vocational retraining for people with RA

Sorry to read about your nephew. I am not going to be of much help as far as retraining for individuals. I know in some states retraining can be offered to a person if they have a work injury that will prevent them from performing their normal line of work. Yes, you are correct about Social Security often will offer retraining for someone disabled.

Is he being treated for his RA and on medication? There is a lot of different medications available to treat it & help slow down the progression.

He can look into his states Vocational Rehabilitation program. But funds have been cut drastically in recent years. If someone is receiving disability. VR has the incentative to get them off disability and back to work. In some cases, if testing shows the person is likely to end up in disability if they are not retrained. They will retrain the person. The only way he will know is to contact the state Vocational Rehabilitation office in his area. A lot of areas have waiting lists. So it might benefit him to call now.

How old is he ? Does he have training or education in any other field ? Age is a factor in being approved for disability. In order to be approved for disability. He must prove with medical evidence and non medical evidence that he cannot perform SGA working jobs in the national economy.
The SGA for 2022' will be $1350 before taxes. Based on what you have said here. It sounds highly unlikely that he would be approved for disability anytime soon.

He needs to find out what his monthly disability benefits would be. Do you know if he has been paying into social security ? Unfortunately, some people are shocked to learn they have not been paying into it or have not paid in enough. See the link below

See- Number Of Credits Needed For Disability-
https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/credits.html#h3

Post Edited (Mercy&Grace) : 11/14/2021 6:42:36 PM (GMT-7)

I hope he is being followed by a rheumatologist, typically NSAIDS are the first line of treatment. The next step is DMARDS which is something to consider. Long term use of steroids comes with their set of problems. The steroids will tamp down the inflammation but it's temporary.

I hope he can get some help & relief.

I am not sure if your nephew is interested reading about RA online or not. RheumatoidArthritis.org is a good source, also reading at the top university hospitals such as the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic & John Hopkins to name a couple. The more he knows & understands about the disease the better, we live in a society where patients have to advocate for the best care possible.