Just got my letter from my lawyer saying I am now on the waiting list for my disability hearing. And that it could take up to a year to get. Anyone on disability care to tell me what to expect when I go to the hearing ? My lawyer told me not to worry. That the judges are nice and just ask health, everyday life and job questions. Just wanted to chat with someone who has been through it. Thanks Sandy
It took like 3 months after I got the letter from my lawyer. You will get a letter from judge with an appointment. You go and sit in front of judge and he will ask you questions about how you handle day to day things. What kind of work you do and what your job consists of. Medication you are taking ans side affects that come with it.
After that the judge makes a decision within6 wks.
Thank you for the info friends :)
I was very fortunate, our district was so swamped with cases that they brought in an extra judge from another state. I had heard that the local judge was a real horse's a**, never approved ANYONE unless they were literally nearly dead- he even rejected people with end-stage AIDS. Literally. That's pretty bad. But this judge I got was really fair and open. He listened to what both my lawyer said, asked intelligent questions, and did something that is apparently unusual - he made a ruling on the spot, rather than making me wait. Considering all the bad luck I was having at that time, I felt very lucky at that moment, and was very thankful (it also meant that my employer of 17 years, who had been doing everything they could to deny me disability retirement, now HAD to pay me. WOOT!)
You are VERY smart to have a lawyer. I know there's no way I could have navigated that process without mine. And mine had the double-whammy of having been a nurse before law school, so she knew how to communicate the complexities of autoimmune issues. Just document, document, document, and have all your ducks in a row when you go in. The two things the judge said that made the most impression with me was that I had clearly been trying to get better in every possible way- surgery, PT, meds, and always compliant with my doctors (boy did that change later on when I met certain drs. *lol*) The other was that he said it was clear to him that I had been a hard worker, had loved my job, and would go back in a heartbeat if I could- he could tell I wasn't just trying to shirk, you know? So any way you can communicate that, that matters.
And remember, absolute worst case scenario (and if someone else knows otherwise, PLEASE correct me!) if you do get turned down in your hearing - and hopefully you wont! - I believe you can either appeal the judge's ruling at the Federal level, or you can wait something like 2 years and start the whole thing all over again. I know it sucks, but at least you know that if you don't get a favorable ruling, it isn't absolutely the end of the world.
And I totally echo Jujubeee in wishing you the very best and to hang in there!
Hopefully your lawyer has already told you this, but document every single time you’ve missed work, even for an hour, because of your illness. Document every single way that your illness affects you at work and how it affects your ability to do your job - the work you’ve been trained for. One of the things that was explained to me both by my lawyer and by the judge when he made his ruling was that because I was in an upper-level paraprofessional job, they wouldn’t expect me to go back to work in a job that was far below what I was trained for, far below what I have been doing for my entire working life. In other words, if you been a lawyer for 30 years and suddenly are too ill to be able to speak in the court room and do all the other things involved in your jour job, they don’t expect you to suddenly take a job doing telephone sales, just because you still can sit in a chair for a few hrs. & hold a phone. I guess what I’m saying is get as specific as you can about how the problems that your illness creates affect your ability to do your work- does that make any sense?
I’ve been thru this process not only myself, but with another family member, who had her case mis-managed by the lawyer her disability insurance firm assigned to her – So I base my advice not only on my experience of things going well with me but on how they went so awry with her. (I was in at that hearing - I could have cheerfully strangled that lawyer! I could see she was miscommunicating everything, I could tell the judge was looking for an excuse to rule against her, and the fool lawyer handed it to him on a silver platter!). As usual, I’ve run on and on here… I hope something that I’ve said has been a teensy bit helpful!
big hugs!
hg
I got on disability in '92. At the time I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and had had 2 cervical fusions, a 3rd was done a few years later. My biggest suggestion for you is to get a letter from your doctor to give the judge. Mine gave me one telling how badly I hurt and was unable to stand or sit in straight chairs for very long at a time. It's hard for me to even go out to dinner as my body is hurting before we get through the meal. I have to have good back support when I sit or it's not good. The judge did mention that my letter from the doctor really helped in my case. It took 3 years trying on my own to get disability before I got wise and got a lawyer but was able to get the back pay for those 3 years so that was great. I did own my own gallery for about 10 years afterwards but the hours open were very short and I never cleared more than the allowable income you can earn and still get your disability. I finally had to retire my business about 3 years ago as my health got too bad to keep it going. :( Good luck with your disability claim!!
Hi, I'm in Ohio but because the case load was so heavy they transferred me to a judge in MI. My hearing was by teleconference and I thought it went well. The judge sent me her ruling on December 23 saying that I was denied bc I was a liar and my physicians were not qualified to say I couldn't work.
My atty and I filed for it to go before the appeals council. They had it for 18 months before telling me that they refused to review my case. And, bc they have taken 5 years I have run out quarters and my last insured date was March 31 2011. I justmet with my new atty and he is going to file my civil appeal in federal court. He saidthat is going to take about 18 months. If they agree with it, then I have to wait again to get another court date. If they don't agree then I am just screwed. I cannot file again. And thegovernment wonders why we hate them!
I wish you the best and I'll say a prayer for you.
Wendy xx
Thanks for all the advice my doctors and yhe disability drs all agreed that I am unable to even be a Wal-Mart greeter due to all the lupus, asthma, fibromyalgia, chronic pain and migraines so hopefully everything goes through.I appreciate all the advice.
I have not started the process yet but the nurses and my supervisor and the respitory therapist I worked with have all written letters for me concerning time of switching me to the easy patients and other things. Do you think anyone you worked with would do this for you?
Thanks Julie, your kind words mean a lot! :)
I think the system is flawed because it allows so much fraud and denies those of us that need it the most.
Take care everyone!
Wendy xxxxx
jujubeee said:
Wendy, that it is the WORST-Im so sorry to hear about the way you were treated. :( I wish you the best..I'm so sorry that happened to you! Love Julie
lablover said:Hi, I'm in Ohio but because the case load was so heavy they transferred me to a judge in MI. My hearing was by teleconference and I thought it went well. The judge sent me her ruling on December 23 saying that I was denied bc I was a liar and my physicians were not qualified to say I couldn't work.
My atty and I filed for it to go before the appeals council. They had it for 18 months before telling me that they refused to review my case. And, bc they have taken 5 years I have run out quarters and my last insured date was March 31 2011. I justmet with my new atty and he is going to file my civil appeal in federal court. He saidthat is going to take about 18 months. If they agree with it, then I have to wait again to get another court date. If they don't agree then I am just screwed. I cannot file again. And thegovernment wonders why we hate them!
I wish you the best and I'll say a prayer for you.
Wendy xx
It is so sad that the people who need it most have to go through all this mess. When we have doctors who say we cant work and know us and our conditions, it should make the process easier. At least we are all in this together and can give advice to make things easier.
Hi Sandy!, congrautulations ! Yes , just answer the questions with the emotions that you have for day to day . Also it would be good for you to have your doctor to give you a form they call a work limit evaluation statement paper , this don’t ions a serious of question that he /she has to answer in the state of your physical abilities which limit you from not being able to stand , sit, or lift things. It really helped me when I went in front of the judge. Look into it with your doctor before you go to the hearing , ok…Good luck…Beverly L.
One last small piece of advice to anyone going thru the SSDI process - something Jujubeee said reminded me of it. If you have to get any assessments of your physical and other capabilities done, don’t knock yourself out, don’t be a hero trying really hard on the test! They’ll usually send you somewhere with physical and occupational therapists, along with a form for them to complete. You have to do things while the therapists rate your abilities to carry out tasks - things like climbing stairs, carrying boxes, even walking around the block.
Like most of us spoonies, by that point I was so used to pushing through the pain and doing things I really had no business doing, that like a fool, I pushed myself like mad thru the whole stupid test (I remember walking around the block several times, to where I was about to pass out!) all the while not even realizing that all that I was really doing was giving them a total misconception of my abilities, with which to deny my SSDI! I ended up being in bed for a week after the stupid thing - and if I hadn’t felt so lousy already, I’d have kicked myself black & blue for being so dumb! (As soon as my daughter picked me up from the test - I couldn’t even drive at that point - she took one look at me and asked what had happened, and made me immediately realize what I’d done!)
We are almost all of us people who are used to pushing ourselves to perform, to do what is asked or needed of us, no matter what it costs us. This is one important example of where we spoonies MUST guard our spoons like gold, and be brutally honest about exactly what we can and CAN’T do! (Believe me, after 14 years of this, I’ve finally acquired a much better sense of self-preservation than I had back then! I CAN and do say “no!” now, anytime I need to. lol)
I got my disability due injuries from a car accident. When I went to my hearing there was the judge, an occupational expert, medical experts and so on. They all asked me questions such as what I was able to do such as cleaning, grocery shopping, personal hygiene and things like that. What the judge was really interested in was my sleep habits. How long I slept and if I slept soundly throughout the night. His take on it was that if I couldn't get a good night's sleep that I would be unable to function at a job. So make sure you bring in your sleep habits somehow, if they don't ask. Good luck and hang in there.