Schwerbehindertenausweis

Here is a picture of my disability pass. I often imagine myself, fondly, wearing this around my neck, naively showing it to anyone official looking on public transport, possibly attempting to mortify Claire.



But the stereotypical disabled person has changed for me.

I don't attach any stigma to owning one of these, because this is my new normal. There are also some advantages of having one of these bad boys, financial and otherwise. Firstly, and mainly, I will no longer have  to pay for public transport (okay, €80 a year but that includes regional trains), this is owing to the inclusion of the letter 'G' with my Ausweis. This denotes that my specific disability has the effect of limiting my walking ('G'ehen) abilities. As well as that, I am entitled to some tax breaks, not much, but not to be sneezed at. Another benefit (until 2021, at least) is an extra week of holidays from work. As such, I would highly recommend anyone with a reasonable claim to having one of these passes to get on the case.

The process, in my case, was very time consuming. Initially --and commonly, according to my G.P.-- we were offered a grading of 30% disabled. Then Claire appealed that decision, due to the fact that I was, and still am, depending on her for shopping and getting from A to B. 30% is "disabled" though it's not "schwerbehindert", or severely disabled. A grading of >50% is enough to be deemed severely disabled. Who'd have thought that I'd be reluctant not to be thought of as severely disabled. Of course 60% is not sufficient to describe my level of disability but I will make it a goal, to get down to 60% within the span of this Ausweis, so 2021 --- that should be doable.

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