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Shopping for Disabled Persons

Today’s Sound Off is about helping the handicapped shop. Dear Heloise: Today I had to get some gym shoes, but I walk with a cane and shopping is very difficult for me. I called around to see if some of these stores had motorized shopping carts for the handicapped, and after five calls to various large stores, I found only one that had what I needed. While I was in that store I bought several other items besides the shoes. I know brick-and-mortar stores are trying to lure customers in, despite COVID-19, but making it impossible for the handicapped to shop at their stores decreases the ...

Husband Throws Wrench in Wife’s Exercise Plans

DEAR ABBY: As a way to manage my stress and anxiety when COVID hit, I started to exercise. Neither my husband, “Chris,” nor I had ever been into fitness at all. As the months have gone on, I have realized the power of being healthy, and I try to exercise every day. The problem? Chris is angry. He calls it “me time” and has made it very difficult for me to go. I tried swimming in the morning before work, but he said he couldn’t manage at home to get our 2-year-old ready for school. I tried to go to the gym in the early evening, but he said he needs me to help get the children ...

Submit Your Disability Update Report Online

We are required to conduct continuing eligibility reviews for disabled beneficiaries every three years. This process requires that beneficiaries complete a Continuing Disability Review mailer to update information about their medical conditions and recent treatments. We now offer an online option to complete this update and provide any supporting documents about your medical treatment or your work. We designed this new form with convenience in mind — and to save you time. You can access the online form at www.ssa.gov/ssa455-online-form. (Use either Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome ...

Goodbye, Hello

Forty-one years is a long time to spend at one job. Not many people do that anymore. While Friday marked my farewell to this four-decade career in the news business, I will be hanging around to write a weekly column you will continue to find in this weekend space. This life-altering decision to hang up my pen has not been easy. There is no doubt that this past year of working at home, dealing with COVID constraints and missing my family played into this decision. Losing a fellow colleague last week only confirmed my decision. Others who have gone before me in retirement advised ...

MMR Vaccine is Critical, But Not to Help with COVID

DEAR DR. ROACH: We have friends who got the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine believing it will help with exposure to COVID-19. What are your thoughts on their thinking? — P.H. ANSWER: The World Health Organization has reported an increase in measles deaths since 2016, and that trend has accelerated in the past year. The COVID-19 pandemic certainly is having an effect on measles vaccination, and with a drop in vaccination comes a loss of herd immunity, meaning that a measles epidemic could spread in the population. Mumps and rubella are important too, but measles is incredibly ...

Couple Reaches A Stalemate in Marriage Without Intimacy

DEAR ABBY: My husband and I are both enlisted Army (he — 20 years, two Iraq deployments; I — 15 years, one Iraq deployment). We met in the service and have been married for 10 years. Three years after our wedding, my husband told me he was no longer physically attracted to me. It hurt. A lot. It has been seven years since that day, and we’re still together. I don’t feel loved, appreciated or valued. I’m a logic-driven person. Emotions don’t come easy for me. I have always been open about my thoughts and feelings, even the painful ones. Since that day, I resent him, ...