To Those On Disability

[cardiactec]

Just wondering how difficult it was for those of you on disability to GET it. ?? i just applied, even though i am still working part time (in my state, you can still make a certain amount of $$ a month and collect) .........i am wondering how much of a headache this is going to be to get disability..............

share your experiences please.

thanks a bunch.

[Sophia3]

WORKING while APPLYING for disability can make it impossible to get. In order to be disabled, you should not be able to commit to being away from the house at any "set schedule".

That's been my experience in reading a website with over 2000 members and the topic is STRICTLY getting disability.

There can be nightmarish situations about working longer than 9 months in a row for a tiny amount of money. I did this 10 or more years ago but don't want to go into it here. But if you work part time at ALL, the "activity and mental capabilities" to do work, can be held against you just as much as the dollar amount. Even if you have flex time and can lie down on the job to work at your own pace...it's tough to defend.

Just the experience of many disability attorneys I am sharing.

P.S. I got mine the first time in 1990 but I had lots of notes and information sent in about my THEN called case of CFS.

[Dawg Tired]

I echo Sophia... It is almost impossible - despite what the guidelines say.

Hubby - despite having MRI's showing parts of his brain MISSING due to a plane crash - still had to go to the ALJ level because he preaches most Sundays at a very small (30 people) church.

[cardiactec]

great ............that's real nice. i bet if i was a 20 year old single mother with 6 kids from six different guys, completely physically able to work, addicted to crack cocaine, and a raging alcoholic i could get all the help i needed (and that's not to say that those people who have addictions or who have made terrible mistakes in their lives dont deserve help, but geez, when it's not even your fault for where you are in life PHYSICALLY and you need the extra help and you cant get it but those who have caused their problems get it, it doesnt make much sense now does it). doesnt make any sense our government, none whatsoever. how frustrating. oh well, i'll still try and get it. if not, i guess i will have to suffer through the physical complaints and dilemmas in trying to work full time cuz i cant make ends meet right now working part time. heh, yesterday i worked a four hour shift and my heart rates were 170's the whole time and i felt like crawling into a bed cuz i was so exhausted from the consistent crazy heart rates that arent being controlled by anything.........

i dont know how you all do it that dont get disability help AND on top of that cannot work, even part time............

[Sunfish]

i'm unable to sit for more than 30-60 minutes (according to medical records, not "just" my saying so) and am lucky if i can leave the house occassionally - in my wheelchair - for something non-medical.

my condition has been & is considered progressive.

i'm entirely unable to eat & thus am dependent on IV nutrition & hydration a minimum of 18hrs/day.

i have intermittant home nursing care.

all of my doctors know i can't work - even part time - and don't think that i'll ever be able to.

i've been hospitalized seven times in the past two years, and that's with doctors who do all they can to keep me out (i.e. home visits, etc).

i've had no problem with approval from my long-term disability carrier (from former employer).

i had to recently move in with my parents after almost ten years on my own b/c it wasn't physically possible for me to live alone any longer. the last month i lived alone my parents & aunt had to rotate staying with me as it wasn't safe for me to be alone.

etc. etc. you get the idea.

i still got denied at the first two levels of application. my doctors & attorneys - even knowing how tough the system is - were shocked that i got denied. my denial letter didn't even make sense logically nor did it correspond with my medical records. no one doubts that i'll get approved at the next level but we're now having to petition for a judicial review prior to the hearing b/c i literally can't wait for a hearing date as i NEED the medicare coverage this june (when i lose my private insurance coverage & when my medicare eligibility would begin based on when i applied). it's a matter of life & death for me b/c without it there's no way i can pay (nor anyone in my family) for my IV nutrition.

i will say that - had i been able - i would have submitted my records myself in a more organized fashion which might have changed things for me. there's not anything in my records that's problematic; i just would have pulled some to the forefront that might have highlighted my limitations, etc. and i could have asked my doctors to write supportive statements then (which is what they're doing now). i struggle with the "what if" but the past is past & i truly couldn't have done it differently considering what was going on at the time. i had a strict deadline to get my SSDI application in from my LTD company and physically couldn't do any more than get the application itself in.

at the risk of being blunt, i can't imagine someone getting approved while still working on any sort of regular basis, no matter how tough it is to do so. it's hard enough to get approved when things are much worse. it's one thing - when on disability already - to make a token amount of money with intermittant at-home work or a few hours here or there that aren't regularly scheduled. it's another to still be able to work - even if a struggle - at a scheduled active job while actually applying.

i'm not trying to minimize the very real difficulty of keeping up at work in an uncooperative body - i was there at one point several years back - but just trying to paint the reality of qualifying for disability.

melissa

p.s. this topic has come up MANY times so i would highly recommend a search.

[cardiactec]

hey melissa,

thanks for your post. i think you're right in that i will most likely just have to deal with the reality of the fact that nobody will take me seriously in how i feel because i am currently working part time. heh, thankfully i work in a hospital, mostly in the e.r., so if i have serious problems at work, i simply go downstairs to the er for help. i have only done that twice from the two years i have worked at the facility i'm at for sake of trying to keep my employee status just that, and not a "patient" status.

it is really tough for me to work part time, but i can be honest and say that i can, but with much effort. my job requires much more than just sitting in front of a desk all day. some parts of the day are more low key than others, but i'm still required to be up on my feet, sometimes for an hour straight and that just about does me in. i could give you the long list of symptom complaints i have while trying to carry out my job responsibilities, but i'll spare you the time considering you already know, first hand, with the severity of your disease that you go through on a daily basis.........

i am also living with my parents, at 24 years old, and although my parents tell me i am not a burden to them, just this morning i had to hand over my bills to my father, my retired disabled vietnam vet father, who out of his OWN disability money, has to pay for my med bills that have accumulated. it's not right. if anything, i want the disability to take the strain off my parents, so i have money to pay for my own bills, so my poor father doesnt have to............

[morgan617]

I was not allowed to apply if I worked......but i did get it on my first try....I think something like 5% of people do. So I was pretty shocked. But i couldn't have worked and still couldn't, if my life depended on it......

As tough as it is, i can't imagine you getting it if you are still working...sorry.

My son has progressive juvenile onset arthritis, crohn's, hyperparathyroidism, anxiety disorders, and he's been rejected twice.

[dizzygirl]

yeah i can agree with what everbody said allready...

Um i think its going to be hard to get disabilty while still working...Um is there anyway that you could receive disabiltiy thru work for a while?

I know for me I applied for ssdi in may of 2002.. a little over 2 months after i stopped working.. i was denied the first time.. and i appealed it... 2 years later.. i finally got my appeal hearing... i was approved like right away after my hearing.. but it took that long toget a hearing... I was 20 years old when i applied...( i had been on SSI up until iwas 18 and then i got booted off.. i ddint fight it b/c i was 18 and stubborn.. and wanted to try and work...

looking back i wish i would have fought it my being booted at 18..b/c it would have saved me alot of grief!

Ultimatly the decision is yours.... but like others have said its going to really really hard tog et approved while working...

[Jacquie802]

Hi,

I did get Short Term Disability when I had to leave my job at the bank...maybe could you look into see if the hospital offers that?