Advances in Robotics and the Disability Tax Credit Provide Hope to Amputees

The loss of a limb is an event that fundamentally changes a person’s relationship with the world. It’s emotionally traumatic, physically challenging and often drastically curtails a person’s earning ability while simultaneously increasing their medical bills by many times.

In recent years enormous leaps and bounds have been made in the field of robotic limbs which may help many people disabled by amputation return to the job market and reclaim their dignity and purpose. One such advance was the focus recently of an article on washingtonpost.com.

The latest mind-controlled, robotic arm can send sensations of touch directly to the user’s brain, according to reports from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). In essence, they claim, it allows its user to feel things with their robotic hand.

In tests, a 28-year-old subject — paralyzed by a spinal injury for more than a decade — was reportedly able to tell which finger of his prosthetic was being touched with 100 percent accuracy. According to the volunteer, the sensation was like his own hand was being touched.

This amazing development from DARPA points the way to true recovery for accident victims, diabetics, combat veterans, and more who have been forced to live life in the shadows since suffering their amputations. Few governmental outreach programs effectively engage these disabled citizens whose extraordinary medical expenses include not only the initial cost of their hospitalization but follow-up treatment, physical therapy, and psychological counseling as well. Without help from programs like the Disability Tax Credit, many of these people would be unable to afford to recover.

Tragically many of Canada’s disabled amputees are not even aware the Disability Tax Credit exists. And if they are, many are given conflicting or simply incorrect information regarding their eligibility from well-meaning but misinformed family, friends, and medical professionals. Being unable to take advantage of this important program means many will wind up either depending on family members for basic survival or, frankly, destitute.

The True Cost of Amputation Reveals the True Value of the Disability Tax Credit

A study by Johns Hopkins University in 2002 estimated the total lifetime cost incurred by an amputee to be more than half a million dollars. That total was later corroborated in a study published in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery which determined that throughout their lifetime, an amputee could expect to incur $509,275 in medical bills. These are the kinds of expenses that upend people’s lives and create marginalized citizens unable to participate in any meaningful fashion in society as a whole.

Fortunately, the Disability Tax Credit represents a bright spot on the horizon in the lives of many of Canada’s disabled amputees and we at Disability Credit Canada have made it our job to help these citizens recoup the full financial benefit they’re entitled to. That means up to $40,000 annually. If your t2201 application for the Disability Tax Credit is approved you may also be eligible to claim 10 years of benefits retroactively.

Disability Credit Canada Can Help: Get in Touch With Us Today

The physical, mental, and emotional stress of losing a limb is bad enough. No one who has been through such a traumatic event should also have to come home from the hospital to face a blizzard of medical bills and no way to pay them. That’s why we’re here. Our highly trained benefits specialists have helped scores of disabled Canadians and their families mitigate the worst financial effects of traumatic amputation by shepherding their Disability Tax Credit application through to final approval.

We hope that we will see the day advances such as those outlined in the Washington Post article will render the Disability Tax Credit for amputees unnecessary. But until that day comes you can rest assured we’re in your corner fighting the good fight on your behalf. Don’t take a back seat to life. Call Disability Credit Canada today at 1-855-765-4458. We’ll get you the help you need to defeat the scourge of out-of-control medical expenses.