Howsoever citizen-friendly, law is a law. You need to have the legal brain to interpret the maximum advantage or you need to engage the services of a competent attorney to guide you through the legal complications to the best of your advantage.

The issue is not as simple as filling up the claim form and getting the payment by courier. The issue related to your disability could be any one or more of the following such as deciding the optional health care benefits and retirement plan for your situation; obtaining disability retirement compensation; shielding you against retaliation; working out equal opportunity disputes and many other issues.

You get help from the Disability Firms for Social Security Disability, Supplemental Security Income, Americans with Disabilities Act. Your long-term disability claims are also processed.

Under the Worker's Compensation (Act), you will find the listing of firms who handle disabling injuries.

The firms which handle discrimination against the handicapped by the educational establishments are listed under the Education Law.

The Social Security Administration pays the social security disability benefits to those who have put in the number of years of service as required by the law and who can prove disability.

The Supplemental Security Income benefits to the disabled persons who can prove to the satisfaction of the authorities, is also paid by the Administration.

The employers normally provide the long term disability insurance policies. You can make your private arrangements as well. Buy a policy as per your requirements, using your own judgment.

Any changes proposed by the State/Federal Governments against the Disability laws draw strongest reaction by the highly conscious legal community and social activists in USA.

Bryan Blackwell, a lawyer who represents Social Security claimants in Dothan, Alabama, said the wide variety of health problems that his clients have would make it difficult for them to continue working.

"You have people who have been injured on the job and who may have received a little money from workers' [compensation], but that's either run out or fixing to run out," Blackwell explained to The New Standard. "Maybe they get a small check, but it doesn't come out to what they were earning previously. And you know people like that sometimes have to file for disability."

Likewise, attorney Donald Bishop says about many of his clients in rural North Arkansas and the Ozark Mountain who do the back-breaking work in the timber industry and mason since their teens.

"Several of my clients have done such arduous work and have arthritic backs, a seventh-grade or less education can barely stand mostly upright for six hours," wrote Bishop in his public comments to the SSA in response to its rule-change notice. "Persons like these hard workers are the most obvious persons to be harmed by this proposed rule change."

Americans want something better for the disabled?nothing to dilute their benefits!