ABSTRACT
The United States has many resources for providing services to workers with disabilities, including state-based workers’ compensation insurance and federal programs such as Social Security Disability Insurance. Legislation exists to protect the rights of people with disabilities, provide wage protection in event of disability, supply rehabilitation services, and support return to productive work. However, there is no central authority for coordinating work disability issues, resulting in fragmentation, inefficiency, and redundancy among systems. Of considerable concern is the ambient atmosphere of distrust that too often taints efforts to create a more harmonious social system for addressing work disability needs.
