It depends solely on that individual's personal circumstances. People who claim disability who are clearly disabled and can not physically work should be able to claim disablity with no problems. However, in the country I live in at least, there are many people who try to cheat the system and claim disability who can work but are just lazy. And those people make it more difficult for people who are actually disabled. The two people who you mentioned might think your personal circumstance is the latter, but at the end of the day, it's up to the professionals and nobody else.