There is a huge difference in being able to care for yourself at home and being able to hold down gainful employment or employment that would not cost more for government than the disability. Most disability back to work rehab programs are nothing but a huge money maker for ones contracted to run the program. Very few actually get a livable job.
First thing is most if not all employers are not thrilled when you can not make it in on bad days or perhaps bad weeks because of your condition. For a person in a wheelchair for example one sore can mean bed rest for several months. For someone with say MS one day they may be able to get up and clean house the next two they may not be able to do hardly anything.
Many persons are also now on disability because they survived either an illness or accident that a few decades ago would have killed them.
You may not believe it because you are only going to believe what your prejudiced mind wants to believe but many likely most persons take disability as a last resort and not a first choice. Some issues can worsen with age or stress. With my disability stress agitates the condition. What kind of stress? Trying to hold a conversation in a room where others are talking, trying to do the grocery shopping, trying to cook, trying to handle two task at once. I can seizure as often as several times a minute. It's not the pass out kind it's severe upper torso spasms. 15 minutes of them and I'm wiped out for the day usually. At home I can control my environment and limit triggers. To do the shopping I can double up on the medicine. I shop late at night.
A few years ago I went to the V.A. Clinic to see their doctor for an Audiology referral as I'm at 50% hearing loss partially service connected and needed hearing aids. BTW for hearing loss that is not a covered medical expense under Soc Sec disability. Many things aren't. The doctor at the clinic looked at my medical history and said "how did you ever get into the armed forces not only once but twice?" I said well my feet dropped a few years ago LOL. I got the hearing aids and seizures increased again. Makes sense.
Many persons who say they are disabled are not actually on Disability. They are on SSI. The qualification standards are lower as is the burden of proof. For that matter when a person becomes disabled it is still two years before they become Medicare eligible.
I used to be able to take a 460 volt three phase motor and in my head could work out how to make a three wire motor run off a six wire motor controller system or vice versa. I had to do it several times on air handling unit motors at work. Now I don't trust myself to change out a blasted light fixture. At work I was screwing up. I'd get home and get in bed. Then I would think did I close this or that valve on the boiler after I blew the tubes. I'd go call the guy on duty and have him check. Several times I did forget and caught myself. Ever been driving down a road you drive every day and suddenly have no idea of where you are, why you are there, how you got there, how long you'd been driving? That was my first symptoms. Sensory Processing Overload. It is one of the conditions that doctors call Panic Disorder. My SSDI falls under General Anxiety Disorder because they needed a name for it the computer recognized.
2 mg a dose of Xanax and I still could not work. No doctor could tell me why it was even happening. They had seen it they knew it could not be cured and in some cases was disabling. At home I can function on half a mg of it every 6-8 hours. Then again sometimes at home I take more it all depends on a lot of things including major weather fronts that mess with my Inner ears.
If you have your health be thankful. If you have the means to cover all bases in case you have a stroke or an uninsured driver hits you going home be thankful. Most workers including engineers under circumstances of say where they are laid off and get sick can find themselves in the same boat.
If you want to discuss privatizing Soc Sec and disability insurance hey I'm all for it. Let's do it. But those who have paid in and filed legitimate medically proven claims should still be honored. Had the programs been left alone to start with and money not stolen for other programs there likely would not be a funding issue. There also needs to be a means where workers who are declared Terminally Ill by two doctors can be instantly placed on disability.
You're a lucky man it seems you and your family have their health. Mister you could loose it all in a matter of days as many before you have found out.
Wow, snipe, thought I was the only one who got in the car heading for places and destinations I knew well and just ended up driving and driving with no idea where I was going. That was the first sign I knew something was very, very wrong. My doctor at the time diagnosed major depression and put me on Zoloft. It wasn’t until I came home to Texas and saw another doctor that the anxiety component was put in and then I was given Effexor. I take the maximum daily dose of both medications and they just do keep me level...but miss any dose, and I sometimes do since there is not a generic of Effexor yet here (that I am aware of) and I must purchase overseas, and I am in big trouble.
An employer would be done no favor in hiring me.
I cannot take Xanax....for some reason it plays total havoc with my condition and only makes it worse.