by Diane Stacey

Created on: February 05, 2008

There seems to be a perspective on the part of our government that those filing disability claims are lazy deadbeats who just don't want to work. Filing a claim for disability includes a couple of key elements. With each completed step, you think you've just experienced the worst of the process and then you're subjected to even more. There is a lot of uncertainty as well. It takes months to complete the process and statistically, you know the odds aren't in your favor.

Making the decision to file a claim is the hardest part. By the time you acknowledge your condition, you are exhausted from trying to meet the demands of life, work and family. You've most likely been working a full-time job and have personal and financial obligations to meet. There is no way to accurate predict what will happen to us in the future and illness is non-discriminating. At the point of deciding it is time to focus on your own health and applying for benefits, having worked hard in the past and paid into the system, we painfully take that first big step to acknowledge we need help. The illness alone was very hard and you've spent a lot of energy trying to meet the demands of a "quantity" life. Quantity spent using the energy you have for everyone else, instead of focusing on trying to improve the "quality" of your life.

Filing a claim requires a disabled person to evaluate their own perceptions of themselves, how they feel about their life and their self image. It is difficult having been a productive member of society, independent and capable, not only of taking care of ourselves, but also helping others to having to accept our limitations. You have to deal with learning not to see yourself as a failure or disappointment because something happened to your health. This is the personal part of the process our government chooses not to take into account as part of our claim.

Another difficult element of this process is filling out all the paperwork which includes very personal details and information about your life. Unlike the privacy rights you had as a medical patient, the disabled don't have the same rights once the government assumes a role in your fate. Your entire medical history is uncovered during the application process and you are never informed as to who will receive a copy of your information or what specific details will be divulged.

As the process starts, you begin to feel like you are being punished for being sick. You may have thought you'd dealt with the emotions of your

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