Re-reading Anton Chekhov’s famous short story, “Grief”, is instructive in multiple ways — the effective use of limited dialogue; creating of word-pictures which set the tone of the story; the metaphorical use of language; and the answer to the question, What makes a particular aggregation of words effective in their linear combination? It is a very short narration of events, even for a “short story”. Yet, as a classic piece of literature, it stands alone in its powerful evocation of the plight of man: the need to relate human suffering, in its proper manner, in a particular way — so as to relieve the sufferer from the very essence of his turmoil. To whom it is told, of course, is not important; how it is stated, is the point of the story.
In preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, both the “to whom” and “how” are equally important, and that is the difference and distinction from fictional prose. The audience in a Federal Disability Retirement application must always be kept in mind — a Federal Government bureaucrat, who has seen many Federal Disability Retirement applications, whether under FERS or CSRS.
Like the passengers to whom Iona Potapov attempted to relate his story, the Claims Specialist at OPM will have a calloused view of one’s Federal Disability Retirement application — not necessarily because of an inability to empathize, but because any singular Federal Disability Retirement application will be merely one of thousands to view, and after time, the conglomeration of words simply spill over one into another. As such, “how” the narrative portion of one’s Federal Disability Retirement application is told, becomes all-important. The type of prose, of course, is far different than Chekhov’s fictional account of the suffering of a man; but the metaphorical use of language should be invoked where applicable, all the while understanding that being concise and conservative in choosing the right words is the most effective way of communicating.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Pre-Application Considerations | Tagged: a compelling story behing every fers disability application, a mixture of creative writing and legal requirements of opm disability eligibility, accepting opm disability clients all across america, attorney representing federal workers for disability throughout the united states, avoiding an exaggerated story in your opm medical claim, communication as a key component to the success of your opm disability claim, disability retirement for federal employees, Federal Disability, federal disability retirement, fers disability and the medical docs that will support your story, FERS disability retirement, OPM disability retirement, opm disability retirement and the story of human suffering, owcp disability retirement, Postal disability, representing federal employees from any us government agency, story of human tragedy, telling the medical story in the applicant's statement of disability, the art of persuasion in fers disability retirement law, the compelling story of an opm disability applicant, the human story behind the federal disability application, the impact of a human story, the need to convey a story in the applicant's statement of disability, the opm representative's feelings of sympathy or empathy, the story of human tragedy as a very pragmatic methodology, the use of language in the fers disability application, understanding the human story of the medical condition, USPS disability retirement, writing communication skills in the opm disability retirement application | Leave a comment »
