because you worked 84 hours a work week = 2 forty hour work weeks. Could take 1-2 year.
The health Insurance had disability, but required doctor's certification. It was good until you started getting Social Security disability, or became fit-for-duty (requiring a doctor's certification). If you became "fit-or-duty")" and didn't tell the employer, you had to pay back the amount for the length of time you became fit-for-duty, again, and failed to tell employer.
Sometimes, the employer used an investigator, and took photos allegedly showing you were fit-for-duty.
Your disability could be judged buy the US Coast Guard, and they suspended your license or working papers. The Employer had to accept that. (We were Mariners = Merchant Marines. You don't work on a US ship until you pass their tests and required private company's training and had a letter of future employment from an employer. Or the employer could have the training.) Knews a guy with an artifical leg from above the knee & he was still working. Doc & USCG said he could.
If you retired, then the employer's disability stopped when you reached 65.
If you qualified for Social Security disability, the employer's disability stopped. You could work when over 65.
Easy for employer's disability. Employer disability better than SS, which depended on your Gross Earned Income for the previous 3 year's worth of work, divided by 3.
Social Security hard while they had the secret rule in effect to deny applicants though the 1st 2 stages. Once that rule leaked, lawyers had a heyday, and employer put out a pamphlet on how to do it and how to get a lawyer to force SS to do it, if it got to that. SS reformed - they lost case after case, and that meant they paid your lawyer (hehehehehehehe).
I dealt with people in every possible variety of those situations to help them straighten it out. If they weren't qualified, I took the blame. (Sigh)
I don't think I ever heard of incontinence as a disability - but our medical records were a protected secret, and we didn't know why & what unless the person told someone, or gossip from on-shore reached us. That was also never on the Accident Report, but that may not have been included by the doctor on that form. I saw every Accident Report for 9 years, 650 employees. I never heard of that one, even by rumor. It seems like there had to be an example, say fecal?
Most "staterooms" for employees were singles, so no roommate to give it away. You emptied your own trash can, bathrooms/showers down the hall. You had a washbasin.
My incontinence wasn't until after I was retired for a few years.
The way it worked when employed last job, you had to qualify for the health insurance. Just work a year's worth, but they didn't "dispatch" you when you got close to the hours, so for a lot of us, it took 2-3 years. You were on it while working, but we worked week-on-week-off. Once you qualified for "permanent" relief employee, the week off was considered "employed", because you worked 84 hours a work week = 2 forty hour work weeks. Could take 1-2 year.
The health Insurance had disability, but required doctor's certification. It was good until you started getting Social Security disability, or became fit-for-duty (requiring a doctor's certification). If you became "fit-or-duty")" and didn't tell the employer, you had to pay back the amount for the length of time you became fit-for-duty, again, and failed to tell employer.
Sometimes, the employer used an investigator, and took photos allegedly showing you were fit-for-duty.
Your disability could be judged buy the US Coast Guard, and they suspended your license or working papers. The Employer had to accept that. (We were Mariners = Merchant Marines. You don't work on a US ship until you pass their tests and required private company's training and had a letter of future employment from an employer. Or the employer could have the training.) Knews a guy with an artifical leg from above the knee & he was still working. Doc & USCG said he could.
If you retired, then the employer's disability stopped when you reached 65.
If you qualified for Social Security disability, the employer's disability stopped. You could work when over 65.
Easy for employer's disability. Employer disability better than SS, which depended on your Gross Earned Income for the previous 3 year's worth of work, divided by 3.
Social Security hard while they had the secret rule in effect to deny applicants though the 1st 2 stages. Once that rule leaked, lawyers had a heyday, and employer put out a pamphlet on how to do it and how to get a lawyer to force SS to do it, if it got to that. SS reformed - they lost case after case, and that meant they paid your lawyer (hehehehehehehe).
I dealt with people in every possible variety of those situations to help them straighten it out. If they weren't qualified, I took the blame. (Sigh)
I don't think I ever heard of incontinence as a disability - but our medical records were a protected secret, and we didn't know why & what unless the person told someone, or gossip from on-shore reached us. That was also never on the Accident Report, but that may not have been included by the doctor on that form. I saw every Accident Report for 9 years, 650 employees. I never heard of that one, even by rumor. It seems like there had to be an example, say fecal?
Most "staterooms" for employees were singles, so no roommate to give it away. You emptied your own trash can, bathrooms/showers down the hall. You had a washbasin.
My incontinence wasn't until after I was retired for a few years.
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Hi @snow and @AlasSouth, both of you mentioned something about why incontinence by itself would probably not be considered a disability. That's reasonable if you have something like overactive bladder and just need to wear pull-ups or briefs and otherwise have no major health issues or if you have a major disability issue and incontinence is a part of that major issue and not a separate disability.
But wouldn't something like double incontinence be considered a disability if needing to change and clean yourself frequently makes holding a job a real impossibility? That's assuming the person is otherwise mobile or may have become incontinent from a birth defect or an old injury that has long since healed.
Anyone have any ideas on that???
But wouldn't something like double incontinence be considered a disability if needing to change and clean yourself frequently makes holding a job a real impossibility? That's assuming the person is otherwise mobile or may have become incontinent from a birth defect or an old injury that has long since healed.
Anyone have any ideas on that???
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@snow
I had a multitude of problems that combined to my not being able to work. Disability didn't like to fuss with a case like mine. "Allsup" guided me through everything until the end. They basically gave up on me too.
As a last resort, I wrote a document in my own words explaining every problem I had and why it would prevent me from working productively. I sent that to Disability. They finally relented and approved me. In the end it was my hard work that got me approved.
Here is what I did:
* I wrote my story in a very well written, easily understood document.
* I started with a simple list of everything that I was suffering from.
* Then I added more detail about every issue in the simple list.
* I even included references to online research that I had done; including all the therapies that were available for each issue, why it worked or didn't work for me, every doctor, every hospital, every date.
* I even described the side effects of drugs and treatments. For example, pain meds that employers would not allow me to work while under their influence.
In retrospect, I would write this first. Then, hire a company to help me, and give this document to them along with all the other forms I would have to complete. When the form only has room for a single condition I would refer them to the document that I wrote. I would include that document with every thing they would ask me.
I don't know who led you to not try, but it was you who gave up. Get back in there and fight!
snow said:
I had a multitude of problems that combined to my not being able to work. Disability didn't like to fuss with a case like mine. "Allsup" guided me through everything until the end. They basically gave up on me too.
As a last resort, I wrote a document in my own words explaining every problem I had and why it would prevent me from working productively. I sent that to Disability. They finally relented and approved me. In the end it was my hard work that got me approved.
Here is what I did:
* I wrote my story in a very well written, easily understood document.
* I started with a simple list of everything that I was suffering from.
* Then I added more detail about every issue in the simple list.
* I even included references to online research that I had done; including all the therapies that were available for each issue, why it worked or didn't work for me, every doctor, every hospital, every date.
* I even described the side effects of drugs and treatments. For example, pain meds that employers would not allow me to work while under their influence.
In retrospect, I would write this first. Then, hire a company to help me, and give this document to them along with all the other forms I would have to complete. When the form only has room for a single condition I would refer them to the document that I wrote. I would include that document with every thing they would ask me.
I don't know who led you to not try, but it was you who gave up. Get back in there and fight!
Archives1
Staff member
HI @MezaJarJarBinks, That seems like you did an excellent job in documenting why you should be able to claim disability. It seems to be very well organized and anticipates just about every question that who ever makes those decisions would ask.
I guess the lesson here is to think of every contingency and answer that in your own mind before you set it down on paper. Sure that takes time and effort but it is worth the effort and it's something that you can easily refer back to when needed.
I think everybody who is trying to get disability should read what you wrote up above.
I guess the lesson here is to think of every contingency and answer that in your own mind before you set it down on paper. Sure that takes time and effort but it is worth the effort and it's something that you can easily refer back to when needed.
I think everybody who is trying to get disability should read what you wrote up above.
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Billiveshere: Good way to put it. I had included the possibility of fecal, but stated I had just never heard of Urinary, a subject probably not admitted/talked about, although times are changing since i retired in 2009. We did have cases where personal issue between 2 members caused one to use any excuse to get the other fired. I hated dealing with that; hated.
Watch standing on certain ships can be a 4, 6, or 12 hour stint, but there are breaks, for bathroom or anything else, including keeping the worker fresh. And briefs, diapers, & pads can take the person for hours, if your condition isn't bad enough. Our employer didn't have to even know, in that case.
In fact, if the Doc says you are disabled, he didn't have to state why, which infuriated the HR Department. So even then, the employer didn't know the employee had that, or it was one of a series.
If an employee didn't/couldn't do the job, the supervisor wrote them up, but urinary wasn't something they'd necessarily know. I never had a hearing with that as a cause or one of the causes.
I was sort of like a Pubic Defender; had to defend, didn't have to win. We could go as far as Binding Arbitration, with a Federal Mediator. The issue of health only came out once. That was ugly, but over transplant.
Watch standing on certain ships can be a 4, 6, or 12 hour stint, but there are breaks, for bathroom or anything else, including keeping the worker fresh. And briefs, diapers, & pads can take the person for hours, if your condition isn't bad enough. Our employer didn't have to even know, in that case.
In fact, if the Doc says you are disabled, he didn't have to state why, which infuriated the HR Department. So even then, the employer didn't know the employee had that, or it was one of a series.
If an employee didn't/couldn't do the job, the supervisor wrote them up, but urinary wasn't something they'd necessarily know. I never had a hearing with that as a cause or one of the causes.
I was sort of like a Pubic Defender; had to defend, didn't have to win. We could go as far as Binding Arbitration, with a Federal Mediator. The issue of health only came out once. That was ugly, but over transplant.
Archives1
Staff member
@MezaJarJarBinks
I have been keeping a daily calendar and short hand log of my day since February and the request of my Physical therapist/ advice of my uncle.
My log is over forty days now.
It shows just how bad things are.
The one thing that is part of my claim is the pain as well as the fact that I cannot use my lower abs to hold myself up anymore so that adds to my pain.
So, here is all that is going on with me.
Double incontinences, uncontrolled abdominal pain, chronic fatigue including headaches, dizziness, chronic dehydration (My body requires more than I can even drink, I am at 3+ liters per day already(That is noted in several reports from both ED/ER and PCP doctors)) And then my actual diagnosis listed on my medical record is
History of colonic diverticulitis with abdominal abscess, overflow incontinence and Dyssynergic defecation with rectal hypersensitivity. But again everything above is also listed within doctors notes.
Tomorrow I will be talking to the team from Genex and they will be putting together my claim so we know what to ask for from doctors moving forward but my current insurance said that just within my clinical notes from my physical therapist there is enough information for a disability claim because she stated the issue with muscles in my abs as well as rectum are not functioning and causing chronic pain that is not controllable with medication.
I have been keeping a daily calendar and short hand log of my day since February and the request of my Physical therapist/ advice of my uncle.
My log is over forty days now.
It shows just how bad things are.
The one thing that is part of my claim is the pain as well as the fact that I cannot use my lower abs to hold myself up anymore so that adds to my pain.
So, here is all that is going on with me.
Double incontinences, uncontrolled abdominal pain, chronic fatigue including headaches, dizziness, chronic dehydration (My body requires more than I can even drink, I am at 3+ liters per day already(That is noted in several reports from both ED/ER and PCP doctors)) And then my actual diagnosis listed on my medical record is
History of colonic diverticulitis with abdominal abscess, overflow incontinence and Dyssynergic defecation with rectal hypersensitivity. But again everything above is also listed within doctors notes.
Tomorrow I will be talking to the team from Genex and they will be putting together my claim so we know what to ask for from doctors moving forward but my current insurance said that just within my clinical notes from my physical therapist there is enough information for a disability claim because she stated the issue with muscles in my abs as well as rectum are not functioning and causing chronic pain that is not controllable with medication.
Archives1
Staff member
@ThatFLGuy
WOW! That is quite a list, and looks far worse than my own. Of course, I am biased in your favor, but I really think you will prevail if you persist with your appeals.
The biggest problem that I faced was that Social Security defined "disability" as "unable to perform ANY kind of work". Whereas my employer's disability policy defined disability as not being able to perform the job they hired me to do. BIG difference there!
Therefore, I concentrated my appeals on the fact that while I may be able to fry one hamburger I couldn't fry them fast enough and long enough to make me employable.
WOW! That is quite a list, and looks far worse than my own. Of course, I am biased in your favor, but I really think you will prevail if you persist with your appeals.
The biggest problem that I faced was that Social Security defined "disability" as "unable to perform ANY kind of work". Whereas my employer's disability policy defined disability as not being able to perform the job they hired me to do. BIG difference there!
Therefore, I concentrated my appeals on the fact that while I may be able to fry one hamburger I couldn't fry them fast enough and long enough to make me employable.
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