[cherybery]

I have so many questions on this so any info would be helpful. If you go on disability who put you on it? Meaning did you talk to your doc about it or did they tell you you should be on it? Who makes the decision that you are?

[bebop]

social security admin actually approves or not. dr first says you are disable then you have to prove your case to ssa

[cherybery]

Thanks bebop. I know physical disability is so much easier then mental. My last pdoc would not approve me to work for some time in the past. With my license I always wonder about this and really think I should no longer be doing what I do but at the same time other people see no issue so I guess I find it a bit confusing since If I doubt myself why don't others?????

[bebop]

we often think less of ourselves than others do hon. I believe we call it low self esteem

[hillbunnyb]

Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. I got on a million years ago, but paperwork never changes. Call your local social security officeand ask them to send you application paperwork. Talk to your doctors. They will get paperwork too. Talk to a friend, they will get paperwork too. Paperwork is your friend. Find a friend who has filled these forms out successfully to help you wade through them. Good Luck. It is very hard to succeed on your first effort these days. Be prepared for a rejection slip. There are lawyers who make their living challenging these rejections. They take a % of your first check which includes accumulated monies from the time you applied. So, you don't need cash up front. It takes about 6 months to get processed to your first response: yer on or yer rejected. I don't know how long challenges take. The system gets uglier and uglier every year. War is more important, ya know? See yourself succeeding, and don't give up.

[wisewoman]

You can go to the ssd site online and get answers about how to qualify. First of all your disability has to have caused you to be unable to work for a year before you are eligible. You have to show that there is NO job that you are able to do, not just your field. Good luck, this is one of my knowlege spots so let me know if I can help.

[Lexicon78]

Well, in my case, I was the first person who considered myself unable to work. Then my doctor, then since I was on welfare they wanted me to go to Social Security. Then I had to see one of their doctors, so all in all...it was up to Social Security.

I only considered myself unable to work after I kept losing job after job after job in a fairly short period of time, not being able to get out of bed, and the development of DID. Every job I had I would get very suicidal and end up in the hospital during my period at the job...

[cherybery]

Thank you all. You all gave me some good info. I appreciate it!
HUGS
Cher

here in the USA anyone can walk into the social security office, ask the receptionist for an application for SSI / SSDI.

Once the application is filled in the person meets with a social security social worker who explains the next part of the procedure -the person answering more questions and signing release forms so that the Social security social worker can obtain copies of the persons physical and mental health records.

Then the person recieves in the mail a notice that they need to schedule appointments with certain social security approved physicians and psychiatrists for aditional testing.

They do this for two reasons -

one - compare your person physical and mental health records to what their list of approved professionals find

two so that more can be added to the case. Sometimes the persons own physical and mental health records does not have enough documentation about something that will get the grant approved and those professionals that are on the social security approved list can add more about the situation then is what the persons personal physician and mental health treatment professionals do.

After the person has released all pertenent files and has completed Social Securitys protocal for testing with their professionals the reports are compared and so on and the person recieves a letter of acceptance or denial of the SSI / SSDI grant.

Once on the grant the person has to meet certain protocals called recertifications at intervals.

The basic recerts are based on what is contained in your grant. Here I go through the foodstamp recerts every 6 months since my grant includes foodstamps, I go though the basic recert of cash, food and medical yearly and the "review" for SSI /SSDI at the social security office every 5 years.

The recerts are just paperwork kind of thing.

The "reviews" is like the application process of releasing physical and mental health files and seeing thier professionals to ensure that I am still elegible for the SSI /SSDI grant.

During the initial application process the case is considered active meaning once the approval letter goes through the person recieves a check from the date of application to the date of approval and then the persons checks are sent monthly.

Once approved the checks continues monthly as long as the person meets all requirements and criteria for having the grant and completes recerts and reviews.