Disability

The condition of the body or mind that makes it difficult for the person to do a certain task in daily life is called a disability.

Disability could be physical or mental impairment that affects normal working or limits one or major activities of life. In simple words, when it gets difficult for an individual to perform a physical activity it is called disability.

There are types of disability:

• Intellectual: When a person finds difficulty in communicating, absorbing the information, and learning, it is referred to as intellectual disability.
• Physical: If a person cannot move or perform a task physically like weight lifting, moving things from one end to another, is called physical disability.
• Mental Illness: When a person is left incapable of thinking or his/her behaviour or emotional state changes due to accident, shock,etc. it is called mental illness.
• Sensory:Sensory disability affects senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste or spatial awareness.

If you have a life insurance policy, it provides you financial protection if the life insured suffers with disability during the policy term. The disability may arise from any of the factors as listed in the life insurance policy. To get proper cover, an individual can buy accidental death and disability rider to enhance the scope of coverage under the base policy.

Rishi was covered under a term life insurance policy with sum assured Rs.1 crore. He also chose accidental death and disability rider for Rs.20 lakhs.

After office he drove back home on his bike. One day on the way back, Rishi met with an accident. He sustained severe injuries and was taken to the hospital. After check-ups and treatment, the doctor declared that Rishi is suffering from a disability as his left hand suffered serious injuries. Due to the injury, Rishi could not join work for a few weeks.

Rishi received the compensation as he was covered under the accidental death and disability rider cover. It was a temporary disability, hence the compensation amounted to a fixed percentage of the rider sum assured.