Posted on Jul 28, 2020
Can you hold a job with a permanent and total 100% VA disability rating?
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SN Sn Collazo
Ok. Thank you I asked the question because I’m currently in Nursing school and even though I’m planning to work part time I’m not sure if that type of job will be available in my profession!
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CPL Susan P Johnson
As an Employer we have difficulty in hiring 100% disabled indivduals. There are groups and workshops through the SBA that assist Veterans in starting their own businesses. Many Vets become entreprenurial in order to earn a living.
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Think about that question. You do not need to find a "full-time job" You need to create your own Job, Service, Mission.... You, like most of us Veterans have developed something you are good at. Tap into YOU...Redesign YOU. Sleep with a note pad beside your bed and re-write Yourstory..............It's your time to make Your His-story.
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SN Sn Collazo
I agree, but I like helping people hence why I decided to go to Nursing school even though the VA was strongly against it as they think it will make my disabilities worst when they’re goal is to make them better...but I believe that I can get a Nursing job that’s not gonna be as strenuous once I complete my degree and I know I’ll be doing what I love which is helping others.
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Yes you can. The VA rating is not a cripple rating like many think it should be. SFC Michael Hasbun things are not that simple. I am pretty sure I could get a 100% rating right now if I wanted yet I still serve. I have been injured a good bit and survived a type of cancer that I will have the rest of my life. Luckily, with medicine I am relatively normal and can perform my duties but I will be taking chemo meds for the rest of my life. When I do retire I don't plan on staying home. I do look forward to returning to the work force. But saying you can't be 100% disabled and can't work is a bit extreme. I have attached a photo of Omar Avila. He is a veteran that is 100% disabled. He lost his leg and is cover in burns but he is still working and maintains a full time job.
Now to address the elephant in the room. I understand that some veterans do scam the VA and get a high rating due to just wanting to get paid. I can't even tell you how this is borderline encouraged by so may veteran groups. I recall being on a elevator at Womack AMC and a Vet group spokesmen was asking me if I was getting out soon. I told him that I am getting close. He told me to get a sleep study so I can get 50% disability. I politely told me I don't think I have a sleep issue and that I will just see how it will come out when I get my rating. Can a SM who did 2 years get 100%? Yes, absolutely. Just like the young SPC in my battalion that suffered a testicular injury on a jump and will never have children. These things happen. He was medically separated due to his injury. The question should be how you get it. If I did 2 years in the Army with no incidents that resulted in injury then I would be scamming the military if I was going after 100% disability.
Now to address the elephant in the room. I understand that some veterans do scam the VA and get a high rating due to just wanting to get paid. I can't even tell you how this is borderline encouraged by so may veteran groups. I recall being on a elevator at Womack AMC and a Vet group spokesmen was asking me if I was getting out soon. I told him that I am getting close. He told me to get a sleep study so I can get 50% disability. I politely told me I don't think I have a sleep issue and that I will just see how it will come out when I get my rating. Can a SM who did 2 years get 100%? Yes, absolutely. Just like the young SPC in my battalion that suffered a testicular injury on a jump and will never have children. These things happen. He was medically separated due to his injury. The question should be how you get it. If I did 2 years in the Army with no incidents that resulted in injury then I would be scamming the military if I was going after 100% disability.
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If you're being paid for being "100% disabled" are you not committing fraud by acknowledging you CAN actually work?
That's what disabled means. NOT able. If you can work, you're clearly not "not able" (double negative intended).
That's what disabled means. NOT able. If you can work, you're clearly not "not able" (double negative intended).
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LTC Raymond Buenteo
Wrong. 100% disabled is not the same as unemployable. The percentage is a rating. Unemployable is your employable status. The VA rating system rates your disability based on your physical condition. Some vets with less than %100 are designated unemployable due to that disability and some are not.
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SFC Casey O'Mally
SFC Michael Hasbun While I understand your line of thought, there is also such a thing as overcoming. A person with no hands is logically unable to write. However they can learn to use their feet. Or they can get speech to text software and become the next great American novelist. Or any number of creative solutiooms to overcome a very obvious and undeniable disability.
Here is how my VA examiner explained it to me (in a very simplified way): that percentage rating is basically a percentage of normal jobs that you cannot do without wither A) accomadations from the employer, B) overcoming your disability in some mannner, C) sucking it up (I.e. enduring the extraordinary pain caused by doing the job), or D) some combination of the three.
I cannot stand for extended periods OR sit for extended periods without pain building and building to excrutiating levels. Plus I have issues in most of my joints, and degenerative disks in my back. And other stuff, too. Most physical-heavy jobs are out of the question. But so are most desk jobs (prolinged sitting). Finding that niche is HARD.
I have found a good job delivering pizza - a good switch back and forth between standing and sitting, and not TOO physically stressful (although those 4th floor apartments are a bitch). Even then, I still need to take a "sit break" when we are dead and I haven't had a delivery in an hour. My employer is happy to allow it, because I will still find ways to be productive (paperwork, fold boxes, etc.). But even that "perfect niche job" STILL has to make accommodations. To include flexible scheduling, when I have to call out for some of my OTHER issues.
I am perfectly able to work and hold down a job - with accommodations. And provided that job fits a very small niche.
I couldn't imagine truing to support my family on 35 hiurs a week delivering pizza, though, that's for sure.
Here is how my VA examiner explained it to me (in a very simplified way): that percentage rating is basically a percentage of normal jobs that you cannot do without wither A) accomadations from the employer, B) overcoming your disability in some mannner, C) sucking it up (I.e. enduring the extraordinary pain caused by doing the job), or D) some combination of the three.
I cannot stand for extended periods OR sit for extended periods without pain building and building to excrutiating levels. Plus I have issues in most of my joints, and degenerative disks in my back. And other stuff, too. Most physical-heavy jobs are out of the question. But so are most desk jobs (prolinged sitting). Finding that niche is HARD.
I have found a good job delivering pizza - a good switch back and forth between standing and sitting, and not TOO physically stressful (although those 4th floor apartments are a bitch). Even then, I still need to take a "sit break" when we are dead and I haven't had a delivery in an hour. My employer is happy to allow it, because I will still find ways to be productive (paperwork, fold boxes, etc.). But even that "perfect niche job" STILL has to make accommodations. To include flexible scheduling, when I have to call out for some of my OTHER issues.
I am perfectly able to work and hold down a job - with accommodations. And provided that job fits a very small niche.
I couldn't imagine truing to support my family on 35 hiurs a week delivering pizza, though, that's for sure.
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