Long story short--My husband applied (I did ALL the paper work) for SSDI and was denied. We are awaiting the letter detailing the reason. We plan to appeal.

My husband tries VERY hard to be "normal" and is generally high functioning but cannot keep a job. He has had many throughout the years. He was working full time and ended up being hospitalized 3 times this year. All three times had to do with going off of his medication. Unfortunately, it's all part of the disease.

My husband was never willing to attempt to get assistance until now because in his family, you are considered "weak" if you ask for help.

All of this aside, here are some concerns of mine:
1. Should we hire an attorney? I have done a lot of reading and it seems that the attorney can only take 25% of backpay with a max of $6000 and gets nothing if you don't win.

2. Will an attorney even take the case? Mental illness is highly stigmatized and misunderstood. Finding someone who is experienced with this seems difficult.

3. Waiting 14-24 months for a hearing is a LONG LONG time. A lot can happen during that time. Committing to an attorney seems like a really big deal. Freaks me out.

4. When it comes to being open about symptoms and the illness, my husband is highly paranoid and "proud." He has JUST in recent years opened up to a therapist and to me here and there. He hallucinates, has mood swings, confusion, etc., but telling that to a judge would be REALLY difficult if not impossible for him. If someone else said it out loud and asked him to verify that it is true, he could do that. Will an attorney help with this?

5. If my husband works part time, will this screw up his chances of getting disability? I can attest to the fact that he is indeed disabled. Staying busy is important, but landing himself in the hospital for trying to take on too much is not a way of life.

I swear I am capable of being more coherent than this. I just am TRYING not to be long-winded and failing.