I received in the mail the papers from my ss disability interview. It was 2 sets of papers that stated just the my basic DOB, address, condition, wages, etc. They were for my records. They also sent 6 medical release forms that I needed to sign & return. I also have to send her my birth certificate. She said I'd receive a letter in 3-5 months. I thought I'd have to fill out papers about how RA affects me and causes me to not work. I've always heard there are lots of papers to fill out. She did'nt say anything about sending me anything else, only that she has to forward my information somewhere? I 'm stumped. They clearly don't have enough info to make a decision, exp. since she told me she needed my answer to be shorter because she only had a couple of lines to type in. Guess I just wait & see.
Do you have a disability lawyer? This waiting to receive a letter in 3-5 months sounds like their normal stall. SS actively tries to discourage you by putting in as many delays and rejecting claims as many as three times.
They don't do the same thing with other disabilities. My daughter, who is bipolar, had only one visit with one doctor along with her medical records and that was it. We did go through one of the mental services here and that helped.
If you don't have a lawyer, I strongly, strongly recommended it. I tried for disability a few years ago. It was over nine months before they even touched my case. By then, I was forced to go back to some kind of work and that is what they are hoping for.
If I get to the point of needing disability again, my first stop is the lawyer. They can only charge you a set fee and they don't get that until you receive you disability.
When I applied for SSI for my daughter there were tons of forms asking about her condition. Then it took about two months to see an SSI doctor. She was approved right away.
I received the same papers as you db. I think it is only the beginning.
Now I have to decide whether to fight for my job or not
For my own disability, I hired a lawyer and in one years time we spoke 3 times. When I got infront of the Judge, with the lawyer, the Judge asked me to explain my situation to him. With three bags of empty pills per the lawyer I started to tell my story. As soon as I said I had blood work...he asked the lawyer for it. My lawyer said, I don't have blood work...I said yes, i gave it to you!!! The lawyer got reprimanded for not having his file organized. The secretary interjected, mines in order I'll have it in a minute. He looked at that and Bingo I was disabled!!! I'm alone with no other income so I had to go to welfare for help for that year because you can "NOT" work for a year. Also, I got 3 rejections before the Judge. This was 10 years ago and somethings might be different, however, not much from what I've read here. Sara
I hate to say it, but is sounds damn near impossible to get disability...like you almost have to starve and become homeless before you can even possibly get benefits. It is really sad that people who work hard for most of their adult lives can get kicked to the curb when they become to ill to work. It is very discouraging and it makes me feel like if I ever get to the point that I cant work at all anymore, my husband is going to have to carry the burden of the expenses on his own. Right now he covers about 40% of the family expense on his income. If I couldnt work, things would change dramatically. I wouldnt mind so much if it was just the two of us, but we have two kids that havent even hit their teen years yet. It is all so frustrating and scarey....and sad. It makes me sad for all of us, the way that we arent sick enough to be in a hospital where we can be taken care of when we need it, but too sick to work or do the things we once loved to do. We are stuck in limbo, in a world of vagueness, of gray areas and uncertainty. There are so many people that are out there abusing the system, I see it everyday, and then there are those who really need a helping hand but instead get slapped away. Sigh........Crunchy...
You hit the nail right on the head. What really pisses me off about SSD is it is YOUR money. You earned it. You have to qualify to see if you have enough built in your account to receive benefits before you even start the process. Those who apply for disability are not asking for a handout and it is not welfare. Disability is money we have earned through working most of our lives.
Don't force us to beg for what is rightfully ours. Don't force us to abide by your decision and your benevolence. Just give us our damn money!!!
Joe
Has anyone filed for dis online? I don't know whether to do that or get a lawyer from the get go. My sister had back surgery three years ago and has 4 plates and 8 screws in her back. She does everything stanidng up coz it hurts her too much to sit and she can hardly walk yet she has been denied SSDI three times. Lost her job and almost lost her home.
I wonder where these SSDI people get their training on what to do with our cases. I for one would like to have one of them just come and hang out with me for one day and let them see what it is really like. So many things I can't do now and some things I try to do anyway and really end up paying for them within a couple of hours-major major pain
I agree with Joe and Crunchy. This has been exactly my experience with disability. When I first got so sick that I couldn't work, I couldn't even get myself to the doctors, my parents generously invited me to live with them until I could get disability.
So, I left my kids with their dad and moved all my stuff to New Mexico. What a nightmare? My parents didn't intend to help me. They were charging me rent even though I wasn't making any income. They went back on their promise to help me get to doctors. Then they gave all my things to my siblings. It felt like I was dead and watching vultures pick over my grave. Then, they kept saying that I was well now and that I would never leave and spend my life taking care of them. That was their motivation for taking me in, so I could be a servant to them.
After three months of being treated horribly, and my daughter having to join me because she had gotten very ill, I finally could take no more. My girlfriend and my niece helped us get to a woman's shelter. We left behind what had been the contents of a 4 bedroom house with just two suitcases.
I spent another three months in this shelter. They were kinder to me than my family. At least I could eat food without each mouthful being counted. And, I was allowed to rest. But I could get no medical care. During this time I was extremely flared and was having heart problems. There was no doctors in this small town so I went to Albuquerque.
Here I was reclassified as homeless. Social Security had still done nothing on my case. I tried to go the the SS office there. Unfortunately, I picked 9/11 to go. I could still not get any medical help from the state or any help with disability. I could not get any kind of housing. I had to remain in this horrible shelter that was filled with prostitutes and druggies, where everything was at risk at being stolen. Fortunately, two women took my under their wings and helped me through the experience. My daughter returned to her father's house.
Things started to change for me through an organization called Healthcare for the Homeless. I was having a terrible time seeing and they got me to an eye doctor and helped me get a new pair of glasses. They also got me to a rheumatologist and got me medicines that I desperately needed. But I still was not eligible for any financial or housing help because I didn't have minor children living with me. I was only 43 and rated lower than any other human on the food chain.
Then, I got a call from my son, telling my that my daughter had been kicked out because her dad had caught her smoking a cigarette. She was homeless. I got this news the week that they had the attack on the bus and all the planes and th buses were shut down. My daughter doesn't have the ability to survive on her own because she has a mental illness. I was desperate.
I begged for a bus ticket back to Phoenix and St. Vincent de Paul arranged for it. I had no place to live and about left and just my suitcase. I had made arrangements to stay a few days with an old friend and his wife. But I made the horrible mistake of giving my daughter some money for food. Next thing I know I am dumped on the street outside the worst shelter you can imagine.
I had no where to go. I got on a city bus and with a prayer, I just went. I didn't know where I was going. I ended up on the doorstep of my exhusband. He and I have been at continual war since out divorce many years ago. But he took me and made sure I had food.
I was able to get my old job back. I wasn't any more well, but I had to work in order to save my daughter. A month later, we were in our own apartment.
About a month after that, I finally heard from SS. By then I was working so I had to drop the case.
I was treated like garbage. Once I couldn't work, no one counted me as having any value, not even my family. I was demeaned so much by what happened. But I was also strengthened. I learned that poverty is a state of mind, not a state of being.
The system is still no better today than it was about four years ago when all this happened. I don't understand why we have to grovel at the knees of the government either when our doctors are more than ready to state our case. Every day I am sick and it takes extraordinary effort to make it through the pain and fatigue.
Now, I plan for disability as a possibility. I've moved into a much cheaper place. I have disability insurance on my one loan and I make no debts but medical ones. I am trying to save money now, but it is hard with the extreme medical costs that fall outside my insurance.
I have called many different people and organizations here asking what I can do. First, no lawyer will even talk to me unless I am already not working. I am told I can get my utilities paid once in a year's time. There's no help with rent, etc. The best I can get is food stamps and that is not even until I have been not working for at least two months. Sometime after that, I might qualify for state medical. But I will have to have spent every dime I have.
Of course, in this state, if you are an illegal, this is not the case. You go to the front of the line. They are very blatant about this, even putting all their paperwork in Spanish first, English second.
Every day I wish I could quit working. But after this experience, I am frightened to try again.
So, Crunchy, I did starve and I did become homeless. But I didn't get disability. I watch more of my joints go bad. My heart becomes more affected. But because of this terrible system, I have to keep putting myself at risk.
And Joe, you're right, it is our money. We paid into this, but they are not about to let us have it. I don't understand why I have to be reduced to complete desperation to get any kind of help.
Deanna, I'm so sorry for all that you've been through. You are one tough lady. How unfair can things be! You're in my prayers for better times ahead.dbmy3,
Your comments are so kind. I don't why I spilled my guts like that. But all that I have been through motivates me to help others as much as I am able. I would like to become some kind of advocate for the disabled. Maybe I can do that with my writing.
I tell my daughter that all we have been through has taught us one precious thing and that is compassion. There seems to be a very limited supply of that in the world so we should give it every chance we get. She is very good at employing this lesson.
Thanks for your prayers.
Deanna, my heart goes out to you. There's something wrong with a system like ours. We don't give people basic dental care, but then we spend a fortune on the consequences - i.e. heart attacks, oral surgeries. I watched a woman at the foot doctor. She was retarded & diabetic, and they wouldn't pay for basic foot care - only for the extreme care one her feet were ulcered. I imagine they had to be amputated. Imagine what THAT cost.Deanna,
You told my story to a "T". My heart goes out to you. This gov. does not take care us. Especially, when it is our money!!! This system forces us to LIE, LIE AND LIE.
Everything they told informed you to do is exactly right. I've heard of very few people that get disablity without having to go poor. Back when I applied anything over 0 a month is concidered substansial and gainful employment!!!! I was a walking mad women when they told me all this. For a family it is more...not much more.
You have to quit your job, work under the table, God knows...don't tell welfare, go to medicaid...apply for it all (living, food stamps, and health). After all that, they WILL get the first check out of your diabilty to be repaid. I've said it many times...If you hire a lawyer and because you need to live and therefore go to welfare, they all get there checks before you get yours!!!! That SUCKS, welcome to reality.
It is a one year to the date that you apply for disability not counting if you applied before, and two or three rejections before you go before the Judge. Your check will be rerto...active back to the date you applied for disabilty ( the lawyer and welfare will get there money first), then the balance is yours!!!
I was so humiliated threw this process, i wanted to kill someone. Didn't know who, but it put me in therapy histerical. How can this country do this to us!!! People will ask me, how do you live on such little money. I always say...If you knew what it took me to get this you'd feel rich!!!
What everyone reads on this thread is so true. God love us all as we deserve every little bit we get. For those of us who have had to lie are way in...forgive yourself for having to do what you had to in order to not torture our bodies.
This is a passionate subject for me. Anyone I can help please feel free to ask. I will open my e-mail for you. :) Sara
P.S.
By all means ....go to welfare...they get paid back!!!!
Sara,
Thank you for your passion! I glad you were able to get through this maze and that you have posted some more info about disability. I didn't know you could go to the library for guidance. If I find I need to apply again, that's the first place I'm checking out. No, I think I'll check out anyway. I want to know.
The problem now is that I do struggle to work. But it is so hard on me. The drive kills me. I'm in constant pain and the way I must work without hardly any breaks on the computer is destroying my shoulders. I already have bad knees. With four major joints going, I don't know how much I can take. Since I've also had problems with my heart, eyes and lungs, I don't know if continuing this way is going to end up destroying me.
But I do love the process of working and creating. Why can't they come up with something that gives us support to keep working? Sure we have ADA. But that I am finding is a big hassle. It's been two weeks since I've asked for just a review of my workstation. It has turned into a political hassle that I am afraid is going to blow up in my face.
It's hard to work when you have to take painkillers to get through the day plus wear a TENS unit. Gee, I'm truly buzzing all day. Couple of my coworkers were shocked to learn what I am going through - literally. They asked. I hooked up one of the pads. Zap! It was hard to go unnoticed since I'm using a new one and it kept zapping me because I can't get the setting right. I had a nicer one before, but my insurance has a 00 deductible on physical therapy equipment. Gee, I could outfit an entire workout room for that. My PT agreed.
I'm tired of the embarassment that goes along with coping with this disease. I so much want to work from home and write wonderful books. I know eventually I'll get there. It's the in between part that is killing me.
Vocational Rehab said I should apply for SS first and then use the PASS to work. They were so useless. They wanted me to go to all these sessions on top of doing my job. They didn't get that I was already maxed out. They just said that you are in bad shape and you need to quit. I had two kids at home then. How could I do that?
Roxy, I am considered a professional. All my friends live in wonderful homes and drive new cars. I'm the most creative one in my group. But I suffer so much financially from a lack of good insurance and high medical bills that I barely make it. And, I cannot pursue any kind of management position because I could not handle the hours or the responsibilities. I can't switch jobs because my field is very deadline driven with lots of hours. It is so unfair that this disease steals not only our physical lives, but also our social lives and our careers.
I will continue to tell my story and I hope Sara, that you will continue to speak out. Someday, I would like to be one of those people testifying before some Senate committee for sweeping changes in this process. Some one needs to bring out how serious this situation is for so many people. We do need a voice.
Crunchy, I hope you will speak about the other side of this issue, the abuses. I really want to understand more. I'm a fighter. Anyone who knows me learns that. But I need to be informed in order to fight.
Thank you all for your support.
The only thing that I can qualify for is ssdi because my husband makes to much money Iam young so I only worked parttime while I went to college so I wouldnt receive that much money. I think that alot of you that worked full time for many years will get a decent amount im only 23 so i wouldn't get a quarter of what I could be making if I had the right boss and hours. I think if most of the jobs were flexible or maybe modified so we could do them from home on really bad days I think alot of us could continue working.