My company has optional disability insurance and I’m wondering if I should even get it. I work as a computer programmer, but computers are so accessible that I wonder how disabled I’d have to be in order to not be able to work. If I lost both my hands, I could still type. If I lost all my vision, I could use screen readers. I think basically I’d have to be in a condition where I was unemployable (like in a coma) in order to collect a disability check. Does anyone have the inside scoop on how you collect on your disability insurance?
You could be disabled in such a way where you are too sick to work (like cancer) or unable to sit for long periods of time.
Also, if you lost both your hands it would probably take awhile for you to able to type well enough to work again. The same with your vision.
Consider rehab time for a physical injury. You might also end up in constant pain, unable to concentrate enough to work. You could get a brain injury, or have a stroke, or develop a mental illness or disability. Severe burns can be extremely incapacitating. (Go to Snopes and look up Jacqueline Saburido.) And on and on.
There are all kinds of ways to become debilitated (and I’m sure that many Dopers can provide firsthand accounts, unfortunately). This comes up periodically on a list for publishing freelancers that I subscribe to, and the question is usually the same: I sit at a computer, so how could I possibly not be able to work? Answer: Lots of ways.
I do programming/computer work and I’m pretty worried about my wrists crumbling away or getting so inflamed/damaged that I can’t type anymore. I’m probably going to have to have surgery on the suckers and I don’t know how long that will put me out of commision. I’d say better safe than sorry.
Thanks for the great info. One thing I’m still wondering about is if I would get disability only if I was completely unemployable in any field. For example, say I have debilitating pain that strikes several times a day. Although I might not be able to program for a living, I could do something else like telemarketing from my house. When I’m in pain, I don’t make any calls. When the pain subsides, I get back on the phone. Would the insurance company deny me coverage since, technically, I could still work?
I think you’d have to check the policy for that information.