The Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs have repeatedly promised to do a better job of handling the medical evaluations of wounded and disabled service members. Instead, they are doing worse.

The processing of disability cases is getting slower, not faster. Efforts to ensure a “seamless transition” out of the military are falling short. Men and women are languishing without treatment, struggling to readjust to civilian lives as they cope with post-traumatic stress disorder, brain injuries, drug addiction and other service-related afflictions. The system that should be producing reliable results is mired in delays and dissatisfaction.

A new report by the Government Accountability Office lays out the problem. In 2007, the two departments began combining their separate, complicated and cumbersome processes for disability evaluations into one system. The system is now in place worldwide, and officials from both departments promised the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee a year ago that it had become “more transparent, consistent and expeditious.”

But the accountability office found otherwise. It said processing times for disability cases had actually gone up — to an average of 394 days for active-duty troops and 420 days for National Guard members and reservists in 2011, well over the departments’ goals of 295 and 305 days. In fiscal year 2010, 32 percent of active-duty troops and 37 percent of Guard and Reserve troops completed evaluations and received benefits within established timelines. Last year, those figures fell to a dismal 19 percent and 18 percent.

It is sad enough how we treat the disabled among us, but to treat disabled warfighters this way is downright despicable.

I lean toward pacifism, though I fear this world may never be free of war.  Because I work on a DoD contract, I’ve spent hours of thought and prayer over this conflict within myself.  I finally came to the uneasy peace that, while I believe we must find ways other than violence to resolve conflicts in this world, I also recognize that the US military is not going away any time in the near future; therefore, it is our responsibility to give our warfighters the very best and most loving support and care.

If a left-leaning pacifist Sister can figure this out, then why can’t our government?  Department of Veteran’s Affairs, Undercover Nun is praying for your immortal soul.

May God have mercy on us all.

(Source: abbyjean)

England is seeing a rise in nastiness toward disabled persons.

Gillian turns over in bed after a restless night with little sleep.  She will have to accept that today is going to be one of those days when she will hardly move.  Maybe sit up later, and phone Mum to see how Dad is today.

 

Gillian lives with a long-term disabling condition which means that her mobility is restricted and variable; she has very little strength in her limbs, and she lives with constant pain.  On a good day she can walk down the stairs from her first floor flat to her mobility scooter, which she has to store in the hallway; on bad days she is unable to leave her flat, or even get out of bed.  She depends on her scooter to remain independent, to get out and about, and to help her mother to care for her father, who has dementia.  A well-qualified and experienced nurse, Gillian would love to be able to work, but she knows that it is out of the question. 

 

Two days ago she struggled downstairs to find a note stuck on her scooter with the one word “scrounger”.

lifewithautoimmune:

I’m 20, and I have autoimmune arthritis. My joints will cycle between fine, crappy, and excruciating at random intervals. Sometimes I need an elbow support, sometimes I need a cane, sometimes I should probably be using a wheelchair. But I’m 20. This means that when I mention my arthritis, most people think I’m either a hypochondriac, or I’m looking for attention. And this attitude is why I tend to forgo using a cane when I should, and why I haven’t even bothered getting a wheelchair. Even my mother thinks the cane is ‘overkill’.

Most people think of arthritis as an old person’s disease, and as a progressive disease. If I use a cane once, I’m expected to use it continuously. Very few people are capable of understanding and acknowledging the existence of a person my age using a cane one week and walking fine the next. For most, it does doesn’t compute.

What I find most distressing, however, is when the disabled community has a similar attitude. I’ve been accused of ‘playing at being disabled’ before by people who permanently have to use a cane or a chair. I’m unfortunately often made to feel unwelcome, especially if I happen to be having a good period.

I think eventually I’m going to have to give in and get a chair, and use it and my cane when I actually need it, and ignore the people who think I’m faking. It’s getting to a point where I’m going to have to choose between my physical health and my emotional health. And I’d really like it if people would make that choice a little easier for me.

Invisible disabilities suck.

Before I shaved my head (out of frustration with a skin condition on my scalp) I would sometimes find myself faking or over-emphasizing a limp, because I hated those dirty looks you get when you park in a handicapped spot but “look just fine.”

After I shaved my head, the dirty looks stopped.  I only got these sad, sweet looks that seemed to say, “Oh the poor dear has cancer! The poor young thing!”

It also stinks when I’ve just gotten out of my car in the handicapped parking place, and someone in a car waits for me to cross the strip of parking lot in front of the store.  When this happens, I’ve always tried to cross quickly, but some days that just isn’t going to happen.

Sometimes, I’m too nice for my own damned good.

androidnoises:

we tolerate this.

But we shouldn’t.  I feel physically sick after reading this.

Undercover Nun and the Mister Sister drove through this town last week, on our way home from my grandmother’s memorial service.  We thought it was a pretty little town, in the dark, and kind of wanted to see it again.  Now I kind of don’t.

Undercover Nun came across Rachel’s story in a news article this morning.  Rachel learned in her 30s — as I did — that she has an incurable genetic disorder: Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.  We who have EDS have bodies that are unable to produce collagen correctly, which results in weak tendons and ligaments, fragile skin, and even faulty organs.  The luckiest among us live with daily chronic pain that results from hypermobile joints.  I’m not among the luckiest of us.  Neither is Rachel.

EDS affects certain types of collagen and makes sufferers susceptible to constant nervous-system pain, frequent hyperextension and dislocation of joints, potential arterial ruptures and many other health nightmares. Therapies are available, but there is no cure.

…

Rachel’s most immediate problem is that the connective tissue in her windpipe is collapsing, making breathing increasingly difficult. But with a new procedure developed by Dr. Paulo Macchiarini at the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden, a new trachea can be grown from stem cells taken from Rachel’s own bone marrow.

The problem?  Those two little words: stem cells.  Even though the stem cells would be harvested from Rachel’s own body — and not from a human embryo — the FDA still does not allow the procedure.

The upshot of this is that if Rachel does not undergo this procedure soon, she will die.  And it’ll cost somewhere around half a million dollars for her to travel to Sweden, where Dr. Macchiarini can save her life.  Rachel’s family has started a web site where we can donate toward her medical costs.  If you don’t have cash, then maybe you could sign a petition: Keep Politics Out of Life Saving Health Care.

Of your goodness, I’ll also ask if you can hold in your prayers those of us who live with EDS and its accompanying conditions.