Diabetic Retinopathy Treatment Care

Diabetic retinopathy is a disability if you have trouble seeing well enough to drive or work on the computer. Straining the eyes while on treatments is not good for them. Talk to your ophthalmologist about what should be done. If s/he books you off work, that is not the worst that can happen to you.

i live in london and have just had a vitrectomy and am waiting for the other eye to blow and for the treated eye to fully re-attach;i also have an unexplained balance problem;my doctor says she does not know about the balance and is not making any kind of encouraging noises about my lodging a claim;when i asked this question here the replies were discouraging in the extreme;one summed it up by saying that i would be utterly unimpressed by how little i would get and anyway the gov here in england have ordered to clamp down on awarding it.disability is awarded on the basis of being unable to do anyhting for yourself and wiht retinopathy in one eye you are still able to do a clerical job.the route to disability is via a dss assessment and an initial letter from your doctor;the first thing dss would do is close down my present looking for work claim and it would be weeks before any money would be forthcoming for sickness which is the same amount of money and the likelihood is that they would refuse the claim-my mother subsidises me but she is making noises as she has never understood how big a problem diabetes is-in short i have been baffled by how you would find out and with my doctor looking negative about this it would not go anywhere although effectively i am disabled -i feel like screaming at her tha it does help me that she does not know why my balance is gone-the point is that if you dont fall in to measurable citeria etc
the other hope for me is paradoxically that my condition may worsen and brign me inside the net
of course i dont know how it works in canada and surely all you can do is run it and find out
see my q and a for a description of coping wiht diabetes and treatment of retinopathy and vitrectomy
let me know what happens

The answer to your question is yes and no…I also have diabetes and for school, and other benefits I am signed up for disability, bc Diabetes does affect one mentally and physically, so depending on what type of disability you want to get, u need to get all the facts. I live in the US, i am sure it will be the same in Canada, even though some have answered that Diabetes is not a disability, It is!. It will all depend on how you look at it nd on how well you r informed.

in the USA diabetes is NOT considered a disability!!! I know Ive been diabetic for 19 years & have tried countless times to either get Midicaid or disability and have been denied everytime because they tell me diabetes IS NOT a disability!!! I didnt even want full disability just a partial to help w medical expenses & still they say NO everytime! In order to recieve disability you have to be 100% unable to wrk & supply for yourself
I too have diabetic retinopathy & unless you are completely unable to see & cannot work AT ALL & provide for yourself AT ALL you are not eligible for SSI, disability or Medicaid

Here in the USA diabeties is not considered a disability by it self.
I worked full time for 29 years with type 1 diabetes, netinopathy and blindness, it was only when I has heart attack after heart attack AND went on dialysis that I had to go on SSDI, (AND they only pay if you live past 3 months on dialysis!)
I am now stabling out and plan to go back to work…. maybe part time… and not what I was doing before but its work and it will keep be healthyier and younger by doing it.

I’m sure Canada is different, but in the United States diabetes is considered a disability so in the US you would be covered under the american’s with diabilities act.
According to the Department of Justice website, a disability is defined as a mental or physical impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities — such as walking, seeing, eating, or working. The worker must show that this substantial limitation remains even after the person has received treatment, such as insulin or oral medications. Thus, we as people with diabetes are disabled according to the US government.