The Trump Administration wants to enact a policy that will give them an unprecedented way to cause harm to people who are disabled. Part of the Fiscal Year 2020 Budget Overview includes the intention to view the social media of people who are disabled, and who currently receive Social Security Disability benefits.
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On September 18, 2018, I received a letter from what I have been referring to as “the clinic for the poor people”. My wonderful doctor, who actually had a lot of knowledge about my allergies, has left the clinic.
This unexpected situation left me without an assigned doctor (or, primary care doctor) during flu season. Not a good situation for a person with three autoimmune diseases who is trying to get on Disability.
Paperwork, when requested/demanded from a government entity, is certain to cause stress. In this case, the paperwork was something that my husband had to fill out because he receives Social Security Disability benefits. This isn’t the first set of paperwork he’s had to fill out, and it won’t be the last of it.
The paperwork problem is making me hesitant to do the work required for my second attempt at getting Disability benefits. This, while I’m struggling through a horrible Fall pollen season and well aware of how disabled I’ve become.
The image above is from Pixabay.
The pollen count today is 8.1 and I am miserable. We are about a week or so into the Fall 2018 pollen season now. It has a cumulative effect, and there is absolutely no way to know how long this pollen season will last.
There are times when I think that maybe I’ll be able to work and make enough money to not need to try and get on Social Security Disability. And then, nature tries to kill me, and makes the rest of my chronic illnesses worse. I am struggling.
The problem is… my freelance writing work might actually make it even more difficult for me to get approved for Disability. Again.
In February of 2017, after finally making it through the long, exhausting, process of attempting to get Social Security Disability, I was denied. Obviously, this was incredibly frustrating. I started the process in 2014, and spent a big part of the next three years waiting around to see whether or not a Disability Judge would do the right thing.
Long story short, the judge found the flimsiest of excuses to deny me the help that I am entitled to. Last week, I began “Round Two” of my battle to get the Social Security Disability assistance that I need. If I keep turning up like a bad penny, maybe those who make decisions will do the right thing – so I will go away.
Today, I finally got an answer regarding my Social Security disability case. I got denied. They made me wait 75 days from when I had the hearing with the disability judge to tell me “no”.
In short, the disability judge denied my claim because I hadn’t been hospitalized for my severe allergies. I got penalized because I’ve been super careful about everything I eat, touch, breath in, or otherwise encounter. I got penalized for trying my best to stay alive.
I had my third, and final, disability hearing on November 21, 2016.
Today is January 30, 2017.
I have now been waiting 71 days to hear ANYTHING at all about the outcome of that hearing.
It’s been more than a month since I had my third, and final, disability hearing. I understand that disability judges aren’t known for their speedy decision making abilities, and that there were four holidays between when I had the hearing and today (Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve).
I get it. I’m trying to be patient.
I’m having trouble waiting for an indefinite amount of time for an answer that will either make my life a bit easier – or that will make it significantly harder to struggle through. I can’t move on until I know which way things will go, and I refuse to let my hopes go up for fear of them crashing to the floor and shattering into a thousand pieces when the mail finally arrives.
I had my disability hearing and am waiting to find out the results. The hearing is the third part of the process – after you get denied, and appeal, and get denied again, and appeal that.
The worst part about the disability hearing is the uncertainty. I got a letter, out of the blue, that told me when and where my hearing would be. This, after so many months in a row of hearing nothing at all from the government. Has it been an entire year, or more than that? I thought they had forgotten about me.
Would the disability judge believe me – or would she assume I’m faking my symptoms? I figure she’s already made her decision on my case and the hearing is just a formality.
My first attempt at getting Disability benefits was denied. I appealed that decision – and got denied again. The last part of the process involves seeing a Disability Judge (who hopefully is in a good mood that day.).
My Disability hearing was scheduled a few days before Thanksgiving. I was very anxious that the judge would deny my claim simply because she had to work during Thanksgiving week. Writing haiku helps me cope with stress.
