Hi ive recently bin diagnosed with type 1 and just want to know can u claim any disability money. I am still at work as normal but is ther any claim for inconvenience and different types of food etc?? Thanks
I wouldn't think so. Are you in the US? Does/will your condition keep you from working? I have T1. Managed with an insulin pump and diet. It has never (knock on wood) made me miss a day of work.
As Marsha says, it does depend on where you are but basically I don't consider myself disabled, nor do I think does the French or British government.
The official dietary advice I got boiled down to "eat a normal balanced diet" - so what different type of food? In fact, when the French hospital doctor saw what I had eaten my first weekend at home, she tore me off a strip for not eating a balanced diet - so no chance of a subsidy there!
Sorry Mick, but as long as you can work normally, I'll be very surprised if you can claim any allowance for your condition beyond that offered on medication for someone with a chronic condition.
I'm with Marsha - I don't think being 'inconvenienced' because of something in one's personal life would be considered a disability, otherwise every parent would be disabled
There also could be a down side to trying to push this, and that is having your employer see you as someone who might be an unreliable or difficult employee.
I agree with the others, and I think your time would be better spent making the required adjustments in your lifestyle to control your diabetes. As moon says, there could be some serious backlash if you are perceived as demanding and/or ungrateful.
I know you didn't cause your diabetes, but neither did your employer or the taxpayers. It is what it is, and I hope you'll be able to develop a coping mechanism which includes acceptance of your condition, and an ongoing search for how best to manage it.
Generally speaking (and based on US/California info) ...
Severe complications, such as amputation, blindness and serious nerve damage, might qualify a person for some benefits.
But I've known folks who kept on working full time with all of the above. And I've known others -- with one or more of the above conditions -- who claimed temporary disability so they could get themselves back up to speed.
Now if your workplace demands that you eat cake, skip your medications and refrain from testing during the day -- or just makes it extremely difficult to do self-care -- you can (usually) seek accommodation. Typical accommodations include permission for short breaks so you can test and take medication, or eat something to prevent or treat a low.
You would be the best judge as to how your workplace will handle such requests.
When I was first diagnosed, I took a week of ordinary sick leave to get my levels semi-stable (or get started down that path, anyway) and to get a little bit used to my new regimen.
As a diabetic, whether Type 1 or Type 2, does not require you to eat "different types of food" etc. You can still eat normal food, you just need to know what causes your sugar to rise and what keeps it steady. This includes "normal" food. Most people tend to stay away from very carby foods and high in sugar foods. However, because a Type 1 is different than a Type 2 as in a Type 1 does not produce insulin at all and must use insulin, their diet may differ from a Type 2's diet slightly.
You are not "disabled" because you have been diagnosed as a diabetic. And, especially as a Type 1, it is a lifelong disorder, but not a disability. It is manageable and you are able to lead a very ordinary life without great difficulty.
So now, the choice is yours. Do you want to be treated as a disabled individual, or do you want to continue your life as the rest of the normal folk do? Up to you.
I filled out some forms with the state to get health insurance. the question on the form was
"do you have a chronic disease" I said Yes diabetes..... I got a call back diabetes is NOT considered a disease.
Diabetes is a disorder that can lead to various diseases. A good many websites list diabetes as a "disorder" or a "condition" such as metabolic syndrome, or a disorder of metabolism. This would mostly identify with Type 2 I would think. Type 1 IMHO should be considered a chronic disease since a Type 1 has no other option than to be on insulin due to a nonfunctioning pancreas. Type 2's typically have some production of insulin from their pancreas, and even though they may have to use insulin, a Type 2 can improve their control enough to come off the insulin eventually. A Type 1 cannot ever stop using insulin. This would be my definition in any case. YMMV
Well, remember our moderator Pam (onaughmae)? She'd been diagnosed type 2 at quite a young age - in her teens, I think - but her pancreas was blown out by years of sulfonylurea drugs. So she eventually lost all pancreatic function - no insulin production whatever - and went on a pump. Still type 2, no antibodies or anything, but no endogenous insulin either. So type 2s can deteriorate to the point of complete insulin dependence too - there's no hard fast rule for any of this.
I went straight to insulin on diagnosis, and it's still the only med I take. My hospital doc said I might be able to get off insulin eventually ... or not.
This week, I was able to reduce my basal dose by a coupla notches, but I don't really expect to get off it altogether.
In France, diabetes is considered as an "affection de longue durée" - long term condition and as such, I get medications and tests at a reduced rate (as long as the doctor remembers to mark ALD on the prescriptions ).
The expression ALD is used to cover all long term issues and now that I think about it, the word "affection" was probably chosen deliberately rather than using "maladie" - so that disabilites such as those arising from things like traumatic amputations, blindness .... didn't need their own dedicated code when it came to treatments.
However, despite my possession of a "protocole de soins" for diabetes, I stand by my earlier post - I ain't disabled - and I'll fight this d..m condition tooth and nail to make sure I stay that way
My doctor, who is not known for exaggeration or over-medicating her patients, told me on diagnosis that I had a chronic, progressive disease.
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