[Crook32]

My pdoc wants me to be on disability but the two lawyers I talked to said I would have to quit my job and wait 2-3 years for a hearing and then they aren’t sure I would win because I am under 50. My pdoc and T say given my history I should get disability without a problem. Quitting my job is way too big of a risk. I don’t know what to do. Anyone have any insight into this? My T said I could just spend 2 years on long term disability at work but I don’t know how it all works at my new company. I have barely been there a month.

[downandlonely]

I am not on disability, but I know others on it, and it can take 2-3 years. It is possible to get it if you are under 50. I know some people who got it in their 20s. However, I tend to agree with you that quitting your job would be taking a big risk. Also, disability doesn't really pay enough for you to live on. You would likely have to live with family or roommates.

What the lawyers said is curious.

My situation during my SSDI application was a bit different. I applied almost immediately after being terminated from my job. I did apply with the help of an SSDI specialist lawyer. I received approval for SSDI five months after submitting my initial application. My termination from my job was not because of bad performance, but because they simply couldn't hold my job for me any longer. At that time, I had been hospitalized yet again and in IOP. They had held my job for long periods over 3 1/2 years of intermittent hospitalizations and PHPs/IOPs (with me attempting to return to work maybe four, five, or six times.) I forget. Almost the whole time, I was on short, then long-term private disability through my employer (except for one period of some months when I managed to be back to work full-time). I remained on partial long-term private disability even when working part-time at my job (I got paid for the part-time work by my employer and the remainder of the 40 hours by the private disability insurance through my employer). After my termination, I remained on private long-term disability through that job, up until I was approved for SSDI. The expiration date for the private disability coverage was coincidentally, a month or so after my SSDI acceptance. That was lucky. However, I had to repay the private disability insurance provider the money I was paid by them for the months paid as "back pay" by SSDI. That was a little painful since my monthly payments from private disability were significantly higher than my monthly SSDI payments.

My point? I was only officially unemployed for 5 months before getting SSDI approval. Not years. However, I had clocked almost 3 years on partial to full-time private disability, but was still officially employed during that period.

I don't know if rules have changed, in regards to SSDI approval. I got mine during the Obama administration. Now during the Trump administration, I have heard that getting and keeping SSDI is (or will be) harder.

[SquarePegGuy]

I would trust the advice of a disability lawyer over that of a doctor or therapist. As D&L wrote, it can take a long time.

Besides, I know someone who applied, was denied, appealed and then lost the appeal. One attorney she spoke to said that there are many others far worse than her who were denied. If you can stuff envelopes, talk on a phone, use your hands, then you can work. If you do pursue this, make certain that your medical records are maintained well because you will need documented evidence of a medical calamity.

[Crook32]

Originally Posted by BirdDancer

What the lawyers said is curious.

My situation during my SSDI application was a bit different. I applied almost immediately after being terminated from my job. I did apply with the help of an SSDI specialist lawyer. I received approval for SSDI five months after submitting my initial application. My termination from my job was not because of bad performance, but because they simply couldn't hold my job for me any longer. At that time, I had been hospitalized yet again and in IOP. They had held my job for long periods over 3 1/2 years of intermittent hospitalizations and PHPs/IOPs (with me attempting to return to work maybe four, five, or six times.) I forget. Almost the whole time, I was on short, then long-term private disability through my employer (except for one period of some months when I managed to be back to work full-time). I remained on partial long-term private disability even when working part-time at my job (I got paid for the part-time work by my employer and the remainder of the 40 hours by the private disability insurance through my employer). After my termination, I remained on private long-term disability through that job, up until I was approved for SSDI. The expiration date for the private disability coverage was coincidentally, a month or so after my SSDI acceptance. That was lucky. However, I had to repay the private disability insurance provider the money I was paid by them for the months paid as "back pay" by SSDI. That was a little painful since my monthly payments from private disability were significantly higher than my monthly SSDI payments.

My point? I was only officially unemployed for 5 months before getting SSDI approval. Not years. However, I had clocked almost 3 years on partial to full-time private disability, but was still officially employed during that period.

I don't know if rules have changed, in regards to SSDI approval. I got mine during the Obama administration. Now during the Trump administration, I have heard that getting and keeping SSDI is (or will be) harder.

My past job sounds much like your story but instead of letting me go they harassed me for 3 years until I left. That was after 3 years with 6 hospitalizations and multiple PHP/IOP trips. I just had my 7th hospitalization right after I started my new job. I need to go out on disability and go to this residential treatment center but it is 30 days and I am afraid to go out of work that long right now.

[Crook32]

Originally Posted by SquarePegGuy

I would trust the advice of a disability lawyer over that of a doctor or therapist. As D&L wrote, it can take a long time.

Besides, I know someone who applied, was denied, appealed and then lost the appeal. One attorney she spoke to said that there are many others far worse than her who were denied. If you can stuff envelopes, talk on a phone, use your hands, then you can work. If you do pursue this, make certain that your medical records are maintained well because you will need documented evidence of a medical calamity.

Yeah one lawyer said if I could mop a floor or put caps on pens I would be denied.

Originally Posted by Crook32

I need to go out on disability and go to this residential treatment center but it is 30 days and I am afraid to go out of work that long right now.

What about FMLA?

[Crook32]

Don’t think I have been with my company long enough yet.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

I stopped working in August of 2011, applied for SSDI in February/early March 2012 and was approved 11 weeks later. I was under 50. I did have a lot of documentation from my therapist and pdoc that I was unable to work and 2 hospitalizations in the recent months before I applied. I think those helped. I think my former employer helped too if they were contacted; they were totally on my side and saw how hard I tried to come back (I lasted 4 days).

Fast approval is possible but knowing that you will be approved ahead of time is impossible. I think they are giving you the worst case scenario but it's hard to know what the best case would be.

[HopeForChange]

I can only speak anecdotally, but my employment history sounds a lot like yours, @Crook32, and I was approved in 7 months without a lawyer. I had years of documentation of attempts to work as well as an extensive treatment and hospitalization history. I think the disability office appreciates multiple attempts at employment - the cases seem to take longer if you've never worked or worked very little, or if you haven't been in treatment very long. In any case, I was eventually able to go back to work and have been employed for a little over a year. My point in this long-winded reply is that there is hope, both for getting disability quickly and maybe even for eventually returning to work. Best wishes and let me know if I can help further!

[childofchaos831]

We were approved at age 21 without a lawyer, but that was nearly 16 years ago. We had a lot of documentation from our pdoc and a letter from our T. Plus more than 15 hospitalizations over the years prior. From submission of the paperwork to approval was 3 months for us. We are diagnosed with Schizoaffective and a dissociative disorder as well though, and it may have be "easier" to get back then. We get reviewed every 3 years still, and they keep giving it to us.

[HALLIEBETH87]

I got disability under age 50 within a year after being fired from my job. And I was fired for missing work in 2013 after two suicide attempts! I had a LOT of documentation and lord since then even more. I am 33 now and still have ssdi with a part time job. I work only two days a week. I tried working full time again last year and it was an epic fail (I ended up hospitalized.

I am grateful I have Medicare and ssdi. It’s not enough money to live luxuriously but I get by for now. I have a home right now with my granny, I can afford our groceries and my car is paid for. I have a lot to be grateful for. I wish SO much I could work full time but right now I just can’t. Documentation of my illness and hospital records are overwhelming.

[Fuzzybear]

[bpcyclist]

It seems that hospitalizations may prove important in some of these cases, in helping to make the case, that is. But I am no expert.

[SquarePegGuy]

In general I think it "helps" if:

* You need to stop working due to a sudden, significant illness or injury
* The illness is chronic or the disability is considered permanent
* The illness is on a list of "fast-track" conditions, such as ALS where rapid deterioration is (unfortunately) typical

Also, it seems less difficult to get disability in some states in USA than in others.

[*Beth*]

I applied for disability in October of 2018. As expected, I was turned down, so I hired a lawyer. Until 2015 I had worked for 15 years (p/t waitress).

My lawyer told me that it would be 2 years before I was approved, because there are only 2 judges in my county and they're backed up. She does believe, however, that I will be approved.

As far as I know, neither my pdoc, nor therapist have received any paperwork to fill out yet, which concerns me. In addition, I have to have surgery on my achilles tendon, so that doctor should also be contacted.

I am supposed to call my lawyer in May to find out if an appt. with a judge has been scheduled. I am quite sure that COVD will have a mess of an effect on my case, in the sense that everything will be backed up.

I wish I had started my application 3 years before I did.

btw, I know several people who are under 50 and receive SSDI.

[Nix]

It might be worth asking if you relocate if that would help speed up the process. I know certain states are notorious for ridiculously long waits.