My experience..
23 Jan 2013, 1:12 pm
First of all I was originally diagnosed with Asperger's as moderate Aspie but now it doesn't exist in the US, UK and EU so I chose other until this place catches up a bit!
I have tried working so many times in the past and it always ends poorly, the past couple of years I've tried SSI/DI but been denied 4 times but I don't understand the application and know I am not doing it right but no one will help me, not even the state even after saying they could and would, thanks Ohio! Blah..
I just gave up on the Vocational Rehabilitation thing as it went no where in nearly 6 months and it was so restrictive, I was only being allowed to apply in 2 types of positions Stock and Order Filler and when I wanted to expand because that is so limited and I have $300 rent to pay otherwise I get to go sleep on the couch again and be house slave (which I now reverted back to but with the room until it's rented out) I had enough of it and quit, that and my family and friends all still want me on SSI and said it's the best option for the sake of me not being able to handle stress basically in the slightest as it sets me off into melt downs and stuff gets broke and very rarely but still potentially people get hurt in the chaos.
Binder & Binder denied me twice now as they want near 100% likelihood of winning a case and they said because I am not currently seeing anyone (doctors) they can't take my case as they need medical evidence and records, which I HAVE!
I was seeing a Psychologist up until December which was covered by Ohio BVR and now I have Medicaid going into effect on the coming 3rd, how is not seeing someone for 1 month negating prior medical records from 3 different doctors in the past 8 months and BVR's records translate to no records or history! Binder & Binder is no better than the government as they are big business out with one goal, the profit from winning the case, got to love capitalism!
I am just about done even trying, is it a surprise so many people with Asperger's (now just Autism Spectrum Disorder or Autism for short) turn to crime, not a surprise to me! It's one of few options available to make ends meet in this great country of USA!
In addition to me having mild Autism, I also am diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Dysthymia, all of which together is not a great combination. I am considered most significantly disabled by the State of Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission yet I keep getting denied for the state Disability Assistance because it relies on applying for SSI which I did and they still denied me.
Also, get this, they said they have people to help in applying for SSI, to walk through and fill out the application and they would have them contact me, it never happened, it is just a canned response to get people they don't want to talk to off the phone, they love playing games with people's lives because it amuses these telephone technicians as they never get in trouble for it, to them you are some anonymous person at the other end of the line and is why they almost always are snobbish and rude.
I am just done with these games, I give up and will continue to be less than human cleaning some guys house and sleeping on his couch getting 3-4 hours of sleep due to 5 untrained dogs barking all night and 2 ferrets in the same room thumping while scratching on their plastic floors of their cage at 3am and people coming and going in the morning or the homeowner coming out and watching TV while I try and sleep (he is going deaf), it's either that or turn to crime to be able to afford my own place or try to work and end up in jail (so far been lucky enough not to). Unless I am missing something there is no actual help out there to assist me or others getting a stable income, no things like VR with a very low success rate aren't solutions when they are so restrictive that even with being disabled people have a better chance finding and keeping work on their own, that to me isn't help in fact it added stress and anxiety as I had appointments to keep with a job couch that all we did was apply to places while we met and made the same goal of applying to a new place on my own every week before our next meeting, I mean how is that help, it made things worse for me as I get sick to my stomach riding buses to and from the appointments, I barely leave home to go shopping as it causes me so much anxiety.
Is there real help or anyone who can help me actually apply for SSI/DI who can sit with me help me make sure I do the application properly, do the appeal and help me get started with the lawyer to go before a judge? It's so hard to find good information in a sea of millions of documents online about Autism most to do with children, I find that funny, everyone talks about their children with Autism but it doesn't go away. It's like when you turn 18 there is no more help, you are on your own to find it, which there is considerably less help at that point which makes it harder. If it was possible to succeed and do OK I would have figured it out by age 30, but I haven't, I can't live on my own, I can feed my self but I can't live on my own as I go into depression and shut down as I can't handle being alone, but at the same time I can't handle being around more than 3 people at a time either and many places I've lived in the past were more than 3 people. In Oregon nearly a year and 4 months ago I was living with 10 people in a 2 bed room appartment 5 of which were disabled and 2 were pot heads the rest normal but intolerant and finally were kicked out, I finally was able to move back here where things are barely better living with a guy who doesn't respect me and has his own issues and blames everything on others, his dogs and inanimate objects who is also codependent, which is good as he is helping me but also only keeps me around to make him look better which is according to ex-roommates and his own "friends" saying so, one of his ex-friends said he keeps me around just to hurt me, so in the end not ideal, plus we're polar opposites which adds to the drama.
Sorry this was so long but I am not good with making things short...
I am just sick of life to be honest and not sure where else to bring things up, not like the guy I am living with gives a crap, all he wants is a clean house and otherwise doesn't care.
29 Jan 2013, 6:04 pm
Very sorry to hear you're getting the royal run-around.
I finally figured out that I had actually lie quite a bit on my application, and my psychiatrist kindly listed me as a Schizophrenic which is an immediate "yes" for SSI, apparently.
Autism is an automatic "no" by the way, as you've discovered.
So if, for some reason, you begin hearing voices and hallucinating, you may even get to live on the tiny disability allowance.
02 Feb 2013, 4:53 am
@Slave, yes sorry hi! >.> I was extremely stressed when I wrote that, still am but a bit more down to earth again..
@Molly I am not willing to commit fraud with the government, even if I was to turn to crime and fraud, I'd do everything in my power to minimize the potential negative impact to my self if I were to be caught in doing so.
I am not wanting to turn to crime and the like but I can't work, I can barely go out shopping and even when I do I go late at night to avoid people as it causes me so much anxiety and such. I've tried to do it and done vocational rehabilitation which is so much of a joke it's like why does the program even exist level of lame, the only help I got from it was them paying for me to see a psychologist once a week for 8 weeks (went for only 6) but what the heck can that amount to, 8 visits, seriously?
It is not just Autism that I have, that alone is a good chunk of my problem but the GAD is big and I might have a touch of Agoraphobia as I feel I fit the description barely but haven't yet been labeled as such for some reason or another.
Also, I have contacted 5 lawyers so far none of whom have ever attempted to reply back or are to busy to talk to me, these have been local and regional and Binder & Binder hasn't bothered contacting me back from my reply to their denial email. So I haven't even been able to get help with appeals process!
I have spent several hours just tonight searching for other programs out there, I found a PDF for the state of Ohio for Disability Assistance that says they do determinations and you can qualify for the program if they deem you disabled but you don't qualify for SSI, it's only a dismal $130 a month but I have applied 3 times now for it, each time when I did the phone interview they say different things. The first lady was very rude and said I need to apply for SSI and I said I have multiple times and been denied and she said do it again, so I did, I called back stating I had proof I applied for SSI and that lady said I had to be approved and send that proof in for me to get DA, I then said that was not what was told to me before and she got all pissy and so I asked if they had anyone that could help me with the process as it confuses me, she said yes and she would contact the group and have them get back to me, it hasn't happened 6 months later.
Also, I asked the guy handling my SSI case over the phone if I could just apply for SSI and not SSD and he said it is all now just one application and if you are denied for one you are for the other!! I looked for the application afterward on the SSA.gov website, it is just one application now! So they now have made it even harder! x.x
So I have now given up with SSI / SSD all together.
In other news, I just got approved as of the first of Jan (took them nearly 3 weeks to notify me) for Medicaid which I mentioned before, but how I got it without applying for it is beyond me and it's for Families and Covered Children rather than for disabled category which I don't qualify for, but so far I am now on CareSource and got my ID card and everything, so I am wondering WTF is up with that but I need it so I can see doctors so I haven't asked, if they made a mistake that is their problem. This state is just OMG.. I don't think they train anyone or anything, it's not even a run around, it's pure incompetence is what it is! It's as if I can tell what the IQ is of the person I am talking to over the phone, the last lady I talked to was about 87... LOL
I have also been told by a couple of "friends" that lawyers won't bother taking my case unless they are pretty sure they can win so short of me paying a lawyer to take my case (I have no money to speak of) I have no chance in heck of getting any kind of assistance. This country and the system here sucks, and if it wasn't for the fact it costs so damn much to move to another country where I am likely to get financial assistance, I would have done so by now.
