What Eye Problems Qualify for Disability
Good vision really is so important, and especially when you consider just how much of your sensory input everyday goes through those optic nerves of yours. It’s the reason that wearing eye protection is important depending on what you do for work, or if you’re the like the hundreds of thousands of people in North America who love to play hockey. In a much more everyday sense you also protect your eyes by getting eyeglasses if you need them, as vision does deteriorate as we get older. But what eye problems qualify for disability? That will depend on where you are, but if you have significant vision loss that is going to be a disability.
Ocular hypertension can be the start of certain eye disorders where vision may be majorly at risk, and if this is your current status with feeling pressure in your eyes then a medication like Travatan Z may be what your doctor thinks is best for you. By normalizing pressure in the eye what these medications do is make sure that pressure is not directed onto the optical nerve, and this reduces the long term risk of losing your eyesight. Keeping in mind of course that even partial blindness will mean many people will be unable to continue with their work and they means they have of supporting themselves.
Any degree of vision loss is going to affect people differently based on their age, situation, as well as how quickly their vision loss has progressed. The reason that people are encouraged to see their doctor and / or an optometrist as soon as possible when they start feeling something is wrong with their eyes is because once eyesight is loss to a certain point (with or without optic nerve damage) it can be difficult to reverse it and offer the person the hope of regaining good eyesight.
Again, what eye problems qualify for disability is going to depend on where you live in the USA or Canada, but we will try to provide as much more information as we can on the subject here plus what is the requirement to get disability for vision.
Seeing the Extent
Health surveys in the USA routinely come back with data showing that at least 20 million + American over the age 28 have some degree of vision loss at any time. Canada’s population is about one-tenth that of the USA, so we can assume that maybe around 1 million Canadians have vision loss. As for the USA with what eye problems qualify for disability, the general guideline is that if you are legally blind (vision score of 20/200 or rose) then you should be able to qualify for disability benefits.
From there it will be between if you have a vision disability or if you are blind, and as the SSA (social security administration) is a Federal administration the benefit coverage for people no matter which State they are living in. Their assessment of a person’s SGA (substantial gainful activity) will factor into how much you are determined to be eligible to. If you do begin to receive disability you may need to provide some proof of to what extent you’re unable to work because of your poor eyesight.
Different conditions may also be among what eye problems qualify for disability in both countries, and they include:
- Glaucoma
- Macular degeneration
- Ocular melanoma
Glaucoma is the most common of these, and often the most concerning too. But effective glaucoma treatment and prevention is made possible with the right medicated eye drops. This may mean you don’t have to be eventually be asking what eye problems qualify for disability.
Whole Field
Many times when a person has vision loss, it is not so much that they are not seeing well anymore as much as it is they’ve lost their full field of vision. Most people will know of peripheral vision, and for those who haven’t heard of that term what it means is the vision that you have out of the side of your eyes. You’ve probably made use of this vision a whole bunch of times in the last half hour and you weren’t even aware of it. We talked about sports earlier, and if there’s one professional athlete who HAS to have strong peripheral vision it’s an NFL quarterback.
If you’re a fan of the game you’ll know that picking up an open receiver down the sideline quickly enough can be the difference between a big gain and moving of the chains or being crushed into the grass by a 260lb DE and taking a huge loss. This has everything to do with peripheral vision, although it will have no relation to what we’ve been talking about here with what eye problems qualify for disability.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The above information is intended to increase awareness of health information and does not suggest treatment or diagnosis. This information is not a substitute for individual medical attention and should not be construed to indicate that use of the drug is safe, appropriate, or effective for you. See your health care professional for medical advice and treatment.
