Sep 16, 2024 - Disability Insurance by Seltzer & Associates
Social media can provide an effective platform for raising awareness about key issues affecting individuals with disabilities, including those who are struggling with disability claims. Social media offers additional benefits, including vital support networks.
However, the use of social media can also prove harmful for those who are trying to obtain disability benefits, so it is important to be aware of the hazards and understand how to safeguard your interests if you are pursuing disability benefits or you currently receive disability benefits. Mistakes now can come back to haunt you later.
The Good: How Social Media Can Provide Support for Those Facing Disability Claims
When you’re adjusting to life with a disability, you can feel like the world is a different place and you’re a stranger in it. You can no longer work in the career that was formerly the focus of so much of your time and energy. But it goes far beyond that. You’ve also lost the ability to do the things that engaged you outside of work. People treat you differently. Sometimes, they avoid you. Other times, you want to avoid them.
It can be a lonely and disorienting experience. Social media can help you bridge the gap and forge a new future that is different from what you originally envisioned. You can connect with others who understand your challenges and can provide guidance. You gain a platform to explain your experiences and help others understand how they can help and what they are doing that is holding you back. You can learn from others and help them learn from you. You can join the public dialog and help bring about changes to support individuals who are working to overcome the challenges posed by their disabilities.
The connection and information provided through social media can be tremendously helpful as you navigate your way forward after an illness or injury. However, it is important to be aware of the potential drawbacks and take the necessary steps to protect yourself.
The Bad: Insurance Companies Monitor Your Social Media Posts
While social media allows you to connect with others and gain a glimpse into lives where other individuals have developed creative and resilient ways to overcome challenges, it also gives others a glimpse into your life. Specifically, the insurance company that you are trying to obtain disability benefits from or are currently receiving benefits is likely to have representatives combing through your social media accounts. They are looking for anything they can use as grounds to deny your claim for benefits or terminate the benefits you currently receive.
Insurance companies may monitor not only what you post to accounts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, and other platforms. They also monitor posts from others in which you may be tagged. Some facial recognition software can identify you even if you aren’t tagged. They can save copies of photos and information and use it as grounds to thwart your claims for benefits. For instance, if you go to your niece’s house for Christmas and someone posts a picture of you smiling as you sit on the floor petting the guinea pig, the insurance company might use that as evidence to “prove” that you have the agility to get around. However, you might be sitting on an orthopedic cushion with back support, and you may have needed help from two other adults to get up and down from the floor. Yet, none of that information is conveyed in the picture. Social media provides evidence, and that evidence can be very damaging, even when it is misleading.
The Ugly: Information Taken Out of Context
Even old information in social media can make it difficult to obtain or continue receiving disability benefits. If you or someone else posts an old photo showing you doing something you can no longer do now, such as working out at the gym or playing softball, insurance companies often ignore the dates and use it as evidence that you are no longer disabled. You may be able to prove that an image is old—but what if you can’t?
The greatest difficulty often arises with disability claims based on mental disabilities. Insurance companies often try to use information in posts or comments to demonstrate that you no longer suffer from mental health problems. Our society is not very accepting when it comes to emotional and mental health problems, and most people try to hide them from the public even when those difficulties lead to reclusive behavior. They put on fake smiles when seen by others and may post positive statements on social media to reassure others or even to try to influence their own moods. Unfortunately, this public “persona” on social media gives insurance companies grounds to deny many claims for disabilities related to mental health when those disabilities truly prevent individuals from working.
Even when you don’t add new information, the data you have already posted about your status, your career, or anything else can be held against you. Something as simple as listing your status as “open to new opportunities” could be used to demonstrate that you are actively seeking employment or a relationship and that, therefore, your disabilities are not limiting you.
What Can You Do to Protect Yourself?
There are two approaches you can use to protect yourself when it comes to social media. The first would be to use social media to publicly document your struggles—how long it takes to get dressed in the morning or how much pain you’re in as you walk to a table in a restaurant when going out for your birthday. Many people do not want to do this because they feel they would be unduly burdening others with their problems.
The other option is to stop using social media. It is not possible to remove everything posted in the past, but you can set your account settings to “private” and stop posting new information or commenting on others’ posts. In particular, be wary of having an active account on LinkedIn, which is viewed as a tool for career networking. Even if you hope to work again in the future, if you are unable to work now, you should not have an active account on the platform.
While it may be tempting to think that you can continue to use social media safely if you just keep your settings private, you need to be wary. Insurance companies have been known to issue fake friend requests and post messages under false names to gain access to private social media accounts. The safest option is to stay off social media entirely. If you are working with a disability insurance attorney on your claim, your legal advisor may be able to suggest additional strategies and alternatives for connecting with others safely.
Get Help With Filing and Managing Disability Claims
With the advice to cut ties with social media, it can feel like your disability is taking over every aspect of your life, and that is true to a certain extent. Remember, however, that humans have been fostering meaningful connections for millennia, while social media has been popular for only about two decades. There are alternative methods of electronic communication that can allow you to connect with others without being spied on by insurance companies who are actively seeking to sabotage your claim for benefits.
For help obtaining and maintaining disability benefits, it can be very advantageous to call on the knowledge of an experienced disability insurance attorney. You can schedule a confidential free consultation with the dedicated team at Seltzer & Associates by calling 888-699-4222 or contacting us online. We help individuals all over the country get and keep the disability benefits to which they are entitled.