Different Types of Disabilities
In 2018, 52% of Sanlam’s disability claims were for heart disease, cancer and musculoskeletal conditions. For women, the majority of claims were for cardiovascular diseases (22%), while cancer accounted for most claims from men (28%).
It’s vital to note that disabilities can be seen and unseen. They can be physical, cognitive (physical or psychological conditions that limit an individual’s ability to learn, causing functional problems for that person), mental (difficulties relating to your ability to obtain, adapt, and apply new information), sensory, emotional, developmental or a combination of these. The most common disabilities young people are at risk of are impairments or complicated injuries following significant trauma or accidents. We are also seeing a slow but steady increase in psychiatric conditions in younger age groups as well, according to Dr Marion Morkel, Chief Medical Officer at Sanlam.
While the Stats SA report highlights the disability prevalence by province in South Africa for difficulty in seeing, hearing, communicating, walking, remembering and self-care, it does not include statistics about psychological and certain neurological disabilities. This is primarily due to a lack of data, which suggests that these kinds of ‘unseen’ disabilities may be overlooked.
Zungu notes that Mental Health Conditions such as anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia and progressive chronic conditions are examples of so-called “unseen” disabilities. She believes it is crucial to provide more education around these often less spoken about but equally debilitating disabilities. “It’s vital that people have disability cover should they be rendered temporarily or permanently unable to work. It’s also important they know what classifies as a disability in order to have the best chance of a successful claim.”