Can Asthma Be Considered A Disability

Is Asthma Classified As A Disability Under The Ada

Whether asthma is classified as a disability under the ADA depends on the severity of the medical condition, the lawyers advocacy, the judge, and perhaps even the jury.

Judges have classified asthma as a disability in some cases and decided not to in others.

With cases that go to court, its never clear what will happen.

In court cases, judges sometimes decide lawsuits by just reading papers that lawyers present to the court.

These papers, known as briefs, contain the lawyers legal arguments on behalf of their clients.

The judge, after reading the briefs, can decide a case based on nothing more than papers that lawyers write no jury, no trial, just legal documents.

After the judge decides the case, the judge will issue whats called an opinion.

The opinion will state the relevant facts and give the reason why the court decided the way it did.

Request A Reasonable Accommodation

If you have a severe type of asthma, you should consider requesting a reasonable accommodation.

A reasonable accommodation is basically a request asking your employer to help you with your disability.

Your employer has to try and help you out if you request one. But you must be the one to actually request it. You should probably obtain a note from your doctor before making the request.

I recommend a short e-mail to your human resources department.

Your e-mail to HR triggers your employers obligations to engage in the interactive process. The interactive process means that your employer must work with you to come up with a reasonable accommodation.

Usually, you and your employer are able to come up with something that will allow you to work. Your employer may deny your request.

Or your employer may not actually think that you are disabled. We saw this with Ms. Merit. Regardless, employers do generally try to work with employees. They do not want to invite a lawsuit under the ADA.

How Does The Ada Work

The ADA helps people with asthma and allergies create safer, healthier environments where they work, shop and eat. It also helps people who attend public schools and non-religious private schools, even if those schools do not receive federal funding. For example, a private preschool may have to allow a child to use a quick-relief asthma inhaler during the day. Or, a company cannot refuse to hire a qualified person with food allergies because they may have to make the lunchroom allergy friendly.

In most cases, everyone works together to improve conditions and promote equal access and include those with disabilities. This is called an accommodation. Accommodations are made on an individual basis because the needs of each person vary depending upon the situation.

Examples of accommodations could include:

• Reorganizing work spaces to reduce odors
• Restricting the use of allergens in classrooms
• Removing old carpet

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How To Ask For Accommodations

If you have allergies or asthma and want to feel more comfortable in your environment, you can talk to a manager, school administrator, employer, or other person in charge. Theyâll help you figure out the best way to get reasonable changes or services.

There are many resources you can use to get advice or ideas on how to ask for accommodations. The U.S. Department of Justice has a hotline that you can call and ask questions. That phone number is 800-514-0301. You can visit www.ada.gov for more information.

What Kind Of Medical Evidence Of Asthma Do I Need

A spirometry test measures how much air you breathe in each breath along with the rate of your breath. This is where the FEV1 value comes from. The test measures how much breath you can force out in one second.

Keeping detailed records of a year of severe asthma can be crucial to receiving SSI benefits. You should be able to provide information on your hospitalizations as well as treatments. You must also show that you were following your doctors plan for preventing asthma attacks. Include contact information for every hospital, clinic, or medical facility that you visit for asthma treatment. Be sure to know medication names and dosages.

If you have severe asthma and believe that your employer is failing to provide a reasonable accommodation to you, reach out to a disability lawyer for your legal solutions.

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What Does Reasonable Accommodation Mean

Reasonable accommodations are adjustments or modifications provided by an employer that enable people with disabilities to enjoy equal employment opportunities. Accommodations vary depending upon the needs of the individual applicant or employee. Not all people with disabilities, or even all people with the same disability, will require the same accommodation.

Common Symptoms Of Asthma In Veterans

Asthma symptoms vary from veteran to veteran.

You may have intermittent asthma attacks, such as after exercising, or you may have symptoms all the time.

Your final VA rating will depend upon the severity of your symptoms.

Asthma signs and symptoms may include:

• Shortness of breath

Signs that your asthma disability is probably worsening include:

• Asthma signs and symptoms that are more frequent and bothersome
• Increasing difficulty breathing, as measured with a device used to check how well your lungs are working
• The need to use a quick-relief inhaler more often

Asthma signs and symptoms flareups include:

• Exercise-induced asthma, which may be worse when the air is cold and dry
• Occupational asthma, triggered by workplace irritants such as chemical fumes, gases, or dust
• Allergy-induced asthma, triggered by airborne substances, such as pollen, mold spores, cockroach waste, or particles of skin and dried saliva shed by pets

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Do Not Panic And Initiate The Legal Process

The application and appeal process are undoubtedly complicated. Legal professionals know disability law, eligibility criteria, documents needed, and other things that can be complex for the average person to understand. If you choose to hire a Social Security disability lawyer, they will handle everything on your behalf and talk to responsible authorities to strengthen your case.

We can represent you and ensure that you have open lines of communication with the Social Security Administration, ensuring that you receive the compensation you are entitled to.

Making The Ada Work For You

If you or your child would like help due to asthma or allergies, speak with a school administrator, manager, employer, human specialist or disabilities service coordinator. They should know the procedure to help you get appropriate changes, aids or services. You can call on a variety of sources for advice and creative, practical ideas.

The U.S. Department of Justice runs a hotline where you can ask questions, get free materials and find out how to file a complaint. The ADA Hotline number is 800-514-0301 or 800-514-0383 . There is also helpful information about the ADA on their website at www.ada.gov.

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Can I Qualify For Disability Due To Asthma

The SSE will, when deciding if you are eligible to collect disability benefits due to asthma, check first to make sure that you are not earning more than $1090 per month. They will also make sure that your inability to work because of asthma lasts for 12 months or more. The SSA will see if your symptoms match their official asthma disability listing after you pass these initial tests for screening.

Disability Tax Credit For Asthma Sufferers

The Disability Tax Credit may be available to a person or family member supporting someone diagnosed with asthma. The easiest way to ascertain eligibility would be to talk to an expert at Disability Credit Consultants.

Asthma is a respiratory disorder in which the bronchial passages become blocked, restricting the process of exhaling and inhaling. It is a serious respiratory disorder that can be fatal. Asthma affects all ages from infants to the elderly. Anybody can develop this respiratory disorder at any time in his or her life.

One of the main symptoms that can be seen commonly in affected individuals is coughing. Coughing might occur especially during the nights and early mornings and it might continue for a long period of time. There are affected individuals who also develop wheezing before they have an attack. But the most serious symptom is facing difficulty in respiration or shortness of breath.

Other symptoms include lethargy and headaches. One might also face problems like itching in areas around throat and chin, and even a blocked nose. People suffering from this disorder might have difficulty in sleeping and can feel pain or heaviness in and around the chest region.

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Residual Functional Capacity Assessment For Asthma

What Is RFC?

If your asthma is not severe enough to meet or equal a listing at Step 3 of the Sequential Evaluation Process, the Social Security Administration will need to determine your residual functional capacity to decide whether you are disabled at Step 4 and Step 5 of the Sequential Evaluation Process. RFC is a claimantâs ability to perform work-related activities. In other words, it is what you can still do despite your limitations. An RFC for physical impairments is expressed in terms of whether the Social Security Administration believes you can do heavy, medium, light, or sedentary work in spite of your impairments. The lower your RFC, the less the Social Security Administration believes you can do.

The Social Security Administration should carefully assess your RFC assessment because the severity of asthma may fluctuate depending on how effective treatment has been. Consequently, your RFC should not be based as strongly on the results spirometric testing as it is for other types of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease . See Meeting Social Security Administration Listing 3.03A for Asthma for more on spirometry.

Your own reports of your symptoms can be especially important. See how Keeping a Symptom Diary and Record of PEF Can Help You Win Social Security Disability Benefits.

Exercise-Induced Asthma

Asthma Triggers in the Workplace

Here is a list of typical allergens and the type of work that would typically expose a person to them.

What Kind Of Medical Evidence Do I Need

You must undergo a spirometry test. A spirometry test will measure how much air you breathe in and out and at what rate you breathe. Specifically, the spirometry test must measure how much air you can force out in one second .

To qualify for disability based on asthma rather than chronic asthmatic bronchitis, you will also need to provide the SSA with at least 12 consecutive months of medical records that show how often and for how long you were hospitalized because of your asthma, what treatment you received for your asthma, and whether you were following your doctor’s treatment for prevention of asthma attacks. It is important to provide the names and addresses of every hospital, clinic, and ER facility where you received breathing treatments, the names and dosages of all medications, and your records from your treating physician.

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Gathering Proper Medical Evidence

You will have to undergo a spirometry test in order to prove that you have chronic asthmatic bronchitis and meet the listing requirements for asthma. This kind of test measures how much air you breathe both in and out and the rate at which you breathe. The disability requirements stipulate that you must measure how much air you are able to force out in one second. You will also need to prove to the SSA that you have been experiencing the required symptoms for 12 consecutive months, via medical records showing hospitalizations, treatments you received and testimony from your doctor in regards to your compliance towards treatment for asthma.

Contact Gillette Law Group

We at the Gillette Law Group can help you do this. For many years now, we have been assisting disability claimants and enabling them to pursue effective applications. With our legal service, you can have an increased likelihood to get approved by the SSA.

Dont wait to pursue your Social Security disability claim. We provide you with a free consultation, so talk to us today at 873-2604.

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Qualifying For Disability With Asthma

The Social Security Administration has a handbook called the Disability Evaluation Under Social Security that lists the most common disabling conditions and the requirements needed to qualify those conditions. Section 3 relates to the respiratory system and lists several impairments that affect the lungs such as cystic fibrosis and chronic pulmonary insufficiency. Anyone 18 years or older with asthma is evaluated under listing 3.03 Asthma. Children with asthma are evaluated under a separate listing .

3.03 Asthma

Applicant must satisfy one of the following:

A.) Chronic asthmatic bronchitis meeting the listing for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 3.02A

3.02A: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease due to any cause with FEV1 equal to or less than the values specified in table I corresponding to the individuals height without shoes.

B.) Asthma attacks despite applying prescribed treatment and requiring physician intervention at least once every 2 months or at least 6 times a year. Each hospitalization that lasts longer than 24 hours for control of asthma counts as two attacks, and an evaluation period of more than 12 consecutive months must be used to determine the frequency of attacks.

What Is A Disability

Lets start with Cambridge Dictionary.

A physical or mental condition that makes someone unable to act in a way that is considered usual for most people.1

So, here is how the Americans with Disability Act defines disability:

A person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity. This includes people who have a record of such an impairment, even if they do not currently have a disability.”2

I suppose asthma could qualify under this definition. You cant breathe. You certainly cant work. But, I think most people asking this question want to know if they qualify for disability. My answer is: It depends. It depends on whether you are seeking short or long-term disability.

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Is Asthma A Disability Eligible For Social Security Benefits

News, Asthma, Severe Asthma News & Updates

More than 24 million people in the United States live with asthma, a chronic disease that can cause shortness of breath, coughing and wheezing. Asthma attacks can be sudden and serious.

If you have asthma that is so bad you are unable to work, you can file a claim for Social Security disability benefits.

Disability benefits make it easier to cover living expenses like rent or a mortgage, food and utilities. The only requirement to be met to file a claim for disability benefits is that you expect to be unable to work for at least a year because of your condition.

Is Asthma Considered For Disability Benefits

People with asthma can have difficulty breathing properly because of abnormal contractions of the bronchial tubes. Symptoms of this disorder include chest tightness, coughing, wheezing, and having shortness of breath. A lot of sources can trigger an asthma attack, too, including irritants in the air, allergies, cold air, exercise and cold viruses. Even emotional upsets can bring about an asthma attack, and some attacks occur without an apparent reason.

Though medication can often be used to treat asthma, some patients experience episodes that are disabling, despite having undergone treatment. These instances are rare, but they can make it impossible for an individual to maintain full-time employment. If you are experiencing asthma in Illinois, a Chicago disability lawyer will be able to help you determine if you can maintain disability benefits from the SSA.

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Va Disability Rating For Asthma Explained

In this post, we will be exploring how to get a VA disability rating for asthma.

Ill also reveal 3 new insider tips to increase your VA rating for asthma, even if youve already filed or been denied.

In 2021, a veterans VA Rating for Asthma can be rated at 10%, 30%, 60%, or 100%.

Brian Reese THE VA INSIDER

So, lets take a minute to explore the law regarding the symptoms and impairment required to warrant a VA rating for asthma.

Many veterans suffer from various heart and lung conditions, to include Asthma.

In addition, numerous research studies have shown a link between bronchial asthma and obstructive sleep apnea there is a bidirectional relationship where each disorder adversely influences the other one.

A veterans final rating for asthma depends upon the frequency and severity of their symptoms, meaning, the more severe your symptoms, the higher rating.

A Long Term Disability Attorney Can Help

Getting approved for long term disability for asthma can be challenging. Your insurance company may be skeptical of the severity of your symptoms, or not understand the ways your symptoms impair you from working.

Having an experienced long term disability attorney can go a long way in getting your benefits approved. A long term disability attorney will know how best to substantiate your asthma disability claim with the evidence your insurance company seeks.

Avoid fatal mistakes and get it right the first time by calling Riemer Hess LLC, Attorneys at Law, to arrange a consultation: 212-297-0700.

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Meeting Asthma Disability Requirements

If you can meet all the criteria the SSA establishes for asthma, your disability benefits claim will automatically be approved. These requirements include first being diagnosed with chronic asthma, then at least fulfilling one of these conditions:

• You must have frequent asthma attacks that last one day minimum and necessitate medical attention like extended breathing treatments or I.V. medication that is provided in an ER, medical facility or hospital. To qualify, your attacks must persist despite you being supervised by a doctor while complying with treatments. Additionally, they must occur six times a year or every other month at minimum, and you must have a physician evaluate your condition consistently for 12 months in order to establish how often the attacks occur for the SSAs record. OR

• You must experience chronic asthmatic bronchitis, with the same level of forced expiratory volume that is required for qualification for chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder.