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George, The first line of protection is the Americans with Disabilities act. Under ADA your employer may have to make "reasonable accommodations" if needed so you can meet the basic requirements of your job. You are not legally required to say what your disability is, only how it limits you in doing your job (when the time comes that it does limit you). While I was still able to work and even before I considered applying for disability, I was advised by a lawyer/friend to write a letter to my employer saying that I had a disability but that I was not requesting reasonable accommodations for it at the time. There were two purposes: 1) so that when my condition became noticable, no one would imagine that I had something else and draw wrong conclusions; and 2) as a reminder that I knew I was covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act and was aware of my rights. All communications to my employer were addressed to my supervisor. I also declared to the personnel department that I had a disability, since I was working for an Equal Opportunity employer. You may also be covered by state employment law. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act may also apply. You need to read up on the laws and find out what your rights are. There is lots of info on the Net, e.g., http://www.nolo.com. You are fortunate that your company has a disability benefit. I was covered first by group short term disability insurance (actually, first all my accrued vacation pay and then sick pay was used for STD), and when that expired, by long term disability. In both cases it was a medical decision supported by medical evidence supplied by my neurologist. Once I applied for long term disability, I also had to apply for Social Security disability, as required by the LTD carrier. This was because the LTD payments would be reduced by the amount of Social Security disability benefits. The requirements for Social Security disability were more strict than the requirements for LTD. Under LTD I was disabled if I was medically unable to do just my current job. For SSDI you must be medically unable to do any job. It helps if your physician has experience with the disability application process. It also helps if your supervisor is sympathetic. Do you know of other people in your company who went on disability and how that went? Does your corporate culture favor the younger and more energetic over the older and slower employees? Because PD progresses slowly, it is difficult to say that as of a certain date you have become disabled, while the day before you were able to work. Nevertheless that is what you and your physician need to determine. As a start, get a job description for your position and itemize how all your symptoms affect what your job requires you to do. Re taking a less stressful job (pay cut), consider that SSDI/SSA benefits are calculated based on the average salary from the 35 working years in which you were paid the most. Good luck, Phil Tompkins Amherst MA age 63/dx 1990 On 24 Mar 2001, at 12:56, George Person wrote: > I am in a demanding and responsible position in a fairly large company that > is going through reorganization and downsizing. My company has a program > that gives those on disability a monthly income. I feel that my work is not > as good as it was in the past and I have to work longer hours and harder to > do my job. The progression of my PD is slow. I have been able to hide my > PD so far, but some days it is difficult. I have been asking myself, "What > should I do to assure that I have an income in the future? How can > I determine when it is bad enough to apply for disability? > > 1. Are there steps to take in any order to get on disability? > 2. Are there any legal rights I might have? Or should be aware of? > 3. Do I need to go on record as having PD before I find that my job could > be eliminated? > 4. Was it hard to justify that you could not do any job? Could they ask me > to be a receptionist or guard or any easy-to-do job instead of going on > disability? > 5. Did you have to build up a case with your doctor as to what you could do? > > I have not gone to the Personal Department because I am not sure how fast > the word regarding my condition would spread and what impact it would have on > me. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn