Colorectal Cancer: In Treatment: Not Working Because Of Health Condition

If you are physically and emotionally up to it, consider doing some volunteer work during treatment. At the least, you can use the volunteer time to get out of the house, be with people, be involved in something other than your treatment, and hopefully bring or keep your skills to date.

If you feel like you may be able to return to work during your ongoing treatments, volunteering helps to let you find out if you are really able to return to work. It also provides practical information if you are considering a new area of work.

If you are going to volunteer, and if you are receiving a disability income, look at the rules to find out what constitutes work to be sure your volunteer efforts do not affect your disability income. As a general matter, volunteering does not count even if you volunteer from 9 – 5 because you are not obligated to show up.

If you are receiving income from Social Security Disability Insurance, you are even allowed to return to work for pay for a limited period of time to test whether you are able to work without affecting your disability income.

Keep in mind that:

• New employers cannot ask about your health condition thanks to the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and similar laws.
• The only question about hiring you is whether you are mentally and physically able to work now. What may happen in the future is not relevant.
• When you prepare a resume, carefully consider what to say about time when you have not been working.

For information about these subjects, see the articles in "To Learn More."

NOTE: Survivorship A to Z also provides information about how to keep disability income whether you are receiving income from the government such as through Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), from an insurance policy or from an employer. For instance, your rights if an investigator calls. See the documents in “To Learn More.”