known versus unknown in opm disability claims

Federal Disability Retirement Application and Process: The Foreign Menu

Posted onAuthorFederal Disability Retirement Attorney5 Comments

Certain processes and endeavors in life are tantamount to a foreign menu; one knows that, within the undecipherable and incomprehensible letters and symbols presented before one, amidst the evocative smells and provocative sounds emanating from the kitchen in the back, and behind the sounds and voices formed and learned in another land in distant places beyond the horizon of one’s familiarity, there is a dish of choice which one would, if one could identify it, choose for the occasion before us. But the menu is in another language; the words and symbols are undecipherable; and the waiters, waitresses, cooks and managers speak not a word of one’s own; […]

 
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Federal Disability Law Firm: The Fear of Change

Posted onAuthorFederal Disability Retirement Attorney2 Comments

The concept of a person, of what constitutes the differentiating identity of person X as opposed to Y, or multiple others, derives from the Greek etiology of “persona” — of actors on a stage wearing costumes and masks, and able to portray a certain character in mostly tragic narratives entangling gods, men, love and jealousies. It is those differing masks which we put on — of the joyful father, the loving husband, the implacable worker, the tireless […] Read More …

Medical Retirement for Federal Workers: GPS or Map Reading

Posted onAuthorFederal Disability Retirement Attorney1 Comment

Unforeseen consequences have become the expected norm; for, as technology progressively innovates, the quickened pace of advancement defies any allowance for thoughtful retrospection, leaving aside the need for anticipatory planning, as to the future […] Read More …

Medical Retirement for Federal Workers: The Guiding Sense of Direction

Posted onAuthorFederal Disability Retirement Attorney3 Comments

Global Positioning Systems are widely relied upon these days. In conversations, there is never anymore an effort to recollect, whether of an old movie, a struggling synonym, or a name on the “tip of the tongue’ — for one only needs to whip out the smart phone, […] Read More …

Disability Retirement for Federal Workers: Unwanted Change

Posted onAuthorFederal Disability Retirement Attorney1 Comment

Stability is what we seek; yet, with stability comes habituation and a staid routine of repetitive boredom. Adventure, excitement and stimulation; these come at a price, and so we revert and remain in the cocoon of safety, daydreaming of that potential, […] Read More …

Immediate Medical Retirement for Disabled Federal Workers: Complex Simplicity

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Often enough in life, the most complex of conceptual constructs is constituted by its very simple nature; and, conversely, the seemingly simplest of tasks is characterized by its concealed complexity, only to be revealed upon an attempted unraveling of its internal […] Read More …

OPM Disability Retirement: The Foreigner

Posted onAuthorFederal Disability Retirement Attorney1 Comment

The “foreigner” reflects a dual-edged phenomena: on the one hand, the individual perceives the strangeness of his or her surroundings; on the other hand, those strangers from the “other” land may similarly view the foreigner with interest, suspicion, hesitation, etc. […] Read More …

Federal Employee Medical Retirement: Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Posted onAuthorFederal Disability Retirement Attorney7 Comments

The title reference, of course, is to the old Spielberg film concerning contact with an alien being; but such a remote, rare and unique experience need not be with an entity from another galaxy or planet, but can be closer to home. Most people will never need to experience […] Read More …

Medical Retirement for Federal Workers: Stages & Particulars of a Case

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One must be able to make distinctions, to bifurcate and recognize where one is at, in order to determine the course and direction of where one is going. A writer once said that a captain […] Read More …

FERS Disability Retirement: Miscellaneous

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Some cases take months to win; others, merely a week or so. In some Disability Retirement applications under FERS or CSRS, a half-page report of substantive medical evidence is enough; […] Read More …