Pros and cons of going on disability?

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I'm in my early 20s and thinking about it. My thearpist suggested it. But my family convinced me not to. I still want to work. Right now I make less than a 100 a month the job i have varies on its hours. I think I qualify.

My family thinks that If I get in disability it's like a sentenced or something. They say i canwork.i still want to keep my job.

I'm no longer seeing any thearpist. Would i need to get another thearpist in order to apply?
I'm here in the states by the way

I dont want to go into too much detail about my financial situation.

Pro: Free Money! Reserved Parking! No commute!

Con: Contempt and hostility from those who have to work for their living.

I don't have a bad opinion of somebody who MUST go on disability.

I feel like a person working for a living, by and large, has a higher quality of life than a person on disability.

Being on disability sometimes breaks the spirit of people. People on disability are not treated well by others. The government wants to know everything about you, how you earn money, your life in general. The government tends to be more intrusive to those on disability than to people who are not on disability. And it's probably worse under Trump.

I've known people on disability---and I've been friends with them. It's not a "moral" thing really. It's a "quality of life" thing.

You cannot live off of $100 a month. The Federal poverty line (which hasn't been revised since 1968, when a loaf of bread was 22 cents, a gallon of gas was 28 cents, a car cost $2,425, and a house; $24,600) is ten times more than you make. Even if you could make $12,000 a year (which is less than the minimum wage, which hasn't changed in ten years), there is no state in the Union where you could afford a one bedroom apartment.
If you cannot earn a living wage, I want you to be on disability, Medicare, and Section 8. You're a fellow human being; I don't want you dying on the streets, homeless.

And f**k everyone who has "contempt and hostility" for the disabled, instead of sincere gratitude that they are fortunate enough to be able to "work for their living". May they overcome their selfishness and egocentrism, and learn compassion.

Actually, the federal poverty line changes every year. It's still very low, though, at $12,140 per year for one person. This is equal to about $1,000 a month.

What sort of job pays you $100 a month (gross or net)? This would mean that you work only about 10-15 hours a month---which is very minimal. Are you in some sort of retail job?

I think you have a low chance of getting disability, due to your young age and not having a long history of failure maintaining employment. But it doesn't cost anything to apply.

Getting on disability can make you a bit more independent of your family. This is, for most people, a good thing, leading to development of life skills. It's not good for everyone, though. And your family may not want you to become independent, either because they doubt you can hack it, or because they like having you be dependent on them.

You don't need to have a therapist to apply for disability. If the SSA feels they need psych input about you, they will send you to see a psychologist at their own expense.

Good luck, whatever you decide.

I got on SSI before I got my 1st job. My parents were sort of against the idea after I graduated high-skewl cuz I wanted to get a job & they figured I'd lose disability 1ce i started working. I had a mental breakdown at 20 over my 1st realtionship ending & stress of parents being on my back about not working even thou I was putting in apps for any job I could get to that I might could do. Getting on SSI allowed me to have some money to pay for my private health insurance. I got Medicaid too but no docs in my area accepted the Louisiana state Medicaid. My parents were paying for my insurance before that. I also had money to see a psychiatrist cuz my private health insurance didn't cover mental & I still had deductibles & copays with the private. Plus I was able to pay the cable & net bill & my phone bill. Anyways... Being on disability may of made or helped some programs work with me that helped me find my 1st job. My income was low enough with my 1st job where I still qualified for some SSI but I had to send SSA a copy of every paystub. When I got my 2nd job, at times I was making too much to qualify for any SSI cuz I was working aLOT of overtime so at times I had to send SSA money cuz they overpaid me & then other times they would send me a bunch of money cuz they didn't send me money when I was eligible. I also had to have under two thousand in my bank at the end of each month in order to get SSI so that didn't leave me with a lot of money to work with when I had to pay SSA a lot back. I found having a credit card helped.

As others have mentioned, some or lots of people tend to look down on those collecting disability but those people would probably also look down on people who rely on their parents to take care of them financially. So it seems either way your screwed unless you can get a job making enough to be independent. You should still have just as good a shot of finding that job if your on SSI cuz there might be other programs & services that will help you find a job like there was for me although the serves weren't much. I think what your parents are worried about OP is that you'd decide you wouldn't wanna work cuz of all the trouble it is to work while on SSI & that they'd reduce your SSI by $1 for every $2 you make gross so unless you earn a lot from your job where you won't get any SSI like it was for me at times, you wouln't make that much extra by working & being on SSI as opposed to just being on SSI.

As for as you needing another therapist to get on SSI, SSA would need to get all your medical records from places you've been to so it would help to find another therapist if your 1st is no longer around to give out your medical records. Also the more documentation you have of all your various disabilities, the better your chance is of getting on it. I have multiple physical & mental disabilities besides Aspergers that I mentioned & had medical records of so that may of been why i qualified my 1st time applying 1ce I met the resource/financial requirements. I didn't when I applied at 18 cuz my dad had set up a mutual funds account in my name when I was a kid so i'd have money for college or whatever & my dad didn't want me to withdraw it since i wanted a job & the stock market had just started going down. My parents were expecting me to have a much easier time finding employment & for the stocks to go back up but instead there was a recession & not having any employment history made it next to impossible for me to find a job.

Totally agree with Kraftie and Piobaire; if you can't find work (it is preferable) and have a recognised disability, then don't feel a jot of guilt over going on disability welfare.

Wealthy businessmen and their (unwitting) lackeys will tell you it's degrading, but that's only because they want the welfare payments themselves; the government provides a trillion dollar welfare state to big business in tax rebates, bailouts and private finance initiatives - don't feel guilty for taking your share when you actually NEED it.

Me and my husband are on SSI and it's allowing us to survive.... But that's about it. Im trying to get part-time employment to supplement our SSI, if you don't make too much money, you get to keep some of your cash benefits and your medical. My major consideration for example is the medical, if we lost that our meds alone would be thousands a month... (I'm on expensive mental health meds and he's on insulin).

You don't really get to decide if you are going onto disability or not. You end up applying for it or having someone apply for it on your behalf either if you are totally unable to work, or you have been trying to apply for lots of different jobs over the years, and either can't get them, or can't hold onto them for long. For someone already on disability I could see there being a choice of whether to take a full time job that means disability stops, or taking a part time job that lets you keep getting disability, or not taking a job. The pro for the full time job could be more money, though it could mean losing health insurance from medicaid, so it might not actually mean more take home pay. The working part time while on disability seems to be the ideal scenario as you keep your medicaid, but you are able to have a higher income. The option of not taking a job means only getting the disability income, though in many cases there might not be any jobs that were hiring you to start with, as you likely only applied for disability after trying for a long time to get/hold onto a job.

BeckyToTheMoon, only go on disability if you absolutely have to and you are sure that you are unable to do some form of work. It can be very difficult to get, even if you are eligible, and even harder to come off as most employers frown on it.

I'm in the UK and I'm on ESA (Employment and support allowance) formally Incapacity benefit. I applied when I was around your age as I'd dropped out of college because I couldn't cope with being around other people so working was out of the question. It was a fairly simple process then (maybe a little too easy) and even though I hated the thought of handouts, it had to be done. I initially only thought I'd be on it for a few months as I was under the illusion I'd have access to mental health support and training programmes but that wasn't the case.

I won't go into anymore detail because it's not relevant to this post but I'm approaching middle age now and I'm still on benefits and unable to work.

There are more cons than pros when you're on any form of disability because you are seen as being near the bottom of society.

Pros: Your rent is paid and you receive free medication/eye tests. You can stay indoors most of the time which is good if you have anxiety issues, and you have lots of spare time to spend it as you please.

Cons: All of that spare time you have to do as you please gets old very quickly because even the most introverted person needs some form of human contact and routine. If you isolate yourself too much you lose sense of who you are and that seriously affects your self esteem and ability to relate to others. You can also lose your sense of time which messes up your body clock.

There is a huge stigma to being on disability and that can isolate you even further because if you want to join a group or spend time with people they are going to ask your occupation! The reason for your unemployment is unimportant - the fact that you you aren't working will rub people up the wrong way.

Lack of money is also a problem, and I don't mean not being able to buy the latest phone or getting an expensive haircut and things like that. A healthy, varied diet can be challenging too, even though certain vegetables are cheap, many of the more tasty or ethically sourced foods are not. If you don't drive, don't know anyone who drives and are unable to use public transport and have to attend regular doctors appointments (as many disabled people have to do) taxis are very expensive.

Perhaps one of the most important issues is that even if your situation improves and you feel ready to look for work, there is a new set of problems to overcome. In the UK at least, 92% of employers would not consider employing anyone who was on a disability benefit. This is in spite of the fact that the government wants to get disabled people back into work! The system is full of dichotomies, and is designed to confuse and penalise vulnerable people.

There are employers who will take a chance on some one who has been out of work for a while but they are very rare and may not be able to offer a job that has many prospects. That might not matter though because as others have said, it's easier to get a job if you already have one.

I've just mentioned the main negatives about being on disability - there are more but I don't want ramble on. I just wanted to let people know about some of the pitfalls and make sure that they make an informed decision before they decide whether or not to apply.

I don't think SSI is even $800/month. It's not in NY state and we have close to the highest monthly benefit in the country, maybe only Alaska is higher. I'm in the process of appealing my SSI claim and it takes a long ass time and isn't easy to qualify for. You don't HAVE to have a therapist to get it, but a good therapist could help, as with so many other things. Having a psychiatrist, however, might be necessary since they're actual doctors so any letters or other documents they write for you have some weight in your favor.

f**k the stupid idea of stigmatizing people on any kind of welfare, including SSI. If you need it, you need it, there's no VALID shame in that and it's better than begging or starving, right? If you're gonna apply though, get the process started ASAP since, as I said, it's no piece of cake to qualify and can take a long time.

Good luck!