Military Disability
By: Abby Heckler
What exactly is "disability"?
Say you go overseas and get hurt..
There are special programs that would help:
-Get you the medical attention you need
-Give you money while you can't work
-Retire early
And this is a bad thing??
Looking from most views.. Of course not!!
However, the government makes it extremely hard to gain disability benefits. There are many steps and lots of paperwork to go through. Only 42% of the time everything is approved. That's not even half!
The government only puts full effort into helping if you are missing a limb usually. More disabilities would include:
-TBI
-Personality Disorders
-PTSD
What is PTSD?
PTSD is a considered a mental disorder. It stands for post traumatic stress disorder. It is caused by a traumatic experience, such as war. The effects can be temporary or last for life.
Symptoms may include:
-Flashbacks
-Depression
-Sleep Apnea
-anxiety
These problems can lead to substance abuse and in the worst cases, suicide. About 30 percent of the men and women who have spent time in war zones experience PTSD.
How can this be fixed?
Some members of the government don't believe that some disorders such as PTSD are real. They think its all in the head. However the VA, a hospital that helps military vets get the benefits/ help they need, disagrees. The problem, they don't always follow the law which could obviously cause an issue. To fix this problem it's going to take more than one person.