For those who read my blogs on a regular basis, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I am snowed in over the weekend, and the accumulation of snow is expected to be over 10 inches. Now, in many parts north and in the mid-west, I am told that such minimal amount of snow fails to constitute a “snow storm”, and many laugh at how we react here in the D.C.-Maryland Metropolitan area. Everything is relative, and in my area, anything over an inch is responded to with panic and a rush to the grocery stores to stockpile our kitchen and cupboards.
Such relative comparisons remind me of how pain and medical disabilities are often misunderstood by one another; that while “pain” is a subjective phenomenon, no matter how hard we try, we are often unable to convey the sensation that we experience. The difference, of course, is that while there is an objective basis in determining the extent of snowfall, there is no such measure for pain. But how we react to pain is often an individual experience, one which we should not be quick to judge. Unfortunately, agencies are often quick to judge, and therein lies the problem. Hopefully, the snow here will let up soon, and I will be back in my office on Monday.
Merry Christmas
Sincerely, Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Reflections of an OPM Disability Retirement Lawyer | Tagged: blogs owcp and opm disability issues, Christmas for the disabled federal workers, Christmas Season, consequences of misunderstanding chronic pain in the federal workplace, disability retirement for federal workers in washington dc, explaining disability to supervisors in the us government, federal disability lawyer in the D.C.-Maryland area, federal disability retirement blog, federal opm disability lawyers in maryland, FERS & CSRS Disability Retirement Blog, maryland federal workers disability retirement, saving yourself time to reflect about your future during this Christmas Season, washington dc fers disability retirement, why is so difficult for postal supervisors to understand disability?, working for the government with a disability | Leave a comment »