SSI

Post Reply New Topic

I agree, but getting help when you need it does not mean that you can't move on from it and achieve more.

i currently get disability, i know what a pain it is to have jobs and not be able to function in one even what sociaty thinks are terrible. i went through hell boy and it took just a little over two years for me finally to get accepted. i did go through job training but the casemanager i had was sitting on 20 years with the state and was just pushing a pencil around and showing up for work so she could retire. i did that for about a year, then i flipped the state the bird and i was outta there.

im sure i'll work again but right now im enjoying not worrying about employment.

I started working with Michigan Rehabilitation Services (the local goverment agency that helps those with disabilities gain employment). There going to help me get a job and keep the job. In the mean time I'm going to start getting State Disability Assitance ($264/month) which will allow me to get by until I gain employment.

TZ, very good solution. I wish you luck in your job search!

I'm on SSI and it has its purpose. It takes stress off of me in case I don't have a job anymore and I know I still have money coming when I am looking for work. I don't want to be on it for the rest of my life or depend on it. Right now I am not depending on it because I am working full time and I am saving and I only have rent and bus pass to pay, nothing else.

I am on SSI in uk. I tried to find a job after uni and could find nothing that didn't need qualifications I didn't have.
I got more and more stressed and unhappy, and finally went to my doctor.

I decided to go to truck driving school, get my class A (tractor trailer) license, and work as an over the road trucker... the pay is very good, there are always jobs available, and you work alone with minimal contact with the outside world.

The downsides are, it costs a lot for the school, 3-5K (but financing is available through the student loan and other programs), and you have to pass a physical which includes a drug screen...

If you like working with AV technology, have you perhaps given thought to getting a job as an AV installer? You may have to move away from Michigan or travel frequently with your job, but it's better than being on SSI subsistance.

That's a key aspect of things: chosen not to work. If a person's on SSI they should theoretically be at the point where they don't have a choice. I was on SSI until my father retired, and now am on a different kind of social security benefits because of that, and my life is not awful, although SSI is not fun to try to live on. But then I am actually not able to be gainfully employed for a variety of physical and cognitive reasons, it's not a choice not to work. If I'd chosen not to work I don't know that I'd be all that happy, particularly because I'd have chosen it (and I don't think that's generally a good choice to make if you can work, unless it's something like choosing not to work so you can raise a child or take care of a relative or something, both of which are worthwhile forms of unpaid work).

Last edited by anbuend on 16 Aug 2007, 8:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Actually the SSDI forms really aren't that scary. I did mine myself. There's a lot to fill out and you have to keep after your doctors to make sure they fill in their stuff, but it's not hard. Then they have you come in for an interview, and then they send you MORE things for you, your family and your Drs to fill out.

And then you wait.

and wait.
and wait.............

zzzzzzzzzzz


and then they have you go in to see a state sanctioned shrink and then he sends his eval in.

and then you wait.

and waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit

It took me 7 months from beginning to end but thank GOD I got it.
And just because you are on SS doesn't mean you can't work. You're allowed to make up to $860 a month before they ask you what the deal is. I do odd jobs and freelance, working without the terrible fear that if my brain implodes and I can't work (which happens) I won't end up on the street (again)

But getting SS on mental disability is hard. I have a super-long paper trail going back to when I was in preschool. The more paper you have, the better. The drugs you take, the better. The more hospital and doctor bills, the better. If you have a psychiatrist, see if they'll give you a GAF score. (General Ability to Function).

People tried to tell me I was a wuss for going on SS, and sometimes I still feel guilty, but Christ, I tried it. I pushed that boulder up a hill for a year and was losing ground. I was physically ill, but I stuck at it. And you know what? They fired me for being autistic.

Yeah I sic-ed some lawyers on them and yeah I got some settlement, but after that, any job I went to I'd just collapse within a few hours of getting there. I downgraded to part time jobs, 4 hour, 2 hour, then working from home. I even had one of those vocation rehab agents for a while, but it was pretty obvious to everyone involved I was just destroying myself.

In the end, you got to ask yourself what kind of quality or life do you want....

My two cents

i just began the application process this monday

i have elected not to retain a lawyer at this point

we have a meeting scheduled for march 9th at 1:02 pm (this is the actual time of the appointment they scheduled)

those of you who have it, how did you explain things in a manner that made sense to the evaulator? i am having trouble eloquating my issues beyond "i hate people"

also to the person that mentioned truck driving, i did that for a time and it is not as solitary as you might think, sadly, and the few people you do deal with are usually dot officers high on authority or mexicans on forklifts whose english vocabulary begins and ends at "lunch time"

In PA, the SSI monthly payment is only $637 per month. That is near impossible to live off of, which is why many find "alternative" sources. It may be better to find a part time job if you can, + possibly something "under the table". Do what you can to survive, passiveness is destined to underachieve. You must learn to "play the game" so to speak, if you are to survive off SSI. SSD is a different story...........

the numbers i have heard for oregon range between 600-800 a month

in any case that is sufficient for my needs

That's cool, but the desire to prosper is a human trait. I would rather take the chance of going to prison, rather than to just get by. Maybe outlaws are just born that way? I'm not sure but I won't accept minimality.

I just got a check from them last week and they paid from from the months of this month and last month and December. All of them were under 600 for each month. Then next month it's going to be $674.00 unless they change it again. I won't bother with unemployment this month. When you work, your SSI checks will vary. I only worked once in December and January.

we're not all wired like you, i'd rather have enough money to not have to live with other people than maintain the standard human definition of success