Americans With Disabilities

I am perusing another webpage and I come across a forum where a gentleman who is 70%  VA service connected and seeking 100% Total and Permanent Disability with Individual Unemployability. He filed and was denied leaving him at 70%. If he is unsatisfied with this response he is able to appeal. It is best that he appeals and does not file a new claim, because if they approve him for 100% he will only be back paid to the time of his claim. So for the appeal it will date back to when he filed his initial but if he files a new claim he will only be paid back to the date of the new claim.

He also mentioned he was unable to obtain work due to his disabilities. Employers were nervous and hesitant about providing him refrigeration for his medications. He is protected and if you run into the same experience so are you. Now remember every situation is different but they need to provide handicap accessible facilities, entry ways, and accommodate to your medical need without repercussion.

http://askjan.org/links/adasummary.htm – a brief overview of Americans with Disabilities Act

We are people too, with the same responsibilities as those that don’t need accommodations or suffer from medical issues. We deserve the same chance at a job, pay rate, accessibility, and respect. We have bills, children, debt, and desire to be successful.

Will SSDI Affect My VA compensation?

When you initially apply for Social Security Disability is up to you. It is easier to win a case when you submit that you are already service connected through the VA. There is not a set amount of service connected you have to be if you feel your disability keeps you from working. 

 When you are receiving VA disability compensation you are allowed to keep working without penalty, unless you are 100% with Individual Unemployability (IU), which you can not apply for unless you are already 70% Service Connected. 

 However, Social Security Disability (SSD) in order to initially be rewarded it you have to prove you can not hold a job. If you win Social Security Disability they will offer to also retrain you in another career to help you get off Social Security and back into the work force. If you do start working they will dock your disability pay. For me here in Florida for two dollars I make Social Security will take one dollar back. They also have the ticket to work where you can make up to $700 a month. 

With both SSD and IU your condition will be periodically reviewed and your benefits may change. 

You can also end up with 100% PandTD once you hit this point you do not want to file any new claims. If you do you run the risk of going over  100%. By filing a new claim when you are already 100% PandTD, you just opened up all of your conditions for further review and you can actually lose some of your compensation if they find that your condition has improved. If you are IU, you get paid the same amount as a person on PandTD, however you can not work at all, otherwise you forfeit your IU. You are able to work when you are P and TD. PandTD is the only disability program out there where you can be considered 100% disabled and still make taxable income.

Fellow Veterans!

I am a USAF veteran. I am currently a patient at James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa, Fl. As a whole we would like to see more veterans come into the VA and take advantage of the benefits they have earned. How can we (the VA) make our facilities more family friendly? How can we entice you to come in and be a part of our group? Veterans helping Veterans, we are a family bonded by our oath. How can we better assist the homeless veterans and their healthcare needs? We have pink bag lunches for the woman’s veterans every two months (we have men come too)… I need suggestions from the people. These programs are for you, so they should be made by you, geared for you, with you in mind. 

Link

http://www.standown.org/homeless.html

“There should be no man left behind.
There will be no man left behind as long as we are this Nation”
Roy Foster, Executive Director & Founder FHLC, Inc.

Filing a VA Claim

Filing a claim may seem daunting, but hopefully I can make the process easier for you.

The first step in filing a claim is knowing what kind of compensation you are trying to receive. Are you filing as a veteran and trying to receive compensation for an injury or disease that incurred or was made worse by active military service, or are you a spouse or dependent that survived a veteran, or are you filing a special claim for house adaption or special allowances for in home care for example. Based upon the kind of compensation you are trying to be awarded determines the kind of claim you will file. When filing your initial claim you will want to mention everything, however, if you are seeking an increase in benefits I would personally suggest you focus on one thing at a time, working from your biggest issues down.

 

Pre-discharge Claim:

 

If you are still active and facing retirement or discharge you are able to get a head start on your claim process. You are able to file a claim up to 180 days prior to separation from duty. The advantage of filing a Pre-discharge claim is the turn around time tends to be much faster. 

You can file for a Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD) filling out form VA Form VBA-21-526 , attaching a copy of your medical records and mailing to your nearest VA location, or by using ebenefits on-line E-benefits Portal or by calling 1-800-827-1000 and having the form mailed to you and returning the form to your nearest VA Regional Office.

You can receive a lot more information on this process by visiting your Transition Assistance Office or for Army personal visiting your ACAP center. 

 

Pre-Service Disability:

 

You can file a claim for a pre-existing condition that was further aggravated by your military service. However, keep in mind you should you win your claim you will only be rewarded based on the percentage of aggravation not for the whole condition. 

 

In-Sevice Disability:

 

You can file a claim for injuries or illness that incurred during military service but were not a result of alcohol, drugs, abuse, or other willful misconduct.

 

Post-Service Disability:

 

These are injuries or illnesses that you did not have when discharged or separated from service but are a direct result of military service this could include inhaled toxins, locations, or other circumstances. Some of these said circumstances could include Agent Orange, a disability that appeared within a year after discharge, exposure to hazardous materials, Gulf War Illness or even POW captivity. 

 

  

Special Circumstances: 

 

These are claims that are not necessarily based on an in-service event such as unemployability due to surgery for a service connected disability or a claim filed by a surviving spouse. You can file for dental, vision, certain birth defects such as spina bifida, injuries aggravated by VA care, Automobile allowance, Home adaption, prestabalization, clothing allowance, individual unemployability just to name a few… I can assist in all of these and get you the links and refer you to the correct individuals to get the ball rolling on these claims. However, in this forum there is just to many to get in depth on the all. 

 

When filing a claim be sure to include all the evidence supporting your claim. You will need your DD form  214, Service Treatment Records, and any additional medical evidence such as hospital and doctor reports you may have from private facilities. As a standard rule the VA is responsible for obtaining any evidence held by federal agencies, but it is you as a veteren’s responsibility to provide any and everything else not held by federal agencies. 

 

Generally, the effective compensation date if awarded is the date the claim was recieved, however, as with everything else there are some exemptions to this rule. 

 

Lastly, I want to mention you also are able to have outside organization represent you and help you file your claim. There are private lawyers, the DAV, American Legion, a Veteran’s Claim Examiner, and probably several other agencies not listed here. 

 

There is also one more additional way of filing a claim which is by far the fastest way to receive a claims decision and that is by filing a Fully Developed Claim (FDC). The FDC consists of only two steps. 

 

Step 1: simply complete the correct EZ-form,

EZ-Form for Veterans Compensation Claim

EZ-Form for Veteran’s Pension Claim

EZ-Form for survivor’s DIC, Death Pension, and/or Accrued Benefit Claim

Step 2: attach supporting documentation as outlined on the EZ-form

 

There is also a Disabilities Benefit questionaire that ensures the raters have a full view of your medical conditions so they can make the best possible rating decision for you. 

DBQ list by Symptom name

DBQ list by form name

 

Additional Link:

 

Regional Office Locations by state

 

I have created a new email specifically for questions, suggestions, or concerns, feel free to comment on my posts or email me privately at: 

 

VABenefitAwareness@gmail.com