I am filing for Individual Unemployability

Your rating might be accurate but it might not be telling the whole story.

What happens when you look at the VA's symptom list for your current rating, and it turns out that your percentage is accurate?

Here’s what many Veterans don't realize:

1. ‍Your 70% Rating May Be Accurate: For Mental Disorders, the next step up from 70% is 100%. There is a good chance that your symptoms are not severe enough to fall into that category.
2. Employment Challenges Are Often Overlooked: Standard C&P exams focus on symptoms, not on how those symptoms specifically prevent you from maintaining consistent, substantially gainful employment in the civilian workforce.‍
3. There is Another Path Forward: If you can't secure or maintain substantially gainful employment because of your service-connected disability, you may be eligible for Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU). This is also referred to as Individual Unemployability (IU). TDIU/IU offers the equivalent compensation of 100% SC disability.

You can still get the equivalent of 100% rating, if both of these are true:

1. You have either a 60% VA rating for one condition OR at least one condition rated at 40% with a combined VA rating of at least 70%. AND
2. The VA determines that you are unable to secure or maintain a substantially gainful occupation as a result of your service-connected disabilities.

Important to Note: When considering whether you have substantially gainful employment, the VA does NOT count jobs where your annual income doesn't exceed the poverty threshold OR jobs in a protected/sheltered environment.

Protected/sheltered environment can include:

• family business
• self-employment
• specific types of workplace accommodations that would be considered unreasonable by another employer

‍

How?

We would need to identify and document the specific ways your condition prevents consistent employment - factors that other examiners often miss or undervalue. To effectively do this, we would need comprehensive documentation, including:

1. Records Review - You would need to provide me with relevant medical records and employment records (such as performance reviews, termination letters, or FMLA documentation).
2. IU Evaluation - We would go through a specialized Independent Medical Examination (IME) specifically designed to assess vocational functional limitations. We focus on the specific cognitive and emotional factors - like reliability, social interaction, and task completion - that standard exams often miss.
3. Independent Medical Opinion (IMO) - I would synthesize your history and the exam results into a formal IMO report. This report bridges the gap between your clinical symptoms and your inability to work, providing the VA with the medical rationale required to support a TDIU claim.