It belongs to you , not the government or the VA. They’d flash the lightning and thunder and deny and I would put my head down and go away and just lick my wounds. I was told how to fight it, how to bring the best evidence to the table. I was like Dorothy (well, not LITERALLY like her, I’m a man, but…) in the Wizard of Oz. And I still learn something new here every day. 2020-1311(Decided: December 17, 2020); 38 U.S.C. I wanted to write a short brief story. Many people with keratoconus have a history of nearsightedness as well. I just won a DRO de novo review for Bipolar Disorder and was bumped up from 80% rating to 100% P&T. … Knowledge is true power, perseverance a necessary trait. The only one I can remember is that of the fork truck accident in 1965 while in the USAF stationed at Clark AFB, Philippines. Thank you Theresa and all those here at Hadit.com who have supported and helped to give the Veteran such a place of refuge and help. Replies. Don’t give up!! In 2009, I found hadit.com and joined. I have three vertebrae (L4, L5 and S1) that are fused together because the insulation material between the vertebrae are gone. I was able to obtain medical records, my claims file, and ask my doctors for medical opinions. What does it cost you might ask? Keratoconus can result in significant visual loss and may lead to corneal transplant in severe cases. Hadit.com was a life changer for me. I requested & received my service and medical records in October 2014, did several months of research (Thank You Very Much HadIt.com!! Keratoconus is een niet erg zeldzame aandoening, die naar schatting voorkomt bij één op de 1500 personen en een genetische oorzaak lijkt te hebben (bij ongeveer 10%). I was not told the VA is all knowing and loves us all as her children. Keratoconus is a condition where the cornea becomes thin and stretched near its center, causing it to bulge forward into a conical shape. Now in the state of Alabama in order to keep your DL is have 20/60 well it is about to be revoked. Trust hadit.com and get the rating you truly deserve and not the rating the VA gives you to balance their budget. Is Keratoconus Disability ,Find insurance quotes and insurance resources to help you choose the best insurance, Is Keratoconus Disability . The VA rated my loss of sphincter muscle control at 10% and stated my foot problems was not service conected in May 2008, imagine that! Downloads for documents, forms, checklists. I did not know anything about the VA claims process. After a few years of reading this wealth of wisdom, I’m rated 100% now. Veterans Compensation Benefits Claims Research, Appealing Your VA Disability Claims NOD, DRO, BVA, USCAVC, PTSD Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Claims, Latest Posts VA Disability Claims Community. What I was given makes up part of the support foundation I needed to get back on my feet. This will depend on your personal circumstances and notably the impact of your keratoconus on your functional vision. Tests to diagnose keratoconus include: 1. Will my children get benefits if I get approved for disability? I hear it all the time about there is surgery,etc. Hadit.com is so much more than just member forums. Does a person with severe keratoconus qualify to receive disability? I eventually won my due but so did more and more who came to the site. THANK YOU!!! Keratoconus Treatment. I had a very complex claim with numerous difficult issues, and when it was shot down in flames, I came back here to get more information, then went back on the attack to keep pressing my case. Trying to make this as short as I can! If i had not come here I would not have known that SWORN DECLARATIONS are better than the statement forms the VA uses. All I can say is thank you for creating HADIT and thanks to all the folks who have provided me and many other people with great advice and hope that all is not lost. Ha ha ha!). The first would be to see if the medical evidence supports an approval via satisyfing a listing , i.e. I learned to stand up for me, and how not to surrender and walk away mumbling about losing out again. Eyeglasses and soft contact lenses are the usual treatment for those with mild keratoconus, but this disease is progressive and inevitably thins the cornea, giving it an increasingly irregular shape. As a result vision becomes distorted. How will Social Security Determine if you get Disability Benefits? I had no clue at that time what I was doing, did not know how to provide the right support for it, and I lost. § 101(22); 38 C.F.R. I learned a lot of information about claims, especially about what is important in filing a successful claim. Without that, although totally disabled by SSA for only what are now service connected conditions, I’d still be fighting with the VA to obtain compensation due and authorized by Law. Avvo has 97% of all lawyers in the ... the "Blue Book" of Impairment Listings as a first step in determining if your condition is severe enough to qualify for disability. Disability User Boxes ♡ I don't take requests at this moment! The wealth of info on this site is great for filing your claim. 3 weeks go by and I am summoned to the American Legion’s VSO office. There is no other comparable source for such information. I enjoyed the victory, but I didn’t stop there because I knew that the VA was still shorting me. By the time everything is soaked, washed, rinsed and hung out dry I’m fairly certain that I will be at 100% per scheduled rating. § 3.6(c); Retroactive for temporary 100% claimed after earlier effective dates granted. Long story short: Filed a claim for an increase in October 2014 at the advice of two other vets, and all claim submissions were denied. He recently contacted NKCF to ask how he can help. Fortunately, you not only don’t have to do it alone but you get knowledge, experience and friendship at Hadit.com! Eventually I signed up for the site because the community response is intelligent, well reasoned and researched. Thank you, Grateful. The request box will close on weekends!♡ This blog is for userboxes that are about/include disability of any kind! I cried and was depressed for at least a month. He shares his remarkable story: I enlisted in the Navy in 1987, and three years later began training as a SEAL. When assigning a disability rating for a service-connected mental disorder, VA uses the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders. I filed some appeals shortly afterwards and continued to do my homework. In the case of loss of visual acuity, ... × Avvo Rating. Knowledge, as Tbird says , TRULY IS POWER! I am one of the first members backin 1997. What are the requirements and criteria for Social Security Disability? If you are a Veteran, Spouse, Widow or dependent then you are finally home. Navy Keratoconus, often referred to as ‘KC’, is an eye condition in which the cornea weakens and thins over time, causing the development of a cone-like bulge and optical irregularity of the cornea. This rating scale ranges from 0% to 100% based on the severity of the condition. Disability Benefits Keratoconus ,Find insurance quotes and insurance resources to help you choose the best insurance, Disability Benefits Keratoconus . Had it.com has information that the VA doesn’t want you to have. Now, I am 20/400 I uncorrected and 20/30 corrected but the … With all of that, the information and advice, including the history of key claims and decisions was and is invaluable to veterans. I have tentatively been assigned a code of 6036 by the VA. God Bless hadit.com and America. This opened my eyes to realize that when the VA made my initial rating decisions in 2000, they failed to apply the laws properly. I recently won retro to 1986 after a 29 year fight. No money yet only waiting for a extra schedular rating from 86-98. I like that. I have not posted much here since originally signing up about three years ago. In the meantime, I have opened a Veteran peer support service and facility which will offer a wide range of support at NO COST to our sisters and brothers in arms. He certainly did not die in vain. HADIT.com has been a spectacular entity. A disability examiner (I am a former examiner) would look at the case in two ways. And most importantly I WOULD HAVE NEVER KNOWN WHAT A IME IS!!! Even so, there are still outstanding problems created by the VA’s claims system and it’s improper handling of claims and flawed decision making process. Keratoconus, sometimes abbreviated as KC, is an eye condition in which the shape of the eye changes causing blurry, cloudy, or distorted vision as well as sensitivity to light and problems with glare. My initial vision was determined to be 20 / 1250 in the right eye and 20 / 850 in the left eye. Hadit.com was very instrumental in helping me research and prepare my husband’s claims and appeal. On 16 April, I received my DVA letter awarding me 30%! With hadit.com you do not need a VSO to file your claim. I WON! D o not hesitate to book an appointment with Dr Pillai if you’re worried about your eyesight. I have not found any other site that provides so much in one location. Keratoconus : If you have keratoconus, please see your eye doctor and determine whether you are a candidate for corneal collagen cross linking - which is an effecti ... Read More 1 doctor agrees I received a decision letter about a month ago saying it was granted as secondary to my service connected GERD. A VA ER visit enlightened me to what the VA was at one time. That simply search connected me with HadIt.com. I couldn’t have done it with out the help of hadit.com, I’m one for not asking for help, so your site was my saving grace. For many months, I’ve been quietly reading and researching about the VA claims process on your site. I submitted a CUE request and am waiting for the VA to review and hopefully revise my initial ratings. It is OUR Veterans Affairs. I am very grateful to hadit.com that veterans and their survivors here have often followed my advice on multiple issues that either I or my dead husband had personal experience with , and got positive results, via the VA. In March 2014, all 7 disability claims were denied. I have also been diagnosed with Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) in both legs and Polycythemia Vera (PCV). If we didn’t have the answer, someone would find it. I use the blog resources regularly so I don’t have to repeat what I learned over and over again. I had a forklift accident while in the Philippines in which I broke fingers and sustained a mild concussion that did not result in losing consciousness. I was diagnosed with keratoconus in both eyes by a military doctor at McChord AFB, Tacoma, Washington. I learned how to appeal, and what kind of evidence might help me win. This is a bit over-simplified, but in a nutshell that's what happens. I was asked by my medical provider if I’d had any accidents that would have, or could have, triggered these diseases. Then, I got a nice big surprise in my bank account in September 2017. Please help to support Tbird and her vision to keep this site safe and running for ALL of our servicemen and women and those who served our Great Nation. meeting or equaling a relevant listing for a specific condition. Facebook helped a little due to being connected with several of my old shipmates there that provided lay letters for me. Severe cases of keratoconus need … Latest VA News &Tips from Hill& Ponton disability attorneys, Veterans' Advisory Committee on Rehabilitation, Notice of Meeting, Exclusive: Internal documents detail secret VA quality ratings, Veterans Affairs and Veterans News from HadIt.com, Support HadIt.com with a purchase of this, United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder in the United States, our question has probably been asked before so the fastest way to find the information you need is to. With current treatments now available most patients with keratoconus are able to lead normal lifestyles. Yes, it has been 20 years, but I felt it is a moral imperative to ensure my ratings are fair, accurate, and correct. I became a member of hadit.com in 2004, and during that time, I have learned a lot about the Department of Veterans Affairs claim process. l am service connected for: and I have successfully, helped at least 40 other Veterans get service connected and most of them is a 100% service connected and I credit 95% to hadit.com and I think hadit.com is the best help website on line, and I want to personal thank, all of the hadit.com moderators, and Carla for all there expertise in helping disable veterans, in negotiate a very complicated Veterans Affairs claim process. And you can’t beat that. I was diagnosed with keratoconus in both eyes by a military doctor at McChord AFB, Tacoma, Washington. I was a FNG even 3 years after i got my rating. In the United States, if a person's best-corrected visual acuity in both eyes is 20/200 or worse — whether caused by keratoconus or some other condition — that person is … Long story short, info, med records, doctor statements advice from the hadit.com website… I just received my little brown envelope in the mail last week and a nice deposite into my bank account… 100% P&T with chapter 35 benefits. Eye refraction. I can’t say enough about how great it feels, thanks to all the great folks who have educated me on the process. PTSD, Nephrolitas , Was a lurker on HadIt.com then became a member. I posted a few things and got a lot of great advice. Let’s see how long we can keep this magical place alive. Along with the eye situation I have been diagnosed with disk degenerative disease that may be linked to the forklift accident. In 2009, I filed new claims which were subsequently denied. In my mind, this is without a doubt the most wonderful site on the web, helping our greatest citizens, our Vets. Keep the good work up. I am eternally grateful that I accidentally read a post from this forum. Many of us struggle alone and isolated. Over the last couple of years, I returned to school and am now two credit hours away from a bachelors degree in social work. This typically begins in your teens and progresses during your 20s and 30s. I love reading success stories, and I would advise anyone who is battle-weary to take a break from the other forums to read “Success Stories” to put some wind back in your sails. Even if that took many years, in some of our personal claims. Awarding me 30 % SC for an eye condition called keratoconus member forums Error is tool! In September 2017 significant vision impairment few years ago, i had not come here i would of nothing. 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