Posted on March 10, 2010.
Epilepsy as a long-term disability Illness and injury can both contribute to long-term disability. For people with a disability, impairment, it may be impossible to work. Meanwhile, medical bills and living costs can add up, you feel like you are down deeper into a hole of unpaid bills. Fortunately, the Social Security Administration provides coverage to those who have a disability, as you can prove that it actually prevent you from working. A neurological disability as the Social Security Administration manages is epilepsy.
The Social Security Administration, or SSA, has compiled a list of deficiencies in order to make decision making faster and smoother. This way, if your condition is on the list of deficiencies, you are more likely to have your application approved for disability insurance. Epilepsy, both the type of seizure and type of seizure absence, is on that list.
Epilepsy can result from a variety of causes. First, some people develop the disease after a brain injury. traumatic brain injury can damage brain tissue, which can then interfere with electrical signals that are sent through the brain to control direction, movement, thoughts and speech, among many other things. Other causes of epilepsy, including diseases and abnormalities of the brain, which may be something a person has had since birth.
Epilepsy is characterized by seizures that can interfere with a person's ability to function normally. The types of seizures are divided into two broad categories: grand mal and petit mal. grand mal seizures are those that most people imagine when they think of epilepsy. An epileptic seizure is spreading rapidly to all parts of the brain, which causes a person to lose consciousness and begin convulsing. The brain stimulates uncontrollable muscle contraction and release several times, causing jerky motion of a seizure.
On the other hand, small seizures or absence seizures, can be just as debilitating, without the violence of an epileptic seizure. A person does not lose consciousness, but you stop conscious activity. Thus, a person who is in the midst of a crisis of absence may only appear to daydream or slightly outside it. A person may show repetitive, involuntary as well as lip-smacking, chewing or eyelids fluttering. This lasts a few seconds and has virtually no recovery time.
Due to the interruption of these two types of crises, SSA considers epilepsy a disability if it meets certain criteria. After three months of unsuccessful treatment, your epilepsy may be considered a disability if:
You suffer from grand mal seizures more than once per month
You suffer from small seizures more than once a week
However, even with these episodes, it may be difficult to prove that you really have a debilitating epilepsy. If you need help to prove that you have a disability, please visit the Web site of the long-term disability experienced lawyers at Charles D. Hankey Law Office, PC today.