Claim Raven explanation
What this means
This section defines who is an eligible person for the automobile-assistance chapter and what counts as adaptive equipment. It covers specified service-connected loss or permanent loss of use, qualifying bilateral vision impairment, and severe burn injury.
The listed disability must result from injury or disease incurred or aggravated in active service. Adaptive equipment includes more than driving controls. It can include equipment for safe entry and exit, wheelchair or scooter trailers, medically necessary air conditioning, and interior-space modifications needed to enter or operate the vehicle.
How this helps your claim
The definition controls entry into the automobile program. It applies to qualifying veterans receiving chapter 11 compensation and certain active-duty members, while section 3902 separately describes the assistance provided.
What to check in your records
Compare the service-connected disability and functional findings with the exact eligibility category claimed.
- Collect the rating decision and medical findings about loss or loss of use.
- For vision, preserve corrected-acuity and visual-field measurements for both eyes.
- Identify the proposed adaptive equipment and the functional need it addresses.
Connect each requested adaptation to a functional need
Use examination findings and therapy or mobility records to describe why the person cannot safely enter, exit, or operate a standard vehicle. For loss-of-use questions, identify the actual remaining function rather than relying only on the body-part diagnosis.
Make a separate list for vehicle assistance and for adaptive equipment. They overlap but are not identical benefits. A person who cannot drive may still qualify for a vehicle operated by someone else under section 3902 if the underlying eligibility rules are met.
Must the eligible person be able to drive the vehicle?
No. Section 3902 allows assistance when another person will operate the vehicle for an eligible person who cannot qualify to drive. Section 3901 still controls whether the person has a qualifying service-connected disability.
Official statutory text
38 USC § 3901
OLRC release: pl-119-108. Layout and spacing are adapted for reading. The statutory text is shown here; publisher source credits and editorial notes remain in the linked official release.
§ 3901. Definitions
For purposes of this chapter:
(1) The term “eligible person” means the following:
(A) Any veteran entitled to compensation under chapter 11 of this title for any of the following disabilities, if the disability is the result of an injury incurred or disease contracted in or aggravated by active military, naval, air, or space service:
(i) The loss or permanent loss of use of one or both feet.
(ii) The loss or permanent loss of use of one or both hands.
(iii) The permanent impairment of vision of both eyes of the following status: central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye, with corrective glasses, or central visual acuity of more than 20/200 if there is a field defect in which the peripheral field has contracted to such an extent that the widest diameter of visual field subtends an angular distance no greater than twenty degrees in the better eye.
(iv) A severe burn injury (as determined pursuant to regulations prescribed by the Secretary).
(B) Any member of the Armed Forces serving on active duty who is suffering from any disability described in clause (i), (ii), (iii), or (iv) of subparagraph (A) if such disability is the result of an injury incurred or disease contracted in or aggravated by active military, naval, air, or space service.
(2) The term “adaptive equipment” includes, but is not limited to, power steering, power brakes, power window lifts, power seats, special equipment necessary to assist the eligible person into and out of the automobile or other conveyance, and nonarticulating trailers solely designed to transport powered wheelchairs, powered scooters, or other similar mobility devices. Such term also includes (A) air-conditioning equipment when such equipment is necessary to the health and safety of the veteran and to the safety of others, regardless of whether the automobile or other conveyance is to be operated by the eligible person or is to be operated for such person by another person; and (B) any modification of the size of the interior space of the automobile or other conveyance if needed because of the physical condition of such person in order for such person to enter or operate the vehicle.
Related references
- 38 USC § 3902: VA automobile and adaptive-equipment assistance
- 38 USC § 1114: Disability Compensation and SMC in Federal Law
- 38 USC § 2101: Who may qualify for specially adapted housing assistance
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