Ensure the Rights of People With Disabilities

PETITION TO ENSURE RIGHTS FOR THE DISABLED

It is pretty much guaranteed that you will be denied in your initial petition for disability. Despite proper documentation from board certified doctors, a person is required to meet with “doctors” chosen by Social Security. Having been to these doctors I can honestly say that their questions and examinations were totally irrelevant to my particular disability and I was denied help due to that fact.

A person who files for disability is suffering from a wide range of issues that prevent them from working: Hearing, Vision, Movement, Thought Processes, Learning, and Social Interactions just to name a few. How is a doctor supposed to feel the emotional or physical pain each person is experiencing? Some diseases won’t allow a person to sit or stand for long periods of time, some behave in such a manner that is unacceptable in the workplace. Others are so painful a person cannot concentrate on the job at hand, while still others require frequent trips to the bathroom. It is easy for an evaluator to say that there are jobs out there that we can do. Supervisors on these jobs will not tolerate some of the behaviors of the mentally ill and the physical requirements of those with painful disabilities.

So, we are left without income, depressed and hopeless. We refile our claim in hopes that this time things will be different. That entails doing the whole application process all over again. While I was able to make copies of my initial claim, some are not able to do the same and have to fill out mountains of paperwork that they have already filled out in the initial claim. And they wait. The wait time is ridiculous and should someone not follow up within one years time, they have to start the whole process all over again, meanwhile trying to exist in pain and without any means of support.

Arthritis is a growing issue in the United States. Nearly 1 in 2 people develop knee Osteoarthritis by the age of 85. 1 in 4 develop painful hip arthritis and nearly 50 million adults will be told by doctors that they have some form of Arthritis, Gout, Lupus or Fibromyalgia by the year 2030, estimating that 67 million Americans age 18 and older are projected to be suffering from these painful conditions.

STATISTICS FROM THE NDDIC

Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD) is another growing painful health condition.

In 1984-1993 Ulcerative Colitis was estimated to affect 8 new cases per 100,000 people per year and Crohn’s disease affected 7 new cases per 100,000 people per year.

In 2001 these numbers jumped to 264 per 100,00 for Ulcerative Colitis and 162 per 100,00 for Crohn’s disease.

In 2002 it was estimated that 825 people died from these conditions, 169,000 were hospitalized 62% suffered from Crohn’s disease. Ambulatory visits to the Emergency Room numbered 5.9 million between 1999 and 2000.

In the United States alone 1.4 million people suffer from Irritable Bowel Disease. IBD is one of the most prevalent gastrointestinal disease burdens. There is no medical cure for Crohn’s disease and it usually requires a lifetime of care. Each year in the U.S. IBD accounts for more than 700,000 physicians visits, 100,000 hospitalizations. Over the long term, up to 75% of patients with Crohn’s disease and 25% of those with Ulcerative Colitis will require surgery.

These two examples are just a drop in the bucket of the vast number of disabilities currently debilitating people in the United States. Some disabilities are visible and some are not. Symptoms can be sporadic or chronic. Any disability affects a person’s every day life and can be painful physically and mentally. No one can know the pain we go through every day of our lives unless they themselves have experienced it. The humiliation of being dubbed a drug seeker because we have to go to Emergency Rooms to get medication for pain.

Physicians have taken the position that they will not prescribe narcotics no matter what the condition due to people who abuse and use the system to support drug dependencies. No one has the right to deprive you of the absence of pain or to tell you that you aren’t even IN pain.