Published on: July 2, 2015
If you have diabetes, you know that it’s a condition that requires constant attention—especially if you have Type 1 (or juvenile-onset) diabetes. From watching your glucose levels, to administering insulin and eating at certain times to regulate your blood sugar, if you have diabetes, it's always on your mind. Add to that the stress of working—including working somewhere that has long gaps between breaks—and diabetes can feel disabling. You might be wondering whether you can get disability insurance if you have the condition.
Unfortunately, for diabetes itself, the answer is no. The condition does make working incredibly difficult in terms of scheduling and medicating yourself at inconvenient times, but by itself it usually isn’t enough to qualify you for disability insurance. There are certain conditions that must be met to fulfill these requirements, one of which is the severity of the condition. The disease must disable you from doing what your job requires.
Before you write it off entirely, remember that diabetes may make other conditions worse, and there are other conditions that it causes which might be considered a disabling condition. You may know that diabetes can cause retinopathy (vision issues), neuropathy (nerve damage) in your limbs, or ketoacidosis. These are three of the major complications that can create the conditions necessary for a disability diagnosis.
Retinopathy
Retinopathy, in simple terms, is the breakdown of the retina, leading eventually to blindness. Diabetes is a major cause for the disease (diabetic retinopathy is its own condition), and is one of the major reasons for disability insurance coverage for diabetics. When the retina breaks down, vision gradually decreases. While this may be okay for a while (most people don’t even know it’s happening until it’s too late), blindness will occur—which is a disabling condition underneath the diagnosis of diabetes.
Neuropathy
Again in simple terms, this is the breakdown of the nerves in the extremities. This can be caused by high blood sugar (in the case of poor blood sugar monitoring) and decreased blood flow. An early sign of the disease is burning or tingling in your limbs, particularly your legs and feet. As a result, you may not be able to feel certain things anymore due to the nerve damage, such as sharp objects, cuts, blisters, and extreme temperatures. The disabling part of this is that you can do damage to yourself and never know it, which can be disabling if you work in conditions that expose you to any of these things.
It’s not exclusive to the limbs either. You can have nerve damage in places such as your heart (which can cause you to not feel the pain from a heart attack!), digestive system, and bladder. If you have these symptoms, you may qualify for disability insurance.
Ketoacidosis
Ketoacidosis is the breakdown of fats in the body because it cannot break down sugars, which produces acids (ketones). This may not sound so bad, but the liver then produces more glucose in response, which the body cannot process because of the lack of insulin. While this is somewhat controllable (by not going without insulin for long), it qualifies you for disability if it occurs more than once every two months. If you can be expected to go into the hospital (as ketoacidosis requires hospitalization) once every two months, you’re qualified for disability.
If you don’t have these symptoms, don’t worry yourself too much. You may not be aware that in 2008 in the United States, the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act (ADAA) passed, creating new requirements for employers to accommodate ailments such as diabetes. Before, the ADA didn’t provide for reasonable accommodations for diabetes. Employers now must make these accommodations. If you have diabetes but they’re not severe enough to receive disability insurance, then you can at least get the reasonable accommodations that you need to work without risking your health to do so. If you have any questions, however, you should definitely ask a qualified professional. You might be pleasantly surprised!
