How to Go Back to Work When You're on Disability

Time away from work can be relaxing, like vacations or half-days off. But when you're home for months, or years, after a disability disruption, you may start to long for those mornings where John from accounting would not stop talking about the latest episode of Game of Thrones.

A severe health issue that takes us out of the workforce can create a turning point, and we can lose that sense of identity and purpose. Applying for and receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and private long-term disability insurance (LTD) can help us get by. But it cannot resurrect that sense of purpose and community that a job so often provides.

Some people mistakenly program was specifically created to help individuals with disabilities earn more than their minimal SSDI benefit and put them back on the path to financial independence. Unfortunately, few people know that their SSDI benefit was designed to get them back to work, but this door is open and waiting for them.