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

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then how do you make ends meet in the meantime during the period in which you cannot work or cannot work very much?

I don't know where you're getting three years from, but for me it only took a matter of months.

I've been waiting two years plus a few months, and I receive a few hundred dollars a month from my county social services office by having a doctor fill out a form saying that I cannot work. That and food stamps. I lived in vehicles and in the woods.

Most states offer benefits (cash, food, health) while you are applying for federal benefits. In my state, at least, the cash benefits ($200 a month) expired after six months; and the food ($189 a month) and health benefits continued for as long as I needed them (and paid the annual medicaid-enrollment fee of $25). It doesn't add up to much. You might also qualify for Section-8 housing benefits, but, even if you do, your current land owner might not accept Section-8 vouchers for payment. In that case, moving to public housing or finding a land owner who accepts vouchers might work. Also, there are private assistance like local Food Banks, clothing, sliding-scale health care, and church assistance. I don't know of any which help pay rent, but they might be out there. The assistance system encourages applicants to seek help from family and friends.

The average length of time for my Social Security disability applications to travel through all appeals was about three years each. My most recent (and successful) application took about 18 months.

I was getting some state benefit called AND which I got on my EBT card with my food stamps, and also my mom was giving me 20$ a week to sweep/mop floors a couple times a week...aside from that I think I may have got a bit of money from relatives on holidays and my dad helped me out a little. It was pretty sh*tty, but even having got the SSI its not a ton better, its just now my income is a bit higher, more consistent and I have a little more to work with than I did...so not as dependent on family.

But not sure all states have AND and of course one has to qualify for it, but I was only getting 175 a month with that...

For me it took around 2 years, not a full three....but it was still a long time. Though from what I understand it can go quicker if you have a lot of medical records/evidence and such to support your case, bit harder if you're still in the process of obtaining that sort of thing due to having untreated conditions for a very long time.

I was still in high school when my mom signed me up because I was eighteen and in my last year and she started the process in October of 2003 knowing it will take a while. I did have all these medical records dating from early as 1987 and mentioning all my doctors I have had so they could contact them and my school information, my current doctors, and she had my relatives write to them about my anxiety and how it affects me. She was expecting me to get denied but I got approved in Spring of 2003 and it went that fast. But I didn't receive my first check until June that year and it was a huge check from all those months of waiting for approval and while doing the process of signing me up. So what was I doing while waiting for disability? Going to school and living under my parents roof and them supporting me and I was working two small jobs. One in school and one at the folkshop.

Unfortunately, I lost some of my records from when I was a kid, though being 30 years old, I'm not sure how relevant they would be in a disability determination.

I'd think they'd still be filed somewhere wherever the records are from....you can give SSI permission to dig around for your medical records and they can usually find things you don't have physical copies of as far as I know, you just have to sign a release.

You probably won't need every record (but, having all of them doesn't hurt), just those records that show diagnoses, treatments and treatment results. The more you have, the less likely that your application will be seen as lacking evidence (people with disabilities accumulate a lot of record evidence). Also, it is allowed to include statements, recollections and opinions about your disabilities from family and friends.

But, getting evidence put together is just one part of the application process. If you don't have a lawyer helping you, you should find one. A lawyer will make sure that deadlines are met and that the best evidence gets emphasized. Under federal law, lawyers who help with Social Security disability claims can charge you only 25 percent of the benefits that accumulate during your application process. You get the remaining 75 percent. Over a year or two, that can add up for a nice bonus for you. And, Social Security pays your lawyer out of what they end up owing you. After that, you get 100 percent of monthly payments.

Well for me I was homeless for a bit and I worked two part time jobs which I both got fired from for being disabled. So I pray you have nice parents to take care of you why you wait. Disability took me three and half years to receive and now they are trying to say I am expected to recover in one year. The system is incredibly broken but don't lose hope, I would say try and get a part time job and just show up. You can usually keep a job for a little while without actually doing any significant work by just simply by showing up. Plus you can give your crap work reviews and termination letters to the social security office.

That was actually the strongest piece of evidence in my case was a poor work review........

Well, the fact that my job is a full-time job but I haven't worked a 40-hour week, or even half that, in months might be a strong indicator.

My disability only took 5 months. Section 8 housing, at least in Indiana could help to get an apt for as little as $50 a month. I don't even know my official disability diagnosis because the disability Psychiatrist told me she had never heard of my Psychiatrist, even though they live in the same town. The disability Dr. seemed to know more about my work history than my medical history.

I was very fortunate that my employer provided life insurance that covered disability while applying for it. With out that, I was planning on asking for help from family and friends. It took me about 20 months BTW.

I applied for SSI last year in August 2013. I went through two denials so now I have a hearing coming up in December 2014 or January of 2015. At the end of September this year I will be homeless. Chances are I'll be living in my car for a few weeks (or months) until I get into subsidized housing for the homeless. That's how it seems to work here in Seattle. You have to be homeless before some opportunities open up for you.

They tend to refuse you the first 2-3 attempts, figuring if your not really disabled you will give up and go back to work. thats why it takes up to 3 years at times. my first time took me about that long, later, I quit disability to try and work (and women wanted next to nothing to do with me when I was on disability and I hungered for a relationship) and all i ended up doing was struggling to get by making as much or less then on disability and without the medical insurance the SSDI provided. I finely gave up and went back on it, at first they refused me in less then a month after I filed, then I tried again with a disabilities attorney that cost me next to nothing and in less then 5 months later I was accepted. How to survive in the mean while? thats a living one day at a time thing, but if you work it will be used against you. I did work but my income was so low it may as well have not existed, then the rest was under the table, I got back on disability for not only being Asperger, but largely because of my extreme social anxieties.