Is the US ruthless with aspies?

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21 Apr 2013, 5:33 am

DVCal wrote:

IF you don't mind answering are you applying for SSDI or SSI.

SSDI is much better if you can get it since it doesn't have all of these archaic restrictions and saving even the tinniest bit of money.

SSI. I haven't been employed since the late 90s.

There's a third kind that involves receiving benefits based on one's parents' social security, but that requires being able to verify disability before age 22 or 23, I think. I could have possibly done that, except all of my records from childhood were apparently lost or destroyed at some point.

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21 Apr 2013, 5:38 am

Verdandi wrote:

DVCal wrote:

IF you don't mind answering are you applying for SSDI or SSI.

SSDI is much better if you can get it since it doesn't have all of these archaic restrictions and saving even the tinniest bit of money.

It also requires that your parents were disabled/retired/or deceased by the time you turn 24.

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21 Apr 2013, 3:28 pm

DVCal wrote:

It also requires that your parents were disabled/retired/or deceased by the time you turn 24.

That is something they did not tell me at SSA.

Mirror21
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21 Apr 2013, 3:37 pm

DVCal wrote:

In the U.S you don't have to be profoundly autistic to get on SSI, a large percentage of aspies are on SSI in the U.S and get free government healthcare.

If you have major anxiety and cannot work then a doctor will write a letter stating such, you will apply for disability and likely get it. Millions of people in the U.S are on disability because of depression or anxiety and NOT for physical reasons.

So the information you got about disability is 100% FALSE, completely FALSE.

Anyone who is unable to work for MENTAL or PHYSICAL reasons in the U.S is given free healthcare.

Wish that applied to me. I have as so far gotten a psychiatrist to affirm my inability to work but I got denied for SSI four times. On the last hearing i was not approved because a "career expert" stated that I might be able to work on housekeeping, partly supervised, cleaning rooms and bathrooms, despite the fact that I have severe adverse physical reactions to cleaners. They will not give me free healthcare because I do not have SSI and though a doctor in California diagnosed me, in Louisiana they will not recognize it and the doctors I saw here (free psych clinic) kept telling me I may only have mild depression until i walked out in a rage and never came back.

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21 Apr 2013, 3:42 pm

DVCal wrote:

From SSI website and people I know who are on SSI. Of course this doctor doesn't have the final say, but their opinion does matter, and your own doctor opinion is also very relevant. These people had to send in letters, test results, and other things from their own personal doctor. But if their own doctor says you are not disabled that will likely cause a denial.

While it is true for physical disability their doctor is unlikely to do much, for mental disability this couldn't be further from the truth. And in a mental case these people opinion are ultimately what is most important. So I am not sure were you are getting your information from.

FYI starting Jan 1st any one who is unemployed for any reason will get free healthcare in the ACA.

The SSI website, and what has been going on with the process. This is the second time I applied and both times the doctor did a brief assessment that couldn't possibly provide enough information for them to base a decision on. In the letter they sent about the appointment that is what it said while stressing the importance of gathering all medical records/evidence.

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21 Apr 2013, 3:50 pm

Verdandi wrote:

DVCal wrote:

It also requires that your parents were disabled/retired/or deceased by the time you turn 24.

That is something they did not tell me at SSA.

Actually it is 22,

Here is what the rules says

Quote:

An individual disabled since childhood (before age 22) who is a dependent of a parent entitled to title II disability or retirement benefits or was a dependent of a deceased insured parent.

People who are entitled refer to people who are actually receiving benefits. So actually it seems they don't need to be retired or deceased before you turn 22, they only need to be retired or deceased before you can collect.

I believe generally people will first go on SSI and then when their parents retire or die they will then go on SSDI and see an increase in benefits.

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21 Apr 2013, 3:53 pm

Unfortunately, despite having lifelong disability and impairments I can't prove that I was autistic before 2010.

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21 Apr 2013, 3:55 pm

Sweetleaf wrote:

DVCal wrote:

The person I know was made to see an SSA psychologist, who did all kinds of testing including testing memory, and talking about aspects of their life.

Slight correction though, this person is on SSDI not SSI.

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21 Apr 2013, 3:56 pm

Verdandi wrote:

Unfortunately, despite having lifelong disability and impairments I can't prove that I was autistic before 2010.

What ASD are considered from birth, surely a doctor will testify that you must have been disabled your whole life.

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21 Apr 2013, 3:59 pm

It is very typical in the US for disability claims to be turned down multiple times and take years to process. Most people only get it after they hire a lawyer and continue to fight. It's brutal but I think they hope most people will give up and/or starve until they accept any type of living situation, help, or work, and drop the claim.

Unless the person is so obviously completely disabled such as not being able to physically function at all, that is the typical process. It really is bad, but I don't think it singles any one group or disability out. It's like that for physical, mental, almost any type of disability.

I don't know how it is other places.

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21 Apr 2013, 3:59 pm

Sweetleaf wrote:

DVCal wrote:

Actually that is not quite how it works, more like multiple doctors and health and/or mental health professionals examine you and regardless of a doctors letter stating you can't work you will more likely than not get denied. Then you can go through the gruelling appeal process, to challenge the decision and try and get your SSI. For people with mental illnesses like anxiety, depression, PTSD or whatever its not so easy to confidently communicate the information they want the way they want it.

And though I won't say its untrue as I don't know I am not sure if its exactly millions of people on disability because of depression or anxiety...I'd have to see a source on that one.

Also its actually false that anyone who is unable to work for mental or physical reasons is given free healthcare. A lot of times you have to be on SSI to get free healthcare unless you're over 65 it might vary a little by state. Not being able to work due to your condition hardly guarantees SSI. Then if you are lucky enough to get SSI to help you out financially due to being unable to work it sure as hell isn't much....not that I'd complain but realistically its not really enough for someone to really get on their feet or anything.

So while its true there are some resources for those who aren't coping in life, the system is pretty shoddy and the problem still lingers on...many people who need help aren't getting it. So not sure how what was in the OP is 100% False, Completely False.

I got lucky that a neighbor is a social worker and was able to help my mom and me direct me to where to go to get help and to start the process. I managed to get medicaid right off, and yet even though I've been applying for disability, I've been denied twice and am now in the process of appealing. It has been a year and a half from when I've first started trying for it, and it's still another two months before the hearing. For people with the social anxiety, depression, etc., the process is absolute hell, and if anything makes symptoms and things even worse. Even with help from case manages and lawyers, the forms are stressful, and the constant worrying over the long periods of time. I've been seeing psychiatrists since I was 11, but the problem is they never caught the asperghers until lately. Many of my problems, I feel, stem from the fact it was never caught early and I wasn't able to get any early intervention or treatment for it. Instead, I stumbled along in the social world and developed the anxieties, depression, and avoiding due to all the stumbles. It is NOT easy to get disability, especially for mental illnesses, since so many people that actually don't have problems see it as an easy way and free ride, and so apply when they don't actually need it. One can thank the economy for that.

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21 Apr 2013, 4:01 pm

DVCal wrote:

Verdandi wrote:

Unfortunately, despite having lifelong disability and impairments I can't prove that I was autistic before 2010.

What ASD are considered from birth, surely a doctor will testify that you must have been disabled your whole life.

Unfortunately, I don't have medical documentation and what documentation existed before I turned 18 is no longer accessible. Further, despite the fact that I did experience severe impairments in the workplace for my entire life, my impairments are assumed to start when I applied for SSI.

For that matter, the judge claimed I experienced no periods of decompensation since 1996, when the therapist he cited said I could work, thus I could still work. This is despite the fact that I have experienced multiple periods of decompensation.

The frustrating part of that was when my attorney asked me why I can't work, and I tried to explain that every time I have tried I have experienced decompensation, he would cut me off and tell me it was the wrong answer.

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21 Apr 2013, 4:05 pm

Disability also carries a social stigma. I get angry when I see comments elsewhere online claiming that everyone on disability, especially those on disability for 'invisible illness' like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, depression or anxiety, are lazy and faking it. I would say 99.9 of those who apply need it badly. No one wants to be on it if they have another choice. It doesn't even really pay enough to live on. I think one type pays something like 350 a month. That would barely cover food let alone rent.

The system really does suck and instead of fixing it or coming up with some alternative, like jobs people could do online with thier disability, they just keep denying everyone's claims instead.

My grandmother worked hard all her life, hard physical labor, but that left her with a really bad back and other health problems. Her claim was denied over and over until she got a lawyer. She could barely get around at all and in no way could she continue to work. She liked working and liked her co workers. She didn't want to sit home. It made me angry they put her through that. She also thought lying is the worse thing someone can do and she was treated like a scam artist for asking for help.

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21 Apr 2013, 4:11 pm

Popsicle wrote:

I have had at least three lawyers. The last judge I had did not like my lawyer (my layer told me this prior the hearing and he was asking for a new judge, but we did not get one).

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