The fundamental problem is that the government is using earnings as the metric for evaluating disability. That might work ok with manual labor, but not so grea

The fundamental problem is that the government is using earnings as the metric for evaluating disability. That might work ok with manual labor, but not so great with non-manual labor jobs. As others have pointed out, there needs to at least be tapered thresholds with a significant deadband (in dollars and time) so someone can get some career inertia before being cast out of the system. Beyond that, we should be able to provide some help even after someone starts earning. Living and working with a disability is damned expensive, not to mention the horrendous stress of worrying about whether one can meet expectations at work.