If it takes 3 years to get on disability,...

Post Reply New Topic

The system seems to be set up that you have to prove you are disabled by going without anything for a couple of years. If you get desperate and get a job, then you prove to them that you aren't disabled.

Yes or if you have any drug use whatsoever on medical records not even 'abuse' per say even occasional use of legal substances they also try to claim that is the cause of your 'disability' and stopping will fix it. But getting a job while waiting is most likely to make the process longer I would think...but of course people need to survive certainly is a difficult position to be in.

I wonder if I should apply now. I have a a job, but I barely break 10 hours a week at this time and my FMLA time has long since been exhausted. Working even those 4 hour-shifts are exhausting.

Can I apply online if I currently have a job, even though my hours are cut way short?

Help: I'm at the part of the application where it asks "Are you now able to work?" What should I put down. I can work now, a little bit, but not much more than 10 hours a week at this point. How much work does SSA consider as being able to work?

Also, I kept trying to call for more information, but the phone keeps disconnecting on me.

Can you get on short term disability thru your job? If they have it you need to get on it, then apply. Then you answer "no" to "are you able to work?". I was not working and got approved in 5 months. I think if you are working they will turn you down but I am not 100% sure.

Well if its likely you will end up keeping the job then they are going to see it as you not being disabled, but if there is a good chance you will lose the job then applying now might be beneficial because then they would maybe see you already aren't making all your hours and that it got worse from there till the point you where let go, so you could argue your disability is the cause of that.

You can apply online whenever you want, but certainly include the problems your diagnoses are causing you in your current job, though if they don't think those problems are 'severe' enough to prevent you working then they could deny for that reason, though if they do deny you then you can appeal.

Well, I put I'm not working very much and that my FMLA has been exhausted.

I just tried calling to report intermittent leave usage, but they aren't permitting it because the time has been exhausted.

Well, they just let me report time now, but I wonder how much time I have left in this job.

I filled out the application, but did not put what a work day was like. All I told them was that I was able to really return to work hardly at all, as I've been working so few hours each week.

I don't recall your saying where you are located----I assume the U.S.??

Yeah, make it a point to describe how your hours have been dwindling, and dwindling, because you are unable to work.

I don't know what FMLA----I guess it's disability insurance from your job, like Aflac?? I don't know anything about that.

As soon as you hit the "Enter" button on your application, go to your nearest Social Security office, and apply for SSI----that'll help tide-you-over until you get SSDI.

Also----again, if you're in the U.S.----find the phone number for the local "Legal Aid" office. They cost ZERO, and 100% of your back-logged benefit money will be YOURS!! !

I did that. And yes, I am in the U.S.

Quote:

I don't know what FMLA----I guess it's disability insurance from your job, like Aflac?? I don't know anything about that.

It's the Family Medical Leave Act. You get 12 weeks in a 12 month period to take off work for your own or a relative's medical condition.

Quote:

As soon as you hit the "Enter" button on your application, go to your nearest Social Security office, and apply for SSI----that'll help tide-you-over until you get SSDI.

I already pressed enter, a little late for today as they closed at 1500, but I will go Monday.

Quote:

OK, I will try to call Legal Aid. How should I phrase my questions?

I just applied at a Contact Center job with AT&T just in case. Also, I want to see how I would do during the assessment. If I failed the assessment, then I will use that as evidence for my application.

I just realized: I have too much in assets to qualify for SSI. I've got a retirement account with more than $10,000 in it and I know retirement accounts count as assets. They would probably want me to deplete that before qualifying me for SSI.

I feel sorrow, helplessness, and anxiety now.

I get this message for my SSDI application now:

I know I updated my name and gender with them, and gave them my full earnings from 2013 based on their own website, so what could be discrepant? Does this happen to everyone who applies online?

What type of retirement account? I have a 401k that they have never questioned. I think that most types of retirement plans aren't considered an asset because you don't have access to them without stiff penalties.

Yeah, it's like the OP said----if it's a 401k, just don't tell them about it, cuz you really can't access it. If it's a BANK account, you would have to tell them cuz they can find-out about some things that have your SSN attached to it.

Okay, sorry----I forgot that you said you were in the U.S.....

As for what to say to Legal Aid: Just say: "Hello, I'm applying for Disability and would like to have some legal representation, please." EASY PEASEY!! They'll probably ask YOU some questions, but it shouldn't be TOO BIG of a deal. You just tell them, HONESTLY, why you are applying, where you are in the application process, what you have done to secure evidence, etc.

As for the computer coming-back and saying they have information that is different from what you just entered, I would go to the nearest SSA office----I don't do ANYTHING online, ESPECIALLY if it involves entering my SSN, no. 1; and no. 2, I just would rather speak with someone, face-to-face---there's TOO MANY incidences where there's computer errors. 'Course a human can make a mistake, TOO, but you can't ask a computer what happened, and how do you fix it.

Keep your chin up, Hon. It's gonna be a lonnnnng SUCKY road, but you'll make it----most of us have had to go through it. Try not to get too depressed, in the process. Visit with us, HERE, when you need to "talk".