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Happy 22nd anniversary to the Americans With Disabilities Act. Bet you didn't know how much that act is needed -- 19 percent of Americans are disabled. Of course, there's disabled, then there's disabled:

A new report from the bureau notes the various types of disabilities, some of which are inarguable: deafness, blindness, Alzheimer’s, autism. But there are others that might strike the reader as more dubious: “Had difficulty with schoolwork,” “Was limited in the kind or amount of housework,” “Had difficulty finding a job or remaining employed,” and “Had difficulty getting along with other children of the same age.”

Anytime I see reporting from Washington on TV, I have to change the channel before I become physically ill. Can I get a disability check for that?

Comments

Harl Delos
Fri, 07/27/2012 - 11:53am

Those are symptoms, Leo, rather than disorders, but they suggest something might be wrong,and it might be a disability.

And the ones you name as indisputable are a little iffy.  Asperger's Syndrome is a form of autism and it can be a disability.  Bill Gates would have had trouble getting and keeping a job.  He quit college because he couldn't handle it.  If he hadn't had rich parents who could finance a startup,  he'd have trouble supporting himself.

The population consists of the disabled and the temporarily-enabled, and "reasonable accomodation" is something you'll appreciate as you enter the broken-hip generation.  And it's nothing new. Many people have done reasonable things to help out friends and neighhbors for centuries without being forced to.

littlejohn
Sat, 07/28/2012 - 1:05pm

It is almost impossible to become officially "disabled" without hiring a lawyer and going to court. I have Paget's Disease in my back and hips, for example, which is excruciating. You can't see anything other than what appears to be bad posture; I never stop feeling it. I can't get a disability check. i've applied and was rejected without explanation. Yet I cannot stand for more than 5 minutes, and need extra lumbar support even to sit. What job can I get? I was a copy editor for years, but obviously that's become a dead end.

Harl Delos
Mon, 07/30/2012 - 1:59pm

There are two commonly-used definitions of total disability.  Group insurance policies often use the de finition that you are unable to perform the duties of your regular occupation.  Individual insurance policies usually require  that you are unable to perform the duties of any job for which you are qualified by experience or training.  In order to get your federal student loans  discharged by reason of disability, you must be unable to do any job whatsoever.

If you are able to do copy-editing as long as you are sitting in a decent chair, you don't meet ANY of the definitions of total disability, and a lawyer can't change that.  You're partially disabled, and the ADA helps you by getting your employer to put you in a decent chair.  A $500 chair that lasts 5 years is really cheap, compared to your sakary

Most people get turned down for disability when they apply to social security.  Some of them are, like you, not permanently and totally disabled.  Most of the actually disabled simply haven't documented their disability in a satisfactory manner.  If a person is really disabled, there will be a lot of medical tests documenting it, and in the case of some gradually becoming disabled, there will be a history of getting fired because of an inability to do the work. I did the forms for my wife - she has vascular dementia - and the folks at Social Security quickly agreed that she was permanently and totally disabled.

Disability, especially a mental disability, reminds me of Mark Twain comments of being tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail:  if it wasn't fer the honor of the thang, he'd have druther walked.  Most of  the disabled folks I know would gladly have foregone the honor, and walked instead.

 

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