Well, guess what? Disabililty happens. When I had an accident, I thought it would be temporary. It wasn’t. I was not insured at the time (and still don’t have insurance), so lack of proper care most likely caused my injury to go from annoying to life-changing. I tore the ACL in my right knee. With no actual treatment (I was turned away from the local hospital due to lack of ins coverage as this was not considered “life threatening”) and no rehab, it has left me permanently disabled. The problems from the knee and overcompensation has now created an arthritic response in the same hip, and I now walk like a weeble, and must use a cane if I try to go any distance further than from the bathroom to the bedroom. I can no longer work outside the home, because I can’t get around. The added stresses are unbelievable.

We also lost our home when hubby was laid off. After all, I was a huge portion of our income, and mine was gone. Then when his was gone too, we had nothing to bargain with. At that time, there were layoffs everywhere, and no one was buying homes but the foreclosure vultures. So, we lost everything we had spent our lives working for.

It wasn’t pretty, and continues to be a source of stress. I have finally waived the white flag on trying to actually get well enough to hold a real job, but I have to face the facts that it isn’t going to happen. I’ve not been able to work for 3 yrs now, and been out of our little rented townhome maybe 4 times this year. It is too hard for me to use the stairs AND try to walk around anywhere. (And no, we haven’t been able to find a decent place we could afford on one salary for myself and our older kids, a freshman and a sophomore.)

So, I’ll be giving up, in effect, and am now looking into filing for SSI disabililty. I worked for 25 yrs, so getting into the program isn’t an issue, but getting the info and approved might be. I’ve heard it is all uphill, but have no idea what is really involved. But, I finally decided that I needed to face it that my working life was shot in the foot way too soon, and to just file so perhaps some extra monthly income would help us survive. We barely make it right now.

So, while not everyone might need disability insurance, I think it is a subject that EVERYONE should consider, and make some possibility planning for. I NEVER thought it would happen to me, and certainly never thought it would have such long-reaching consequences. (Of course, I never thought a hospital would turn anyone away without a second glance either.) So, it can and does happen. I wish I had been prepared, and had considered that I was not invincible.

SSI = Supplemental Security Income. This is used for people with little or no income or resources. For example, my sisters-in-law who were disabled from birth receive SSI.