An opportunity waiting to happen: Disability Insurance Awareness Month is a good time for producers to speak to their clients about this important financial protection.

When an employee can't work due to a disabling illness or injury, the financial consequences can be dire, especially if that person hasn't taken steps to guard against the unexpected. Sadly, these are the circumstances facing countless Americans each year because they lack adequate disability income insurance.

Only about 29% of the 2.3 million workers who applied for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits in 2005 were approved. And those who were approved got an average benefit last year of just $938 monthly--hardly enough to replace the average worker's income. Workers' compensation covers only work-related disabilities, while 90% of disabling accidents and illnesses aren't work-related. And what about coverage through work? It's a great employee benefit, but it's not available to many workers. Only 36% of all full-time employees have access to long-term disability insurance through their employers.

To focus consumer attention on this issue, the industry has come together for the second Disability Insurance Awareness Month, coordinated by the nonprofit Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education. Throughout May, dozens of leading companies and trade associations will join forces with thousands of individual insurance advisers to make sure workers are reminded of the need to include disability income protection in their financial plans.

To help spread its messages on television and radio, LIFE has retained a prominent Paralympian to serve as the national DIAM spokesperson. April Holmes, widely considered the world's fastest female amputee, will compete in the Paralympic Games in Beijing in September.

April is a favorite to repeat as the 100- and 200-meter gold medalist. During the campaign, she will use her world-class athlete status as a platform to talk about her 2001 train accident that left one leg amputated below the knee. She will tell Americans to be prepared for the unexpected and what it meant to her to have disability income protection.

The awareness-building efforts of LIFE will be complemented by aggressive sales and marketing efforts on the part of many leading insurance companies, including Illinois Mutual, The Principal, Union Central and The Hartford.

These companies will be joined in the campaign by other leading organizations, such as the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, the Association of Health Insurance Advisors, America's Health Insurance Plans, the National Association of Health Underwriters and the Council for Disability Awareness.

Sales representatives should he aware of the opportunity and take advantage of it. Resources that are available from LIFE to member companies or brokerages include:

* Marketing materials, fact sheets and DVDs

* Electronic greeting cards 

* News releases that producers can customize and submit to the news media in their local communities.

Producers also can refer clients to the LIFE Web site, www.lifehappens.org, which offers general information about disability insurance and has an online DI-needs calculator.

This May, help those in your community understand the importance of disability insurance and the need to protect their most valuable asset--their ability to earn an income.

Marvin H. Feldman is president and chief executive officer of the LIFE Foundation. He can be reached at [e-mail].