Long Term Disability

Long Term Disability - A Question Of Resources
By Glen D. Williams

O.K. You've gotten the news from your doctor and gone through all the stages of grief over the loss of an ability. You could have arthritis or asthma, be blind or deaf...your disability could be mental or physical. This article isn't about a specific condition. Instead, let's consider what to do once we've emotionally processed the loss and found ourselves alive on the other side. How, then, do we live in a way that capitalizes on what we have left? If we can focus our attitude, ability and resources in a positive direction, most of us, regardless of disability, have a good chance at a happy, productive life.

Disabled-vs-Handicapped: Attitude plays a huge role in our future. How do we see our own condition? I didn't like it when they changed the terminology from handicap to disability. Words mean things! Handicap means you're playing with a disadvantage, whereas, disabled means you can't be in the game. Do you want to be in the game? The first thing to do is to stop seeing yourself in terms of disability. I've known people who had productive jobs and happy families who were blind, deaf, suffered from Cerebral Palsy and amputation. Though they qualified, they refused to accept the unnecessary support of others. I also knew a man with vast creative talent and intelligence who used a criminal record and a dustup with a co-worker to qualify for full disability support. If you want to live a happy, productive life, you must begin to see yourself, not as disabled, but as having a handicap to overcome. Sure, there are severe physical and mental disabilities that require the full support of others to survive, but if you can understand this sentence, you don't have anything that severe...so start focusing on what you have rather than what you lost.