Information about people who have transitioned from employment to unemployment due to disabilities, such as being a Quadriplegic?

Are you in the US? Some benefits vary by state. You should go to your state’s website. Disability through social security would be federal, you can go to that website here. There is also private disability insurance through employers and individual insurance policies.

As far as government provided disability, I think it usually takes at least 6 months to get approved, and I have heard everyone is denied on their first application, I don’t know if that is true. A doctor needs to fill out some paperwork, and the person who became disabled. Sometimes people use lawyers during the process.

People get disability for all sorts of reasons. Chronic pain, heart conditions, almost any illness that a doctor agrees working is not possible because it is either detrimental to the pateint or physically impossible.

A person who gets disability medicaid might (depending on the state) be able to get an Aid who comes to the house daily to help with tasks, or it might be just a few days a week. They can pick up groceries, do laundry, light cleaning and cooking.

If people begin to feel stronger, but still need some help, the system usually encourages people not to work, because they risk losing their disability status and since applying for disability is such a difficult process, they don’t want to have to risk going through the process again and being denied. I don’t know how to fix that, but it is a shame.

I’m confused. Are you applying for benefits? Are you writing an academic paper? Who are members? Members of what? Are you only looking at one disability or at comparing different disabilities? Who did you recieve an assessment from?

Are you looking for people with disabilities to answer these questions?

@JLeslie, I had heard that people are denied SSD when they first apply also. I was denied three times and was on my way to #4 when I got a
lawyer. My TBI councelor
wrote a letter explaining why I
qualified and should be given
SSD. If it wasn’t for that letter I
probably wouldn’t have gotten
it. I don’t know about someone
with a disability that is obvious,
however. They might take
your word for it!

I do know that to get my disability I had to have worked long enough to have earned
Social Security. If you haven’t
you can try for SSI, which is
MUCH worse- more restrictions
on what you can do, and you
can’t own anything. I was told that if you have $2000.00 (or was it $200.00) invested you can’t qualify.

@GracieT If you could work again at something would you not choose to so you don’t lose your disability and need to reapply in the future? Do you feel the system makes it so most peope once on disability stay on it permanently.

@JLeslie, my job was what kept me from getting disability- they thought that since I was working I obviously didn’t need disability. Of course, insurance looked at my injury and said 2 things:
1) it is pre-existing, so we won’t cover it, and
2) the jobs that I am able to do now don’t offer insurance anyway.

There is insurance out there in the US if:
1) you can afford it,
2)you remain healthy, or
3) the job you can get even
has it.

My sister got her disability by filling out all the relevant forms, getting all the information from her doctor, then after she got denied, she went to a personal injury lawyer who got her benefits retroactive from the very first time she filled out a form, and the lawyer took about 40 % of that for a fee.

We heard they routinely refuse the first application to weed out people and it is very effective.

@YARNLADY, they refused me 2,3, or 4 times- I forget how many times. I probably wouldn’t have gotten it if not for my lawyer and even more so with having my doctor writing a letter about how I clearly satisfied the requirements.

Wow I was not aware that it is so common for a person to be denied, and up to 4 times in a row! Would you recommend consulting a personal injury lawyer right from the beginning. I imagine it would speed up the process? Do they refuse so many applicants due to there being large groups of people who perhaps apply yet do not actually need the given aid, or do disability organisations have limited resources regarding the necessary funding?

@kar96, this is just from my frame of reference, but I would at least consult a lawyer to find out what they recommend. I am not a lawyer, so I say yes,
at least talk to one to follow
their advice. They are listed in the phone book under attorney specializing in social security cases. Some people actually
are approved the first time without a lawyer, you just need
to have a visible disability that
you can prove you didn’t have until you had worked long
enough to pay into the system before you get it. Social
Security “Income” (SSI) is supposed to give you enough to live on if you if you couldn’t work enough to get SSD but you are really living on a STRICT budget and have to account for most of your expenses.