As the “Information Age” continues to impress us all with the ability for an individual to learn practically anything at the touch of a button, more and more Los Angeles readers are probably learning about medical conditions and genetic disorders. However, there are some medical conditions that many people still may not know much about. One in particular is probably muscular dystrophy.
Muscular dystrophy actually refers to a group of diseases associated with genetic disorders that prevent a person’s body from creating the right type of proteins for muscle development. There is no “typical” type of muscular dystrophy. For some people with this condition, they have known about it since they were young children. For others, the symptoms of the disorder may not manifest until they are adults.
However, what is generally common to people who have muscular dystrophy is that they will almost always develop difficulty with movement and muscle use. Many people with muscular dystrophy will eventually lose the ability to walk, and are thereafter confined to a motorized scooter or wheelchair.
For Los Angeles residents who have been diagnosed with muscular dystrophy early in life, Supplemental Security Income may be an option. If the individual is never able to join the workforce because of the condition, that person probably wouldn’t be able to qualify for Social Security Disability, so applying for SSI benefits is the route to take. However, it would probably be a prudent step for a person in this situation to get more information about the application process in order to ensure the accuracy of the information submitted.
Source: www.mayoclinic.org, “Muscular dystrophy,” accessed on March 22, 2015
