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What is DisabilityThe term disability has nothing to do with your physical impairment. Disability is defined as an inability to perform work. So can an individual have a physical impairment and not be disabled? The answer to that question is a resounding yes. Webster’s dictionary defines impairment as to make worse, to make less. This means that a function of the human body is less than it should be. Now the question that is asked of the doctor who will determine if a individual has a disability associated with the impairment is, is the loss of function great enough to prevent the individual from performing work? If the answer is yes, then there is a disability. If the answer is no, then there is no disability. So please understand that disease in and of itself does not equate to disability only loss of function which prevents work leads to disability. If there are two different people with the same condition, can one be disabled and the other one not? Surprisingly, yes. Let me explain. Let us assume two people have the same condition. Let’s say they both have a permanent painful condition in their low back. A condition that causes a permanent loss of low back motion and constant pain. Now let’s say that one of them is a construction worker and the other is an accountant. The construction worker can be disabled from his job and the accountant although still with a permanent impairment is not considered disabled from his job. I know that you are thinking how can that be? Well the way that the doctor looks at it, both individuals have this permanent condition. However, the job description of the construction worker call for him to lift heavy objects, constantly bend, push and pull heavy objects and stand most of the day. Under those work criteria, the construction worker with his permanent impairment is unable to perform his work and is therefore disabled for any job in the work force that require manual labor. The construction worker is therefore eligible for disability benefits. On the other hand, the accountant whose job doesn’t require him to perform any of the above activities is not considered disabled and is not entitled to any disability benefits. This takes me to my next point. The more educated that you are, the less likely you are to be considered disabled. Remember, the term disability means an inability to perform work. If you are strictly using your mind at work such as a lawyer or an economist, to be considered disabled, you will have to loose your mind or the ability to communicate. So then the less educated you are, the more likely you are to be considered disabled. The reasoning is that you will more than likely be performing physical labor. There are three different areas of society for whom you might be considered disabled. Let's first talk about disability from an injury that you sustained while at work. This falls under the curtain of worker's compensation. Although each state has its own set of laws regarding this, the basic premise is the same. At the conclusion of a work injury, you are either declared pre injury or permanent and stationary. If you are declared pre injury, then you return to your health status prior to the injury occurring. Obviously, there is no disability. Let's then assume that you have been declared permanent and stationary. With this, your doctor has stated that you have a permanent impairment. Remember, impairment does not necessarily mean disability. If your doctor says that you can perform you job with the permanent impairment, then you have no disability. If however, your doctor says that you can not perform your usual and customary job that you were performing prior to your injury, then you are considered disabled for that job. The next arena that you might be considered disabled if for a private disability insurance carrier. With private insurance carriers, you must be aware of the policy that you are buying. Back in the 1980’s and early 90’s you were able to purchase what is called occupation specific disability insurance. Some of you may still have a policy like this that you bought years ago. To be considered disabled for this policy, you need an impairment that will prevent you from performing your regular occupation whatever it may be. The most common policy that is sold today is the earned income policy. This policy does not care about the extent of your disability, it only cares about your ability to earn income. Usually, if you can make 20% or more of your pre impairment income, then you are not considered disabled. The exception to this is if you purchased a partial disability rider with your policy. With this the insurance carrier will pro rate your earnings to the policy limit. An example, lets say that you were making $5000.00 a month before your permanent impairment. The impairment limited you such that you can now make only $2000.00 per month. With the partial disability rider, the insurance company will pay the difference to make up the $5000.00 or pay you $3000.00 per month. Without the rider, although permanently impaired, you will not be considered disabled under the policy because you made more than 20% of your pre impairment income. Pretty wild huh! The final arena is Social Security Disability. This is the hardest agency that you need to convince that you are disabled. You have to be totally permanently disabled for at least one year to get this benefit. To get this benefit, you can not make more than $500.00 per month. That’s right, if you can make $500.00 per month doing any kind of work then you are not considered disabled by the Social Security Administration.
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