30 Years of Ratings: What Progressive Disability Actually Looks Like
A Navy veteran’s journey from 30% to 100% P&T—and why “maximizing your rating” is the wrong goal
The Timeline That Claim Sharks Don’t Want You To See
1992: 30% disabled | Age 22 | US Navy Submarine Force
I was serving aboard a U.S. Navy submarine when we pulled into Halifax, Nova Scotia. I went ashore with shipmates to buy the new Def Leppard cassette. Halfway through town, my right leg started dragging. I brushed it off.
On the way back, I couldn’t make it. My friends flagged down a taxi.
The next morning, I woke up paralyzed on my entire right side.
The ship’s doctor thought stroke. The hospital knew better. CT scan, MRI, spinal tap: Multiple Sclerosis.
First VA rating: 30% disabled.
At 30% I adapted. I could work. I needed minor accommodations, but I could work. I separated from the Navy and rebuilt my life around this new reality. For twenty years, that 30% rating was accurate. MS was there, but manageable.
2017: 70% disabled | Age 47 | 25 years later
The disease stopped being so nice.
What had been manageable became unreliable. Functional capacity dropping. Cognitive fog increasing. Symptoms no longer responded to treatment the way they used to. My reality no longer matched that 30% rating from 1992.
I requested a rating increase. I documented twenty years of progression. I submitted evidence showing genuine functional decline.
The VA reviewed everything. 70% disabled.
At 70%, work was difficult. But I kept going. I built businesses. I taught college courses. I ran a consultancy. I refused to stop.
2021: 100% Permanent & Total | Age 51 | 29 years after diagnosis
After nearly three decades with MS, the data was undeniable. The disease had progressed beyond what 70% captured. Symptoms that used to be occasional were now constant. Good days were becoming rare. Bad days were becoming catastrophic.
I documented everything. 347 pages of evidence. Medical records. Functional limitations. Patterns over time.
The VA agreed: 100% Permanent & Total.
But here’s what claim sharks won’t tell you: I kept working anyway.
What They Don’t Tell You About 100% P&T
For four years after being rated 100% P&T, I continued working:
- Adjunct professor teaching business management
- Running my consultancy (No Borders Learning Design LLC)
- Building TrackMySymptoms from scratch
- Taking contracts when my brain and body aligned
Was I faking it? No.
Was the VA wrong? No.
Was I in denial about my limitations? Probably.
Because here’s what 100% Permanent & Total actually means:
You cannot sustain competitive employment over time.
Not “you can’t work on good days.”
Not “you’re completely bedridden.”
But your body will not allow the consecutive functional days required for sustained employment.
What 100% P&T Actually Looks Like
Recently, I got offered a Managing Partner role. Commission-only. Full P&L responsibility. Build a division from scratch. Uncapped upside.
Everything my brain wanted.
I was seriously considering it.
Then I opened TrackMySymptoms—the app I built to help others document their disability claims—and looked at my own data from that week:
- 4 severe days out of 5
- 53% average functional capacity (4.8 hours per day)
- Zero consecutive days of sustained performance
- Multiple acute episodes requiring immediate cessation of activity
- Two hygiene failures incompatible with workplace standards (including one while at the grocery store with my wife – that was fun!)
My own app told me what my brain didn’t want to hear:
I cannot promise I’ll be functional tomorrow at 9am.
After 33 years with MS and 4 years of trying to work while rated 100% P&T, I finally accepted what the VA had determined in 2021:
My body doesn’t cooperate enough to sustain competitive employment.
What “Progressive Disability” Actually Means
Claim sharks want you to think VA ratings are about “maximizing” or “hitting” a target number.
That’s complete bullshit.
Ratings track functional decline over time. These are not “achievements”. They’re not “victories”. They’re measurements of loss.
Here’s what my 30-year progression actually represents:
30% (1992): Manageable Impairment
- I could work with accommodations
- Symptoms were predictable enough to plan around
- MS was present but not disabling
- What I lost: Military career, physical reliability
70% (2017): Significant Functional Decline
- Work required constant adaptation and modified hours
- Symptoms became less predictable
- Cognitive issues began affecting performance
- What I lost: Ability to sustain full-time employment reliably
100% P&T (2021): Inability to Sustain Competitive Employment
- Cannot promise consecutive functional days
- Symptoms severe enough to require immediate withdrawal from activity
- Cognitive and physical limitations make sustained work impossible
- What I lost: The illusion that determination could overcome my body’s limitations
Each rating increase represented something I’d lost, not something I’d gained.
The Four Years I Kept Fighting (2021-2025)
Even at 100% P&T, I kept working because my brain still functions – when my body cooperates.
Here’s what those four years looked like:
- Building my work schedule around unpredictable good and bad days
- Taking 3-hour “naps” at 10am and pretending they were normal breaks
- Cutting a Mexico vacation short because neurological symptoms scared my family
- Getting blindsided by college course assignments I was teaching but struggled to keep up with
- Declining opportunities my brain should be able to execute but couldn’t sustain
- MS hunting me down every single day
I wasn’t lazy. I wasn’t milking the system. I was fighting like hell to stay productive while my body and brain actively sabotaged me.
That’s what 100% P&T looks like from the inside.
The Difference Between “Can Work” and “Can Sustain Work”
This is what claim sharks don’t understand and what the VA rating system actually measures:
“Can you work?” Yes, on good days, I’m brilliant. I can code, teach, consult, strategize.
“Can you work 8 hours a day?” Maybe, if I’m lucky. But I’ll pay for it the next day.
“Can you work 5 days a week?” Reliably? Some weeks yes. Most weeks no.
“Can you sustain competitive employment?” No. My body doesn’t allow consecutive functional days. I also can’t drive a car safely, so that’s also quite a barrier.
That last question is what the VA rating measures.
Not your best day. Not what you can force yourself to do for a week. But whether you can sustain the reliability that competitive employment requires.
After 30+ years of progressive MS, the answer is no.
The Claim Shark Problem
The disability claim industry is full of operators who make the VA system sound like a game you’re trying to win:
- “Maximize your rating!”
- “Get to 100%!”
- “We’ll help you get what you deserve!”
- “Don’t leave money on the table!”
- “Get in the hundo club!”
Then they charge 30%+ of your back pay for “services.”
Fuck that narrative entirely.
Here’s what honest rating progression actually looks like:
- Document your actual limitations → Get the rating that matches your reality
- Document genuine decline over years → Request increase when condition worsens
- Document undeniable progression → Get higher rating if evidence supports it
- Keep trying to contribute → Even if rated 100% P&T, work within your actual capabilities
- Accept reality when your own data proves it → Stop fighting when your body demands it
That’s 30 years of fighting, not gaming.
My rating progression from 30% to 70% to 100% P&T wasn’t strategic optimization. It was my body deteriorating despite everything I did to stop it.
What You Should Actually Be Asking
If you’re pursuing a VA rating increase, don’t ask:
- “How do I maximize my rating?”
- “How do I get to 100%?”
- “What do I need to say to get the highest rating?”
Ask this instead:
“Has my condition genuinely gotten worse, and can I document that progression honestly?”
Because here’s my 30-year journey in one sentence:
Each rating increase represented real functional decline that I documented honestly, and even at 100% P&T, I still tried to work for four more years before my own data finally forced me to step back and face reality. I built a great career. MS stole it from me.
That’s not gaming the system. That’s progressive disability.
Why 100% Shouldn’t Be Your Goal
I’m rated 100% Permanent & Total. That’s not a badge of honor.
It’s documentation that my body and mind are fundamentally incompatible with competitive, conventional employment.
If you’re genuinely 30% and stable, stay there and work within your capabilities.
If you’re 70% and truly declining, document the decline honestly and request the increase.
If you’re chasing 100% because claim sharks told you it’s the “goal,” you’re doing it wrong.
The goal is accurate compensation for your actual functional limitations.
Not more. Not less. Just honest.
The Responsibility of 100% P&T
At 100% P&T, I carry specific responsibilities:
1. Don’t Abuse It
Don’t exaggerate symptoms beyond reality. Don’t pretend to be more disabled than I am. The rating reflects my body’s limitations, not my moral character.
2. Don’t Waste It
Just because I can’t sustain competitive employment doesn’t mean I can’t contribute. I can still code, write, teach, and build tools, when my body cooperates.
3. Don’t Lie About It
Not to make myself look more capable than I am. Not to make myself look more disabled than I am. Just document reality and let the data speak.
4. Build Tools So Others Don’t Need Claim Sharks
Every veteran who pays 30% of their back pay to a claim shark is a veteran who got exploited. I can still build better tools when my body allows. That’s why I created TrackMySymptoms.
Why TrackMySymptoms Exists
I built this tool because I spent 30 years trying to prove my limitations were real.
- To the Navy medical board in 1992.
- To the VA rating board in 2012.
- To the VA rating board again in 2021.
- To employers who couldn’t understand why I was unreliable.
- To doctors who thought I was exaggerating.
- To family who watched me decline and didn’t know how to help.
- And most importantly, to myself—because even at 100% P&T, I kept trying to work until my own app forced me to face reality.
Honest documentation isn’t about maximizing ratings.
It’s about capturing your reality so the system can measure your actual functional loss.
What TrackMySymptoms Doesn’t Promise
TrackMySymptoms will not:
- Maximize your rating
- Guarantee you’ll get 100%
- Help you exaggerate symptoms
- Teach you what to say to trick evaluators
- Charge you 30% of your back pay
That’s what claim sharks do.
What TrackMySymptoms Actually Does
TrackMySymptoms will:
- Help you document symptoms as they actually occur
- Generate attorney-ready reports in formats the VA and SSA recognize
- Track patterns over time so you can see genuine progression (or stability)
- Reference Blue Book criteria and VA rating schedules so your documentation matches what evaluators need
- Give you the evidence to prove your reality – whether that’s 30%, 70%, 100%, or anything in between
Because ratings measure loss, not victory.
And after 30 years of progressive MS documented through three legitimate VA rating increases, I’ve lost enough to know the difference.
The Bottom Line
1992: 30% disabled at age 22. Separated from the Navy. Rebuilt my life.
2012: 70% disabled at age 42. Worked anyway. Built businesses. Taught students. Refused to quit.
2021: 100% P&T at age 51. Kept working for four more years because my brain still functioned even when my body didn’t.
2025: Finally accepted what the data proved. My body won’t sustain competitive employment. MS still hasn’t won, it just made me play a new game.
This is what progressive disability looks like.
Not someone gaming the system for maximum benefits.
Not someone who wants to be disabled.
But someone whose body has been failing for 33 years, who fought like hell at every stage, who worked four years past 100% P&T, and who finally had to accept reality when his own app proved it.
That’s the ethical foundation TrackMySymptoms is built on.
Honest documentation. Accurate ratings. No claim sharks. No bullshit.
Just your reality, captured in the language the VA understands.
Your Turn
If you’re fighting for a VA rating increase, ask yourself honestly:
Has your condition genuinely worsened, or are you just trying to hit a number?
Because the difference between progressive disability and rating optimization is the difference between documentation and exploitation.
I spent 30 years documenting genuine decline.
What are you documenting?
Shane Murphy
U.S. Navy Submarine Veteran (1988-1992)
100% P&T since 2021
Founder, TrackMySymptoms
Ready to document your reality honestly? Sign up here.
P.S. – If you’re a claim shark reading this and you’re pissed off, good. You’re exactly who I built this to replace.