Is Diabetes A Disability Well Yes And No
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When people think of diabetes, there’s often a sense of dread that comes not far behind. But is diabetes a disability? We say ‘no!’, and here’s why.
While there are two different types of diabetes, and one is not currently curable, you have an incredible amount of control and power over how much diabetes affects your life.
This ranges from completely reversing type 2 diabetes to turning type 1 diabetes into a superpower that gives you fine-tuned control of your body on par with top Olympians. Definitely not the life-shattering disability it was made out to be!
What Is Considered Life
The activities required to maintain diabetes fall under life-sustaining therapy. However, to be found eligible for the DTC for diabetes, you must spend more than 14 hours a week maintaining or treating your diabetes. Some activities that fall under life-sustaining therapy are:
- Insulin therapy
- Purchasing medication
Disability Tax Credit Guide For Diabetes
Over the last few decades, diabetes has been on the rise in Canada and is now one of the most common chronic diseases in the country, affecting close to 2.5 million Canadians.
With the numbers of those who have diabetes growing, many Canadians face hefty bills attached to the disease, costing thousands of dollars each year, which they must pay out of pocket.
If you are reading this article, you or a family member may have diabetes and you are probably looking for information about the Disability Tax Credit and how it can help Canadians suffering from diabetes.
We wrote this article to help diabetic Canadians better understand the Disability Tax Credit, whether theyre a Type 1 or Type 2 diabetic so that they can use the DTC and apply for it with confidence.
Among breaking down what the DTC is, if youre eligible, and more, we will also be explaining the following:
- Does diabetes qualify for the Disability Tax Credit?
- How much money can you receive if found eligible for Disability Tax Credit?
- Am I automatically eligible for the Disability Tax Credit if I use an insulin pump?
- The difference between type 1 and type 2 when applying for the Disability Tax Credit
- Is life-sustaining therapy a marker for the Disability Tax Credit?
- Common reasons those with diabetes are denied for the Disability Tax Credit
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What Is Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease which causes a persons pancreas to stop producing insulin. Insulin is a hormone in the body which enables people to get energy from their food. This type of diabetes is caused when the bodys immune system attacks and destroys the insulin producing cells in the pancreas. This has nothing to do with the persons diet and lifestyle choices and it is non preventable.
However, it can be managed with the right tools. It can affect both children and adults as people of all ages can be diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. In order to manage this disease, an individual must carefully balance their insulin levels through a pump and inject themself with insulin multiple times a day. Bloor sugar must also be tested by pricking their finger for blood six or more times a day.
What You Need To Know: Medicare And Medicaid Eligibility
Do you know the difference between Medicare and Medicaid? Do you wonder if you eligible for one or both? With all the changes in health care recently, it can be tricky to keep up with the latest information. Medicare was created as a federally funded health care program for those who are older, disabled, or living with chronic illness. Medicaid was created to be a state run program for those who lack income and resources. Both programs are to help ensure health care services and coverage for the participants. Below is an infographic with more useful information: What is Type 2 Diabetes? The Basics Life with Type 2 Diabetes: Emotions & Mental Health: Family, Friends & Relationships HolidaysContinue reading > >
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Diabetes And Social Security’s Disability Listings
In 2011, Social Security removed its disability listing for endocrine disorders, including diabetes, from its Blue Book, a list of impairments that automatically qualify for disability. As a result, it’s no longer possible to get approved for disability based on a disability listing specifically for diabetes, but you may be able to “meet” other listings in the Blue Book depending on the severity of your symptoms. For example, a person can match the requirements for Listing 11.14 for peripheral neuropathy, when he or she, in spite of treatment, experiences involuntary movements, tremors, or partial paralysis in two extremities that makes it difficult to walk or use his or her hands. Diabetic retinopathy that causes less than 20/200 vision in the better eye would meet Listing 2.02.
Other complications related to diabetes, from kidney failure to cardiovascular issues to amputation of a limb, could also meet or “equal” one of the Blue Book listings.
Note that diabetic children under 6 who require daily insulin or 24-hour supervision will be automatically found to meet Listing 109.08 until they reach age 6.
It’s Difficult To Qualify For Social Security Disability Benefits For Diabetes Unless You Have Other Complications
Diabetes, or diabetes mellitus, is a disorder in which too little insulin is produced in the body. Insulin is necessary to help convert glucose into the body’s cells for energy. When not enough insulin is produced, it causes a build up of glucose in the blood. Symptoms of diabetes include fatigue, frequent urination, abnormal thirst, unusual hunger, weight loss, repeated infections, cuts that are slow to heal, and tingling or numbness in the hands and feet.
Type 1 diabetes is ordinarily diagnosed in children and younger adults, and it is a type of diabetes in which the body produces no insulin. In type 2 diabetes, or adult onset diabetes, your body’s cells ignore the effects of insulin. When diabetes goes untreated and too much glucose builds up in your body, long-term complications can result. These include neuropathy in your feet , kidney disease , high blood pressure , heart disease, stroke, gastroparesis , eye and vision problems, peripheral arterial disease , and depression.
Treatment of severe diabetes involves the careful monitoring of blood glucose levels along with taking insulin and controlling your diet. Your doctor can test you for diabetes using a fasting blood glucose test.
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Filing An Appeal If You Are Denied
The process of filing your first appeal will likely take another 3 to 5 months. Also referred to as reconsideration, this requires simply submitting the paperwork again.
If you havent already done so for your first application, working with a Disability Support attorney can be very helpful. An attorney can help ensure that the documentation on your health is thoroughly and constructed properly to illustrate a clear need for financial assistance.
You can also visit these two sites to find legal support for your appeal process:
What Are Other Benefits & Programs Available To Those Who Have Diabetes
If you live with diabetes, many other government programs can assist you with the added expenses brought on by diabetes.
Here are some of the other programs available to assist those living with diabetes:
- Canadian Pension Plan Disability Benefit is available to Canadians under 65 who have become unable to work because of a disability.
- Diabetes Education Centres provide diabetes education to people who are newly diagnosed and those who have had diabetes for many years.
- Canadian Diabetes Prevention Program provides those with prediabetes or are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes with personalized programs, health coaches, education and more.
- Canadian Diabetes Educator Certification Board develops and administers a certification program for Certified Diabetes Educators in Canada who have extensive knowledge in diabetes care/management and education processes.
These are just a few essential support programs there are many other programs available to help you and your loved ones with the added expenses brought on by diabetes.
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Ive Been Diagnosed With Diabetes Will I Be Able To Keep My Job
For those who are diagnosed with diabetes whilst currently working for a company, the company will be expected to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate the condition, if they are necessary. What qualifies as a reasonable adjustment is open to discussion.
Examples of reasonable adjustments could include: adjusting working times, changing the duties you are required to undertake, allowing time off for doctors appointments, or even transferring you to a more appropriate position .
Qualifying For A Medical
Getting a medical-vocational allowance is by far the more common way to get approved for disability benefits. If the symptoms of your diabetes prevent you from performing your past work or any other jobs in the economy, you can get approved for benefits under a medical-vocational allowance. A medical-vocational allowance takes into account your age, education, vocational history, and Residual Functional Capacity in deciding whether youre capable of meeting the demands of any full-time work.
Your RFC is an assessment that how much you can still do despite your impairments. Social Security regulations require your RFC to be based on medical evidence, so you or your attorney should submit copies of your relevant medical records to demonstrate the extent of your functional limitations. What your records should include depends on the specific symptoms involved. For example, an individual with peripheral neuropathy might submit medical evidence mentioning an unsteady gait, poor fine motor control, or numbness and tingling in the extremities. Or an individual with chronic hyperglycemia might submit evidence from a psychiatrist documenting difficulty concentrating and fatigue that interferes with his or her ability to sustain full-time work.
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Eligibility Criteria For Disability Tax Credit For Type 1 Diabetes
To be considered blind the visual acuity in both eyes must be 20/200 or less using the Snellen Chart . Alternatively, they are also considered blind if the greatest diameter of the field of vision in both eyes is 20 degrees or less.
If your medical doctor or optometrist has answered yes to either scenario, the form will ask you to enter the year when your blindness began and your visual acuity/field after correction.
Is Diabetes A Disability
A person with type 1 diabetes, in particular, cannot participate in any activity without careful planning. Over the years, that planning is often done automatically but planning still occurs.
Before getting out of bed or having breakfast, a person with type 1 diabetes needs to check their blood sugar levels. Before eating any food, a person with diabetes must have a good grasp of the nutritional value. Finally, they must attempt to administer enough insulin to cover the food that they plan to ingest.
The amount of planning needed to manage your diabetes is most obvious when a person takes part in physical activity. Before the activity starts, they must know if the activity will raise or lower blood glucose levels. Next, they also must ensure that they have enough food, water, and insulin with them to stay safe. These are not activities that a person with a functioning pancreas has to do.
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Type 1 Diabetes The Closest Form To A Disability
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition where the body’s immune system has mistakenly attacked and destroyed the beta cells in the pancreas that produce insulin.
There is currently no known cure for type 1 diabetes, and people with type 1 diabetes must regularly supplement their bodies with insulin throughout their lives.
Social Security Disability Insurance
This is for people who have worked for five of the last 10 years and meet the Social Security Administrations definition of disability .
SSDI offers assistance to help you return to work and provides ongoing income if you do not get better. When you receive SSDI you can also qualify for Medicare and prescription drug assistance, explains the ADA.
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Diabetes Rights And Protections
Those living with diabetes deserve fair treatment in:
- School
- Camp
- Other activities
Under federal law, children have the right to receive diabetes and other care they need in order to participate in school life the same as any other child. Under federal law, schools are required to provide:
- A trained staff member who can administer insulin and glucagon and monitor blood sugar levels
- A trained staff member or members who can provide care specific to diabetes during all school activities including field trips and extracurricular activities
- Permit capable students to self-manage their diabetes at any time and in any place
Under federal law, schools cannot:
- Insist family members attend school to care for the needs of a student with diabetes
- Transfer students with diabetes to a different school in order to receive appropriate care
- Stop students who have diabetes from attending any school-sponsored activity, including field trips and sports days
State laws can be complicated and can be unclear regarding who should care for a child with diabetes at school. Some states give more protections than others.
Should Type 1 Diabetes Be Classified As A Disability
When a child is first diagnosed with T1D, the family does not really comprehend the significance of this verdict. Because, the initial days are spent in controlling the sugar through many insulin shots and finger pricks for their little child, which form a part of an everyday regimen. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. What challenges the child has to contend with, comes from outside the home, the school, the community and everywhere else, which I will be writing about in detail in this series.
Considering the state of affairs prevalent in our country, a T1D individual and the family will vouch for the fact that it is the society that disables people with challenges. I quote from an organization in the UK which, in 1975, said, In our view it is society which disables physically impaired people. Disability is something imposed on top of our impairments by the way we are unnecessarily isolated and excluded from full participation in society. This has come to be known as the social model of disability.
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References
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Your Diabetes Disability Case
If you are disabled because of the health impairments caused by Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes prevent you from working, you may very well be entitled to Social Security Disability benefits.
Although total disability based on Diabetes and its related conditions can be difficult to prove compared to other disabling conditions, working closely with your doctors and a qualified Social Security Disability attorney can help to ensure that your Diabetes disability case will have the highest possible chance of success.
Its Difficult To Qualify For Social Security Disability Benefits For Diabetes Unless You Have Other Complications
Diabetes, or diabetes mellitus, is a disorder in which too little insulin is produced in the body. Insulin is necessary to help convert glucose into the bodys cells for energy. When not enough insulin is produced, it causes a build up of glucose in the blood. Symptoms of diabetes include fatigue, frequent urination, abnormal thirst, unusual hunger, weight loss, repeated infections, cuts that are slow to heal, and tingling or numbness in the hands and feet.
Type 1 diabetes is ordinarily diagnosed in children and younger adults, and it is a type of diabetes in which the body produces no insulin. In type 2 diabetes, or adult onset diabetes, your bodys cells ignore the effects of insulin. When diabetes goes untreated and too much glucose builds up in your body, long-term complications can result. These include neuropathy in your feet , kidney disease , high blood pressure , heart disease, stroke, gastroparesis , eye and vision problems, peripheral arterial disease , and depression.
Treatment of severe diabetes involves the careful monitoring of blood glucose levels along with taking insulin and controlling your diet. Your doctor can test you for diabetes using a fasting blood glucose test.
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What Can I Claim For
If you have either type 1 or type 2 diabetes, you will be eligible for certain benefits, depending on the extent to which your condition affects your life. For example, everyone in the UK with diabetes is entitled to free eye checks from the age of 12 once yearly screening for diabetic retinopathy. And if youre on any medication for your diabetes, youll receive free prescriptions.
There are additional benefits available to those with diabetes related to disability and long-term health, such as if you need help or if youre unable to work. Whether or not youre eligible depends on factors like additional health issues and how much diabetes affects your day-to-day activities.
Those most likely to be eligible are the young or elderly, people with mental health issues such as depression, those with learning disabilities, or serious complications. Parents can also claim on behalf of children with diabetes.
Limitations Based On Your Monthly Income
In order to receive SSI benefits, your monthly income must not exceed a certain amount, explains the ADA. The amount changes each year, and your earnings may offset your benefit amount.
Additionally, if you live with a spouse who is not eligible for SSI benefits, the SSA may include your spouses income when determining your SSI benefit.
For a child with a disability under age 18, the SSA may count some of the parents income in figuring the childs SSI benefit. Additionally, you cannot own property in excess of a specified amount at the beginning of each month. The limits are $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a couple. You do not have to count certain things towards this $2000 or $3000 limit, such as: your home, household goods and personal items, one vehicle, property of your personal business, certain amounts of life insurance, and certain amounts of housing assistance.
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