applying for disability in the US

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I was officially diagnosed recently and my therapist is unambiguously and repeatedly telling me that I am significantly impaired by my aspergers (or autism or whatever we are in DSM V now) and that I deserve and need to apply for benefits. I've dropped out of more semesters of college than I've finished and I've only ever held down one job in my life and my anxiety is getting worse over time. we're working on all of that and I don't think this is a forever disability thing, but in the mean time, it would HUGELY help with college and the fact I'm about to not have health insurance (since I think I'd qualify for medicaid?) so question for you:

do the requirements for disability benefits vary by state?

I've heard you need 3 separate mental health professionals to say you are significantly impaired by your autism/aspergers in order to qualify (do they all have to have MDs or can some just be licensed psychologists or autism specialists without medical degrees)

I've also heard you almost always are denied on the first try and you have to hire a lawyer, who in about a year will get your case reviewed and accepted (if you legitimately have aspergers and it is the reason you aren't working, which is true in my case) and they will then back-pay you from the date you applied and the lawyer takes their fee from that. after it's awarded you get $300-$400 a month until you make more than $1100 a month on your own.

am I misunderstanding anything? any tips? who has gone through this process?

You are look for SSI, not Social Security Disability benefits.

http://www.ssa.gov/ssi/

SSDI is only for folks who have worked and paid into the Social Security program--so you aren't eligible.

Forget what you've heard. Here's how it really works. You apply online or in your local SSA office. You have an interview with a data entry clerk who makes $50,000/yr and doesn't know s**t about s**t. You wait. You get a package in the mail asking for more information, you send it in. You wait some more, you get another packet asking for information you've already given them. You wait some more and if they haven't rejected you by this point you get an appointment with a state contracted "independent" psychologist. You pray your psychologist actually gives a s**t about you rather that just collecting checks from the government and meeting an unspoken rejection quota. You do the 3-4 hour assessment and wait for your rejection letter because SSA will disregard assessments which are strongly favorable to you. You get your rejection letter. file a quick appeal online. In my case i stated the reason for appeal was that SSA didn't consider their own doctors report in my rejection letter. So you wait for your second rejection now. You get your 2nd rejection letter and go find yourself a lawyer. If the lawyer takes your case you will probably win because they only get paid if you get benefits and won't waste their own time and money on cases that won't pay. Then you wait another year for a hearing in front of a judge who hopefully doesn't share Romney's 47% views.

That in a nutshell is how the system really works. My lawyer showed me the rejection breakdown by state and it ranged from 88% to 92%. This is not including cases that went in front of a judge. If you can get in front of a judge your chances for being approved are significantly greater. Basically the system is designed to keep lawyers and overpaid public employees fat and happy while hoping us dirty freeloaders will die or miss a 10 day filling window during the 2 year wait.

Hope this answered your questions. Be prepared for a fight because it's not going to be a cakewalk. Oh and one more thing, apply for food stamps and medical assistance while you wait.

It's really hard to get disability with an Asperger's diagnosis. I tried this after being advised 3 years ago by my neuropsychologist, and it took 2 years to get in front of a judge and she denied my claims. My lawyer was not so great but this isn't that rare.

Yes the requirements and how it works varies by state. As far as I know there is nothing about needing 3 mental health professionals, the more the better as that provides more information indicating your 'disability' limits your functioning. I am applying myself but I guess I have a hard time with the term disabled lol I didn't put it in quotations becuase I am questioning your level of impairment.

Also it is true it's very common to be denied on the first try, as for the lawyer you don't 'have' to but it's the best option since their job is to get you on SSI or they don't get paid...but yeah as far as I know the pay does come out of your SSI if you are approved a fair trade in my opinion as I doubt I could advocate for myself in the legal system. If you don't appeal the denial though then after a few months you have to start the process all over so if you do apply and get denied certainly appeal it.

Not sure how much you would be awarded, I've heard a fairly common amount is 600 a month, but I'd be happy to get 100 a month because at the very least I could afford to get out of the house more and potentially save up some. How are you currently paying for college? just not so sure how helpful SSI would be for that loans and grants are probably better or do you mean it could help with college loan bills or something?

Actually I have both SSI and SSDI, which means I get both Medicaid and Medicare for my insurances. I live in Rhode Island.

1. SSI is income based. Many people with disabilities receive SSI either alone because they never worked. Some people who get SSDI will also receive it in addition to their check because they get less than the government minimum payout for SSDI to "supplement the income" (I think it is about $600-$700). With SSI you automatically get Medicaid (which is good for services, as well as health care).
2. To get SSDI, one must have had worked in the past to receive that. Also with SSDI (if you qualify), after 2 years on SSDI, you will also get Medicare.

3. As for college, usually you will quailify for a Federal pell Grant (which is free and you don't have to pay anything back). I know because I went to college and got my Associate's degree with it.

How I got SSI is nothing like Rascal77s's. I applied for it last year in January and was approved by July. I had to see one guy who was a psychiatrist and a lawyer in April, I recall. I think having a formal diagnosis with a report that suggests I need help transitioning from living with the one parent to living on my own helped me a great deal.

Interesting stats. When my wife applied due to her severe chronic depression, PTSD, and anxiety disorder, she was approved on the first try, after a matter of weeks.

That was in Washington - maybe there's some state-by-state variation...