Are Alzheimer’s or Dementia Considered a Disability? Or Considered a Mental Illness?

Why is it beneficial to classify Alzheimer’s or dementia as a disability or mental illnesses? The answer is simple. There can be financial assistance to help support your loved one with the care they require. This article will explain disabilities and mental illnesses in the context of Alzheimer’s and other dementias, why it is important to define them and what a disability means in terms of qualifying for additional benefits.

The type of dementia a person has does impact whether or not it is considered a disability be it Alzheimer’s, FTD, Vascular or other dementia. Instead, it the severity of the symptoms and their impact on the individual’s ability to perform their activities of daily living which is important.

Is Dementia a Disability?

Is dementia considered a disability? To fully answer that question, let us start with defining what a disability is in the United States as determined by the Social Security Administration (SSA).

A disability is a condition that affects someone’s body and/or brain making at least one or more normal daily activities hard to do. That means your loved one has difficulties that make seeing, living, and understanding the world around them and everyday living without assistance can become hard to impossible. If your loved one has a condition that holds them back from living a “normal” everyday life, then they are considered to have a medical disability. One way to break down a medical disability is to look at it affects their:

– Mobility. This is how well your loved one can move on their own without assistance.
– Sensory Perception. This is how the world around them is seen by the patient.
– Cognition. This is how well their memory works.
– Communication. This is how well your loved one is interacting.
– Emotional state.

In the context of Alzheimer’s, looking at the different stages of dementia is the best indication to determine when your loved one might have a qualifying medical disability. As Alzheimer’s and dementia are progressive diseases, doctors and clinicians have come up with guidelines that aid to indicate where a patient’s health is along that progression. By testing what your loved one can and cannot do in terms of their activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), it is easy to make an educated guess when they will have a medical disability.

Activities of daily living are being able to independently get dressed, bathe, eat, and go to the bathroom. Instrumental activities of daily living are your loved one being able to manage money, prepare meals, and do household chores by themselves. These guides show the stages and symptoms of each phase of Alzheimer’s that can be linked to your loved one being able to complete activities of daily living independently. Take an online ADL assessment here.

Stages of Dementia

Instead of labeling a person who has dementia to be in the early, middle, or late stage of the disease, there are tests that are commonly used to find a more exact stage of dementia. Breaking down the stages can help explain the different stages of Alzheimer’s disease based on how well a person thinks (cognitive ability) and functions (physical ability).

The Functional Assessment Staging Test (FAST) is used to describe the stages of dementia and their associated effects. Unlike other tests for dementia that are memory-based, FAST is a seven-stage system based on your loved one’s level of being able to function independently and their ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs).

While it can be hard to estimate the exact time when Alzheimer’s or dementia is considered a disability (because different programs have different guidelines) one can generalize that patients in the middle and later stages of the disease qualify. The table below outlines a patient’s stage, symptoms, and ability to complete daily functions making it easy to see when Alzheimer’s and dementia become a disability.

Why It’s Important

Proving that dementia is a disability can qualify someone for different programs that offer financial assistance and care benefits. The two main federal programs are social security (SSI) and Medicaid. However, there are also many state-specific programs.

Social Security

For eligible participants, there are benefits in the form of monthly checks. These are given to help cover some of the extra care cost that is needed because of a disability. The Social Security Administration offers two kinds of assistance, SSI and SSDI. While both programs have the same medical requirements that show a patient’s need for extra assistance with activities of daily living, their similarities end there. The biggest differences are the maximum monthly benefits available.

Supplemental Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) is a social security disability insurance program for insured individuals who are generally under 65 and can not work because of being blind or disabled. The other requirements are different documents regarding your work history. Monthly benefits are a percentage of what was paid into one’s FICA taxes. To try to simplify, it means your benefit is based on how much social security tax was paid and a person’s potential maximum income.

Supplemental Social Security Income (SSI) is a needs-based disability insurance program. This is for people who have low income and a qualifying disability, are blind, or are elderly. As will all government programs, qualifying is a complicated process. This disability insurance program looks at income (what someone makes every month), assets (what they own and have in the bank), and where the individual lives (if they own a home, live in someone else’s house, or reside in a care facility). Some states have extra programs (on top of this federal one) that provide benefits in the form of additional monthly cash payments.

Medicaid

Medicaid is a federal and state-run health insurance program. Qualifying for SSI usually qualifies one for Medicaid, but with all generalizations, this does not apply in all states. With Alzheimer’s and dementia, most patients have other medical conditions and also use medication. Medicaid offers financial assistance in the form of coverage through its health insurance benefits. Benefits are managed at a state level but can include hospitalization, drug coverage, doctor appointments, nursing home care, and more. There are even programs like HCSB Waivers that encourage an individual to stay in their home or community instead of an early move into a nursing home. These waivers can offer extra care services for activities of daily living, home modifications, meal prep, and light nursing services.

Requirements are inconsistent from state to state, but for the most part, people who qualify for SSI also qualify for Medicaid. This is because both programs have similar requirements for a person’s monthly income and medical needs. Sometimes an individual has to fill out a Medicaid application and in other states, they are automatically enrolled. In the end, proving that your loved one has a disability can ease the financial burden by qualifying for benefit programs.

Medicaid long term care typically requires persons to have a “Nursing Home Level of Care” need, so having a disability may or may not qualify a person medically for Medicaid. More on Medicaid benefits and eligibility requirements.

Is Dementia a Mental Illness?

After looking at what a disability is and why it can be a beneficial tool for your loved one after a diagnosis of dementia, a logical question might occur. Is dementia a mental illness? The answer is no. That is because dementia is a medical condition that affects the brain and mental illness is a medical condition that changes how you feel, how you understand the world around you, and how you act. That means that there is a medicine that can treat the condition and symptoms of a mental illness. Mental illness medication and therapies can help improve a patient’s disorder. Dementia affects how the brain thinks and its memory. There is no medication that cures or dramatically improves its symptoms, making this a medical condition.

Does a Mental Illness Diagnosis Make a Disability?

There can be confusion when it comes to your loved ones’ symptoms of mental illness and dementia. There are mental illnesses that qualify for a disability because of not being able to work or being out of financial need. Both mental illnesses and dementia can have many similar symptoms but that does not make them the same. All dementias including Lewy Bodies, Frontotemporal, Vascular, and Alzheimer’s are conditions. They affect the brain causing a decline over time. Dementia is an incurable condition that breaks the brain down at a cellular level affecting memory and thinking.