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Archive for October, 2010

Wrapping up National Disability Employment Awareness month: an overlooked but highly motivated workforce

Sunday, October 31st, 2010

by Mike Hinshaw

In 1945, Congress designated the first week of October as “National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week.”

The title changed through the years, until in 1988, according to an Oct. 25 post at StarTribune.com, “Congress extended the recognition to all of October and renamed it National Disability Employment Awareness Month. This year’s theme, “Talent Has No Boundaries: Workforce Diversity Includes Workers with Disabilities,” was played out in numerous local events, including workshops on résumé writing and interviewing, job-seeking skills and self-advocacy.”

Ticket to Work

Also embraced are SSDI recipients, which may surprise readers who think of those who receive Social Security Disability Insurance payments as totally or permanently disabled. Some are, of course. But others do recover enough to work again and for these folks SSA has a specific program called “The Ticket to Work.”

Describing advances regarding the disabled in general, Robin L. Shaffert, Senior Director of Corporate Social Responsibility of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), writes in an Oct. 29 HuffingtonPost: “As we look back on October’s celebrations of National Work and Family Month and National Disability Employment Awareness Month, advocates for increasing workforce flexibility and advocates for improving employment outcomes for people with disabilities should recognize the progress we have made. To a far greater extent than a year ago, it is generally agreed today that creating a flexible workplace benefits all employees, but it especially benefits employees with disabilities.”

High motivation, low absenteeism

The feature piece at StarTribune.com echoes that sentiment but ups the ante. It quotes Maxine Pegors, an HR consultant and disability-employment advocate: ” ‘One of the things that’s really true about people with disabilities is that when they have a job, they are so highly motivated and have very low absenteeism and turnover,’ said Pegors, citing studies that track attendance records comparing disabled employees to the general workforce.

” ‘They increase people’s morale and instill a sense of positivity among all the employees. They are so excited to have the job and they have this big smile, so everybody around them gets this smile, too.’ ”

I can personally attest to that–and even more. One of my earliest college journalism instructors careered not only about the UTA campus in a wheelchair but also through life, as though sloughing off his significantly limited use of one hand, barely acknowledging the less-than-full-range of the other. Despite physicalities, he became a hero to 20 or 30 years’ worth of students, administrators and professors alike–including plenty who went on to become professional journalists throughout the world.

Perhaps more important, he remains mentor and friend to untold thousands, both within and without the so-called disabled  community. My life without this man would not have been near as rich nor as fulfilling. The truth is, many times I struggled to keep up with John, and I don’t know whether he’s better off  for that–but I certainly am.

OK, enough personal reflection.

The point remains that employers are missing a bet–perhaps a huge bet–by overlooking the disabled as employees.

An untapped workforce

Pegors, who also co-chairs Bloomington’s Committee on Disability Employment and Awareness, said, “We try to make employers aware that they might be missing some very good candidates if they aren’t attracting people with disabilities,” Pegors said. “It’s an untapped part of the workforce that people need to know about.”

The committee she co-chairs, “part of the city’s Human Rights Commission, plans seminars and workshops on issues related to employment for the disabled. It also reaches out to businesses to tout the benefits of hiring employees with disabilities, and it presents an annual award to two businesses that excel at employing workers with disabilities.

“In the United States, 54 million people have a legally qualifying disability, making up 19 percent of the non-institutionalized civilian population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In addition to facing physical and psychological challenges, disabled people also are far more likely to be unemployed. In August, the national unemployment rate for people without disabilities was 9.3 percent while the rate for people with disabilities was 15.6 percent, reports the federal Bureau of Labor.”

A long way to go

Shaffert’s piece continues: “We need to also recognize how far we still have to go to achieve the promise of equal employment opportunity for people with disabilities. A review of data from the American Community Survey presented in the Annual Disability Statistics Compendium 2010, released this week, shows that the percentage of people with disabilities who are employed, 35.3%, is less than half of the percentage of people without disabilities who are employed, 74.3%. Similarly, the unemployment numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for September 2010 reveal the difficulty that jobseekers with disabilities face today. The unemployment rate for people with disabilities stands at 14.8%, which is staggering even when compared to the far too high 9.0% unemployment rate for people without disabilities.”

SSA links

The Social Security Administration’s work program is called The Ticket to Work, which it describes as “The Ticket to Work program is voluntary. You get free training, job referrals and other services you need to work. You can give your “Ticket” to an approved provider of your choice. The provider can be either the state vocational rehabilitation agency or an employment network. You and the provider work together to make a work plan. The plan states exactly what services the provider will furnish.

“If you work with a state vocational rehabilitation agency and your Ticket is not assigned to them, once they close your case you may assign your Ticket to an employment network if you are still eligible to participate in the Ticket program.”

Following are two links the SSA pages, which answer many questions about the program, such as how benefits are affected, and what happens if you work  successfully but the later have to go back on disability:

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Adenocarcinoma and Receiving Social Security Disability Benefits

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

Cancer is not one disease, but a group of diseases. Each of these diseases is marked by cells that are aggressive (they grow and divide without respect to normal limits), invasive (they invade and destroy adjacent tissue) and sometimes metastatic (they spread to other parts of your body).

There are many different types of cancer. Most of these varieties of cancer are named for where they start in your body. For example, stomach cancer begins in your stomach.

Cancer is also classified according to the type of cell that resembles the tumor. Some examples of this are sarcoma, blastic tumor, germ cell tumor and lymphoma.

Carcinoma is one of the categories of cancer. Carcinoma is a kind of cancer that starts in the epithelial cells of your body. These are the cells that line the surface of your organs and skin. Epithelial cells also line your airways and digestive tract.

There are several different kinds of carcinoma. Adenocarcinoma is one of the types of carcinoma.

Adenocarcinoma is usually associated with lung cancer. However, adenocarcinoma may also begin in the cells that line other kinds of glandular organs like your pancreas, cervix, breasts, prostate, stomach and colon.

Adenocarcinoma is caused by defects (mutations) that develop in the cells that line your glandular organs. The defects cause these cells to grow and multiply in an uncontrollable way. No one knows exactly what causes these defects to occur. However, there are several things that may play a role in causing these mutations to take place. Some of these are:

  • Chemicals
  • Viruses
  • Radiation
  • Hormones
  • Inflammation
  • Unidentified carcinogenic agents.

There are several different signs and symptoms that you may have depending on which organ is affected by your adenocarcinoma. Some of these include:

  • Discomfort
  • A lump
  • Pain
  • Blood in your stool
  • Unexplained, unintentional weight loss
  • Fatigue or weakness
  • Poor appetite
  • Vomiting and nausea
  • Headaches or seizures
  • Changes in your vision
  • Problems with walking or speaking
  • Shortness of breath
  • Persistent cough
  • Lightheadedness.

You or a loved one may have some kind of adenocarcinoma. Adenocarcinoma and/or complications that have resulted from this disease may be the reason for your disability and what is preventing you from working.

Because of this, you may need assistance. You may need financial help.

You or your loved one may be intending to apply for the financial assistance that you need from the Social Security Administration by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits because of the disability caused by adenocarcinoma and/or complications that have resulted from this disease. You or your loved one may have already done this, and your application was rejected by the Social Security Administration.

If you or your loved one is planning on reapplying or appealing the denial, think about this important fact. The simple truth is that people who have a disability lawyer in their corner like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com are approved more often than people who are not represented by a disability attorney.

Please do not delay. It is far too important. Contact the disability lawyer at socialsecurityhome.com, today.

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Of gamers and shooters: Prisoners with SSA benefits lose them after 30 continuous days, must reapply upon release

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

A case from Connecticut reminds us why it’s never a good idea to try to game the system.

A short piece posted Oct. 26 at NorwichBulletin.com say, “A New London man faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine after pleading guilty Tuesday to charges he fraudulently received Social Security disability payments, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”

Forty-four year-old Mario Torres-Ortiz entered a guilty plea to a charge of making a materially false statement to an agency or department of the United States. Court records indicated the man began receiving Social Security Disability payments 1993.

But in May 2009, “he submitted a form to the Social Security Administration stating he had not worked since 2000. Investigators later found he had worked from May 2007 through May 2009. During those months, Torres-Ortiz obtained $19,585 in disability benefits to which he was not entitled, authorities said.”

Shooter hopes to retain benefits

In the department of bizarre, a Maryland man convicted of shooting a woman in her face has gone back to seeking a modification of his already lightened sentence because if he’s in lockup too long, he’ll lose his Social Security Disability benefits.

To add another twist? The man’s name is John Alvin Lucky.

But he wasn’t lucky in the ruling on his motion. According to an Oct. 25 article in The Herald Mail, District Judge Dana Moylan Wright, who handed out his original sentence in June, denied the motion saying, “You got as light a sentence as I could stomach.”

According to the article, the case began in August 2009, when Hagerstown police responded to a report of gunfire at an apartment. There they found 18-year-old Stephanie Renee Dews, who had been shot in the face.

He ‘fumbled with the pistol’

“Lucky told police he ‘fumbled with the pistol’ and it went off, the [probable cause]  statement said. However, [Assistant State’s Attorney Leon] Debes said that Dews later told investigators that Lucky was loading and unloading the semiautomatic pistol, pointing it at her and pulling the trigger.

“Although the shooting was not intentional, Debes said Lucky ‘wanted to scare Ms. Dews.’ ”

Suspended sentence

In February, Lucky pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment, “but withdrew the plea the same day, re-entering a guilty plea to the same charge in April, according to court records.” Released on an appeal bond after his sentencing hearing in June, Lucky had another change of mind, withdrew the appeal, and got sentenced to five years in prison for reckless endangerment, with four years suspended and sent to the Washington County Detention Center for 90 days, to be followed with nine months’ home detention.

Prisoners lose benefits after 30 days–state has ‘no sympathy’

According to his attorney, Lucky’s motion requested a sentence modification–such as serving on weekends–before serving 30 days continuously. That the threshhold at which the SSDI benefits are threatened. Once lost, the benefits must be re-applied for.

“Debes also noted that the Social Security Administration pamphlet, ‘What Prisoners Need to Know,’ states that prisoners can get benefits reinstated the month after the month they are released.

” ‘The state does not have any sympathy for Mr. Lucky,’ Debes said. Dews lost her home, car and could not pay her medical bills, he said.”

The SSA pamphlet

Following is a related excerpt from that SSA pamphlet:

What happens to my benefits when I am in prison?

If you are receiving Social Security, your benefits will be suspended if you are admitted for more than 30 continuous days to a jail or prison because you were convicted of a criminal offense. Your benefits can be reinstated starting with the month following the month you are released.

Although you cannot receive monthly Social Security benefits while you are confined, benefits to your spouse or children will continue as long as they remain eligible.

If you are receiving SSI, your payments are suspended while you are in prison. Your payments can be reinstated in the month you are released. However, if your confinement lasts for 12 consecutive months or longer, your eligibility for SSI benefits will terminate and you must file a new application for benefits.

Can I get my benefits started when I am ready to be released?

If your Social Security or SSI benefits were suspended because you were in prison, you can request that they be started. You will need to contact Social Security and provide a copy of your release documents before we can take action on your request.

Example: George was receiving Social Security disability benefits. He was convicted and confined to prison on May 15, 2007, and his benefits were suspended effective with May 2007.
On October 10, 2009, George was released and his benefits were reinstated effective with November 2009. Since Social Security benefits are paid in the month following the month for which they are due, George will receive his November benefit in December.

Example: Sam was receiving SSI disability benefits and was confined to prison on June 7, 2009. He was released on September 7, 2009. His SSI can be reinstated as of September 7. Sam will be eligible for a partial payment for September and full benefits for October.

If you were not receiving either Social Security or SSI benefits before you went to prison or your SSI benefits were terminated, you will need to file a new application for benefits if you think you may be eligible. You should contact Social Security for more information about filing a claim for benefits. You will need to provide proof of your release from prison, in addition to a new application and other documents.

NOTE: We cannot start your benefits until you are actually released. And we must have your official release documents from the jail or prison where you were confined. Please remember to bring your release forms when you visit your local Social Security office. This will help us get your benefits started more quickly.

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California sued over mental health program while Georgia reaches ‘ sweeping agreement’ termed template for nation

Sunday, October 24th, 2010

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is back in the news, not over workers’ comp issues this time but rather the Americans with Disabilities Act.

According to an Oct. 23 article  at Silicon Valley MercuryNews.com, “The elimination of a $133 million state mental health program violates the federal rights of more than 20,000 special education students across California, a class-action lawsuit filed Friday against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and governmental agencies said.

“The lawsuit alleges the state violated the Individuals with Disabilities Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act by cutting off the program known as ‘AB 3632 services.’

” ‘State entities have the responsibility not to set in motion factors that would deprive children with mental illness or disabilities of mandatory federal services,’ said Laura Faer, directing attorney for Public Counsel, one of the organizations that filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.”

Also named as defendants were the the Los Angeles Unified School District, the Los Angeles County office on Education, the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health and the state departments of Education and Mental Health.

Line-item veto

It was earlier this month when the governor killed funding for the program via a line-item veto, and some counties have already begun shutting down activities. “Faer said she will seek a temporary restraining order to halt the funding cutoff while the case is being heard.”

‘Unprecedented agreement’ hailed in Georgia

Meanwhile, mental health officials and disability advocates are cheering a settlement in Georgia, describing the agreement as “sweeping” and “unprecedented.”

According to an Oct. 21 post at npr.org, “A sweeping agreement this week between the Justice Department and the state of Georgia highlights an aggressive new campaign by the Obama administration to ensure that people with mental illness and developmental disabilities can get services in their communities — and not be forced to live in institutions.

“As part of the accord, Georgia agreed to specific targets for creating housing aid and community treatment for people with disabilities. Those with disabilities have often cycled in and out of the state’s long-troubled psychiatric hospitals in the past. The state said it will set aside $15 million in the current fiscal year and $62 million next year to make the improvements.”

An Oct. 19 piece in the Los Angeles Times calls the settlement a “model” for enforcement and said the result will be to “move many patients with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities out of the state’s notoriously dangerous psychiatric hospitals and into the community.”

Legal battles sparked by newspaper series

“It also caps a federal investigation that began after more than 100 suspicious deaths of patients in state mental hospitals were documented over a five-year period in a 2007 series in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“The federal investigation confirmed an ‘alarming frequency’ of preventable deaths, suicides and assaults in the hospitals.”

A landmark Supreme Court ruling

State officials are happy that the agreement lets them avoid direct control from Washington,  keeping the state’s mental health services under Georgia’s authority. Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, is indirectly quoted in the Times as calling the agreement “a template” that will guide “nationwide enforcement of the principles laid out in a landmark Supreme Court disability rights case from 1999, Olmstead vs. L.C.”

“That case, Perez said, ‘was hailed as the Brown vs. Board of Education of the disability rights movement — a recognition that unnecessarily segregating people with disabilities in institutions can be just as destructive as segregating children in schools.’ ”

According to the npr.com article, “Georgia said it would improve its state hospitals in a January 2009 agreement with the Justice Department during the final days of the Bush administration. But a coalition of consumer groups filed a brief in opposition to that settlement, saying it failed to improve hospital discharge planning and services in the community.

“The Justice Department later backed away from the original terms of the deal and eventually added the Olmstead issues in a separate complaint in January. Last month, the federal judge in the case ratified the original hospital agreement, but let the Olmstead portion proceed, which culminated in the second agreement.”

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Cholecystitis and Receiving Social Security Disability Benefits

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

Your gallbladder is a small, pear-shaped organ. It is located right below your liver, on the right side of your abdomen.

Your gallbladder helps in the digestive process. It also stores and concentrates bile that has been produced in your liver.

Bile is a digestive fluid that is secreted continuously by your liver. It neutralizes acids and emulsifies fats in partly digested food.

Cholecystitis falls under the heading of biliary tract disease. Biliary tract disease refers to a group of complications that cause a blockage inside one or more of the bile ducts of your liver.

Cholecystitis is inflammation of your gallbladder. Usually, bile goes out of your gallbladder on the way to your small intestine. With cholecystitis, the flow of bile is blocked, causing it to build up inside of your gallbladder. The result is pain, swelling and, sometimes, infection.

Cholecystitis can be either acute or chronic. Acute cholecystitis is a sudden inflammation of your gallbladder that causes severe abdominal pain. Chronic cholecystitis is ongoing irritation and swelling of your gallbladder.

It is estimated that between 10 and 20% of people in the United States have gallstones. It is also estimated that as high as one third of these people will develop cholecystitis.

Usually, cholecystitis develops during middle age. Women are 6 times more likely than men to have this disease between the ages of 20 and 50. However, after age 50, the incidence of cholecystitis is equal between men and women.

There are several signs and symptoms that you may have with cholecystitis. These signs and symptoms are usually experienced after you eat a meal, especially if it is a meal that is high in fat or a big meal. These signs and symptoms include:

  • Vomiting
  • Nausea
  • Abdominal bloating
  • Steady, severe pain in the upper right part of your abdomen that increases when you take a deep breath
  • Loss of appetite
  • Pain that radiates to your back or right shoulder from your abdomen
  • Sweating
  • Chills
  • Fever
  • Tenderness in your abdomen when you touch it.

You or your loved one may have been diagnosed with cholecystitis. This disease and/or complications resulting from it may be why you or your loved one is not able to work. It may be causing your disability and need of financial help.

You or your loved one may decide to apply for financial assistance from the Social Security Administration for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits because of the disability caused by cholecystitis and/or complications resulting from this disease. Have you already done this and been denied?

If you or your loved one intends to appeal the denial by the Social Security Administration, remember this important fact. People who have a disability lawyer like the one you will find at Social Security Home are approved more often than people who are not represented by a disability attorney.

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Grand Mal Epilepsy and Receiving Social Security Disability

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

Epilepsy is a word that has frightened people. The word “epilepsy” comes from a Greek word meaning “to possess, seize or hold.” Epilepsy is a medical condition that has been greatly misunderstood. Epilepsy is not contagious, and people with this condition are not “crazy”.

At any given time, about 50 million people have epilepsy worldwide. About 2.5 million of those people with epilepsy are Americans. More than 180,000 people are diagnosed with epilepsy every year. Epilepsy usually begins in children or people over age 65, but it can occur at any age.

Epilepsy is actually a group of related disorders that are characterized by recurring seizures. These related disorders may have vastly different symptoms, but they all involve episodic abnormal electrical activity in your brain. Epilepsy disrupts the transmission of electrical signals in your brain. When this happens a seizure takes place.

Grand mal epilepsy, which is also known as a tonic-clonic seizure, is the kind of epilepsy that most people picture when they think about epilepsy. Grand mal epilepsy involves generalized seizures that affect your entire brain. These seizures begin with stiffening of your limbs (tonic phase). This is usually followed by jerking of your limbs and face (clonic phase), although some people only have the tonic phase and some people only experience the clonic phase of a grand mal seizure.

There are several signs and symptoms that you may have with grand mal epilepsy. Some of these are:

§  An aura – This is a kind of warning sign that a grand mal seizure is about to take place. It varies from person to person. It may be a strange sense of smell, a feeling of numbness or feeling a sense of unexplained dread.

§  A severe headache – This happens to most but not all people after a seizure.

§  Confusion – A time of disorientation may follow a seizure that is known as postictal confusion.

§  A scream – Some people cry out at the start of a seizure.

§  Unresponsiveness after a seizure – Unconsciousness may continue for several minutes after a seizure has ended.

§  Fatigue – Sleepiness is usual after a seizure.

§  Loss of bladder and bowel control – This may take place during or after a seizure.

You or a loved one may have grand mal epilepsy. This disorder and/or complications resulting from or other disabling conditions along with it may be the cause of your disability and need for financial assistance.

You or your loved one may consider applying for the financial help that you need from the Social Security Administration by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits because of the disability caused by grand mal epilepsy and/or complications resulting from or other disabling conditions along with it. You or your loved one may have already applied and been turned down.

If you or your loved one decides to reapply or appeal the denial, remember this. The fact is that people who have a disability lawyer in their corner like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com are approved more often than people who are not represented by a disability attorney.

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Retinal Detachment and Receiving Social Security Disability

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
Schematic diagram of the human eye in english
Image via Wikipedia

Your retina is a light-sensitive layer at the back of your eye. It covers about 65% of the interior surface of your eye. Photosensitive cells that are called rods and cones inside of your retina convert incident light energy into signals that your optic nerve carries to your brain.

A small dimple that is called fovea centralis or the fovea lies in the middle of your retina. The fovea is where most color perception is located, and it is the center of your eye’s sharpest vision.

Retinal detachment is when your retina is pulled away from the underlying choroid. The choroid is a thin layer of blood vessels that supplies nutrients and oxygen to your retina.

When retinal detachment takes place, your retinal cells do not get the oxygen that they need. The longer that your retina is separated from your choroid, the greater is your risk of permanently losing your vision in your affected eye. In like manner, the sooner your retinal detachment is diagnosed and treated, the greater is the chance of your vision being saved in the affected eye.

Retinal detachment is relatively rare. It happens to about one in 15,000 people in the United States. This represents about 0.3% of the population. It happens most often in people who are middle-aged and older.

About 6% of people in the United States have a hole in their retina. However, most of the time, this does not develop into retinal detachment.

Even though retinal detachment is not painful, nearly always you have visual signs and symptoms that take place before it occurs. Some of these are:

§  A curtain or shadow over a part of your visual field

§  The sudden appearance of a lot of floaters, which are small bits of debris in your field of vision that seem to float in front of your eyes and that appear to be hairs, strings or spots

§  A sudden blur in your vision

§  Sudden flashes of light in one or both of your eyes

§  Darkening of your peripheral visual field.

You or a loved one may have or have had retinal detachment. Complications resulting from this condition may have resulted in you or your loved one’s disability.

You or your loved one may need help if this is true. You may need financial assistance.

You or your loved one may have considered applying for the financial help that you need from the Social Security Administration by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits because of the disability caused by complications resulting from retinal detachment. Have you or your loved one already taken this step and been denied by the Social Security Administration?

If you or your loved one has decided to reapply or appeal the denial, here is something important for you to think about. People who have a disability lawyer on their side like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com are approved more often than people who are not represented by a disability attorney.

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Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and Receiving Social Security Disability

Monday, October 18th, 2010
Hypertrophic-obstructive cardiomyopathy in a d...
Image via Wikipedia

Your heart is at the center of your cardiovascular system. Your heart is the organ that pumps blood to all of the cells in your body through your body’s blood vessels. Your blood has oxygen that your cells have to have.

Cardiomyopathy literally means “heart muscle disease”. It refers to the deterioration of the working of your myocardium (heart muscle).  This medical condition hinders your heart’s ability to pump blood.

Dilated cardiomyopathy is the most common form of this disease. It is when your heart’s main pumping chamber becomes dilated (enlarged), and its pumping ability becomes impaired.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a form of cardiomyopathy where your heart muscle (myocardium) becomes hypertrophied or abnormally thick. The result is that your heart may have a harder time pumping blood. This disease can also affect the electrical system of your heart.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is known by other names. It is also referred to as idiopathic hypertrophic subaortic stenosis, hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy and asymmetric septal hypertrophy.

Fortunately, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is rare. It is not as common as dilated cardiomyopathy. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy affects about 1 in 500 people in the United States.

People of all ages can have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. However, younger people are more prone to have a serious form of this disease. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy affects men and women equally.

Genetic mutations are what often cause hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Doctors believe these genetic mutations cause your heart muscle to become abnormally thick. Another factor that may play a role in the development of this disease is an abnormal arrangement of your heart’s muscle fibers. This can play a part in causing an irregular heartbeat.

There are some signs and symptoms that may be an indication of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Some of these are:

  • Hypertension (high blood pressure)
  • Shortness of breath
  • Shortness of breath while lying down
  • Chest pain
  • Reduced activity tolerance (fatigue)
  • Dizziness
  • Light-headedness that happens especially after exercise or activity
  • Palpitations (a sense of fluttering, pounding or rapid heartbeats)
  • Fainting that especially occurs during activity or exercise.

You or a loved one may have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This disease and/or complications resulting from it may be causing you or your loved one’s disability. It may be why you or your loved one cannot work and need financial assistance?

You or your loved one may intend to apply for the financial help that you need from the Social Security Administration by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits because of the disability caused by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and/or complications resulting from this disease. You may have already done this and been turned down.

If you or your loved one plans on appealing the denial by the Social Security Administration, consider this. People with a disability lawyer like the one you will find at Social Security Home are approved more often than people who are not represented by a disability attorney.

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Vaginal Cancer and Receiving Social Security Disability

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

In a woman’s physiology, your vagina is a 3 to 4 inch canal that leads from the outside of your body to your cervix (opening of your uterus). When you give birth to a child, your baby goes out of your body through your vagina. The vagina is also referred to as the birth canal.

Your vagina is lined by a layer of flat cells that are known as squamous cells. This layer of cells is also referred to as epithelial lining (or epithelium) because it is made up of epithelial cells.

Your vaginal wall that lies under your epithelial lining contains lymph vessels, nerves, connective tissue and muscle tissue. Normally, your vagina is in a collapsed condition where the walls are touching one another. During the birth of a baby or sexual intercourse, folds in your vaginal walls help your vagina to expand and open. There are glands located near the opening of your vagina that secrete mucus to keep your vaginal lining moist.

Vaginal cancer is cancer that begins in the cells of your vaginal tissue. This is how most cancers are named. It is called by where it begins in your body. Even though it may spread (metastasize), it is still named by where it began in your body.

Vaginal cancer is not a common cancer. It accounts for about 3% of the cancers of a woman’s reproductive system.

There are different types of vaginal cancer. Around 85 to 90% are squamous cell carcinomas. Adenocarcinomas, melanomas and sarcomas are far less common kinds of vaginal cancer.

As with many other types of cancer, vaginal cancer may not cause any signs or symptoms during its early stages. As it progresses, some of the signs and symptoms that you may have are:

  • Urination that is painful
  • Pelvic pain
  • A mass or lump in your vagina
  • Vaginal bleeding that is unusual, like after menopause or after sexual intercourse
  • Constipation
  • A watery vaginal discharge that can be foul smelling and bloody.

You or a loved one may have vaginal cancer. This disease and/or complications resulting from it may be the cause of you or your loved one’s disability. Vaginal cancer may be why you or your loved one cannot work and is in need of financial assistance.

You or your loved one may be thinking about applying for the financial help that you need from the Social Security Administration by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits because of the disability caused by vaginal cancer and/or complications resulting from this disease. Have you or your loved one already taken this step and been turned down by the Social Security Administration?

If you or your loved one is considering appealing the denial by the Social Security Administration, think about this carefully. People who are represented by a disability lawyer like the one at socialsecurityhome.com are approved more often than people who do not have a disability attorney in their corner.

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Syringomyelia and Receiving Social Security Disability Benefits

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010

Syringomyelia (SM) is a chronic disorder that involves your spinal cord. For reasons that are only now being understood, cerebrospinal fluid enters your spinal cord and forms a cyst or tubular cavity within your spinal cord. This cyst, called a syrinx, elongates and expands over time, destroying the center of your spinal cord.

Syringomyelia is a rare disorder. Estimates on the number of people in the United States who are affected with this condition vary widely because it can occur in conjunction with other disorders. A conservative estimate is that around 40,000 Americans have syringomyelia.

Generally, there are two types of syringomyelia. The condition can be related to a congenital abnormality of your brain called Arnold Chiari malformation. This is named after the physician who first described it.

A syrinx may then develop in the cervical region of your spinal cord; this is referred to as communicating syringomyelia. Some people with this form of the disorder also have hydrocephalus (water on the brain), a condition in which cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) accumulates in your skull or arachnoiditis, in which a covering of your spinal cord is inflamed.

The second major form of syringomyelia occurs as a complication of hemorrhage, trauma, tumor or meningitis. In this case, the cyst or syrinx develops in a segment of your spinal cord damaged by one or more of these conditions. The syrinx may start to expand. If it does, it is sometimes referred to as noncommunicating syringomyelia.

A wide variety of signs and symptoms can be experienced with syringomyelia as the nerve fibers inside your spinal cord are damaged depending on the location and size of the syrinx. You may also have various combinations of different signs and symptoms. Some of the signs and symptoms that you may have are:

  • Wasting and weakness of your upper arm muscles
  • Difficulty walking
  • Weakness of your legs
  • Pain in your arms and neck
  • Numbness and decreased sensitivity to heat, cold and pain in your hands, arms, shoulders and upper body
  • Loss of bladder and bowel control
  • Headaches
  • Chronic pain.

Syringomyelia may have reached a point where you or a loved one is unable to work. This disorder may be the cause of your disability.

If this is true, you or your loved one may need help. You may need financial assistance.

Have you or your loved one applied for that financial assistance from the Social Security Administration by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits because of the disability caused by syringomyelia? Were you or your loved one denied?

If you or your loved one is planning on appealing the denial by the Social Security Administration, keep this in mind. People who are represented by a skilled disability attorney like the one you will find at Social Security Home are approved more often than those people who are without a lawyer.

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