Hi Roy I would say, and I think most psoriatics would agree that it is a
disability at any degree of severity. But to be considered a disability in a
legal sense you just about have to wait until you are completely eaten up with
it and even then you will meet with a lot of scepticism. Physical discomfort
that a person feels is hard to quantify as is the impediment that it causes, so
unless you are grossly deformed from it then you can probably forget
disability. I find it amasing that nobody would be expected to go on and
function
normally in the workforce or even society in general if they had burns over 10%
of
their body but they are expected to perform like everyone else with psor over
50%. Heres something to think about. The skin in a psoriatic lesion turns
over in about 4 days compared to 28 days in normal skin. So for every 10
percent coverage you grow enough extra skin to suit .7 of another person.
Another
way to look at that is if you have it over 50% of your body you will be making
as much skin as 3.5 people. That is a lot of extra work your body has to do.
That doesnt take into account the emotional toll either that is a strictly the
mechanical aspect. When you add in the arthritic aspects that further
compounds the resting work load all in a physical environment that makes
employment
in the world around you more difficult not only in a physical sense but also
from the discrimination that a psoriatic will enevitably face. The effect is
underestimated by anyone except those who have endured it who realise just how
much of an impact it has on every aspect of your life and how difficult it
makes even simple things like going into a store let alone going to work. Good
luck getting someone else besides the people on this message board to understand
that. Things may be changing a bit but none too slow for me. Do your
homework, develop your own understanding of this disease, join NPF, there is
strength in numbers and when we all decide to quit trying to hide it and bring
this
problem to the attention of the public maybe something will be done. There are
few groups more discriminated against than psoriatics and I think thats cause
we dont raise hell to defend ourselves. A few good winning discrimination
lawsuits may do more to get peoples attention than pleading to a doctor who only
has 2 minutes to look at your chart. Most doctors seem to think it is
entirely psychosomatic anyway and maybe it is. If it is then why dont they do
something to address that part of it? Orin
> Hi everyone
>
> I have just been told that i have Psoriatic-Arthritis which is a big
> shock to me and i cannot get my head around it yet.
>
> what i would like to know if this is a disability or at what stage
> would it be, as i am not getting the answers that i want. And the
> specialists cannot wait to get you out of the room ready for the
> next case.
>
> So i am introducing myself now before i go to work and will be back
> soon.
>
> regards
>
> Roy
>



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