How long did it take you to get approved for SSI?

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I'm a 21 year old male living with Autism/Aspergers, ADHD, bipolar disorder, Personality Disorder, and Type 1 diabetes. (I was documented and diagnosed with all of those). I can't hold a job because it's too stressful and overwhelming for me. I'm trying to get on SSI. I believe I first applied back in April or May of 2016, I got rejected for the first time in October of 2016, I appealed it though and got in touch with lawyers who are helping me. I got rejected for it again last month and I appealed it again. The lawyer's office told me that i'll have to be going in front of a judge, and that I'll have to wait 18-24 months for a court date.
Right now, I'm living in an apartment that my adoptive parents are paying for, but eventually, my after my apartment lease expires, my adoptive parents will be sending me down south to live with one of their relatives and i'll be there until i get approved for SSI and find a new place to live.

I'm just wondering, for everyone using this forum who's on SSI, how long did it take you to get approved for SSI? and what was that whole experience like for you? and if you don't mind sharing, how has your life been since you started getting it? anything that i should know?

Please share your experiences if you don't mind.
I knew it would take a while, but im not gonna stop fighting for this until i'm deep in the graves.

Disability laws vary between countries and between states in the US. Sometimes it comes down to a matter of luck. The judge might have had a fight with his wife that day or has an autistic relative.

But generally what you are experiencing is not uncommon for people with nonphysical or "invisible" disabilities.

I applied for disability for ASD and was rejected. I went to three disability lawyers. All would not even take me because I earned too much money in the 1980's "proving" according to the law in New York I had the ability to work.

In early 2015 I suffered a very mild stroke, a physical disability. I got approved within a few months which was fortunate because I ended up because I ended up having tongue cancer making me non verbal and in need of a feeding tube.

This system is not working for you but taxpayers. In another words the idea is to pay out as little as possible. The fact that I was a taxpayer for several decades is irrelevant, my current status as a "moocher" is all that matters. Senior Citizens vote more often. Also most everybody, including politicians have senior citizen relatives that are disabled so there is sympathy for them meaning politicians are willing to give them benefits and supports. Disabled veterans and law enforcement people are generally not looked at as "moochers".

i see. right now i live in the state of wisconsin, but im going to be moving to florida in october of 2017. (as i said earlier, right now im living in an apartment that my parents are paying for but the lease doesn't expire till october 2017) however, i just got rejected for ssi a second time. im already in touch with a lawyer, but i heard that the average wait time to schedule a court date with a judge is 16-24 months. i'll be out of wisconsin by then and then i'll have to find a new lawyer once im in florida, therefore, i'll have to schedule a new court date and wait 16-24 months all over again i guess. idk. i'm figuring it out.

Take my story with a grain of salt. I don't want to discourage you or anyone else in pursuing U.S. Social Security Administration SSI benefits.

Despite several spinal problems identified in the 1980s, I continued working until 2002 when I pursued SSDI and SSI benefits for these problems which had become much worse. If you haven't been employed in the four years prior to your application for benefits, you will be eligible only fpr SSI benefits. I lost three applications before being awarded my benefits on a fourth application. Applications can take two-to-four years to resolve, so I ended up spending almost 12 years working with lawyers, advocates and even on my own (I practiced administrative law in college). My successful application was guided by a very good lawyer and we won despite my lawyer describing our administrative law judge as never awarding benefits. But, when we were at my hearing, the judge described his own spinal problems, and said that my conditions matched his exactly. He sympathized with me, I guess, and wished me well.

Still, it took me 12 years of living off the kindness of family and friends (I estimate that I lost almost $100,000 in missed benefits while I was waiting for the one lucky application).

So, my advice is to hire one of those disability lawyers (find one near you using an Internet search). They only get paid if you win your benefits, and even then, they only get 25 percent of the benefits that accrue during the time you wait for your benefits to be awarded.

But, the SSI lifestyle isn't easy. So, ask your lawyer to describe "life after benefits" with you. It can seem that the Social Security Administration is downright hostile with its beneficiaries (and there might be some truth to that idea). But, it is so much better than any of the alternatives. Plan your household budget in detail, and you will be just fine (the strangest thing is getting used to having to spend your benefit money and not saving much of it).

Good luck with your venture. If you have written evidence that your diagnoses make it difficult to work, you will win in the end. It just takes time in most cases.

im honestly just kinda worried about when i move to Florida while being in the middle of the whole appeal process for SSI. Does anyone think it would reset the whole thing if i moved from Wisconsin to Florida? or would i just move to Florida, have to find a new attorney/lawyer and schedule a new court date a couple months to a couple years ahead?

i know nobody here has a crystal ball at all, but what does anyone think?

In my state (Utah), the Utah State Division of Disability Determination Services is a "state-administered federal program which develops, adjudicates, and processes disability claims for Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income benefits." I suspect most other states have similar agencies. As such, moving from one state to another would likely reset your application. I believe that once a favorable determination is made, you could move from one state to another without jeopardizing benefits.

sorry to bump this old thread, but i just was asking,

i already got rejected for ssi twice, but i appealed both decisions and me and my lawyers are going to be scheduling me for a court date. so when you say 'moving to another state would reset my application'
do you mean i would just have to make a new court date when i move to another state and wait 18-24 months all over again?
or do you mean, it would entirely reset my SSI application process and I would have to apply all over again from the beginning and get rejected again twice, and all that all over?

I apologize, I was wrong. It appears that you wouldn't need to re-apply for benefits if you move to a new state, but, if you are awaiting a court hearing, "disability claimants (applicants) who move to a different state 'lose their place in line' in their old state, and go to the back of the line in their new state of residence." This ( http://www.disabilitysecrets.com/page10-37.html ) is good start to understanding moving before a determination.

I suspect there is some truth there, at least *sometimes* and possibly in my own case. I first applied for SSDI (not SSI) in mid-2010 and was declined, then a fill-in judge made the approval on-the-spot at an appeal hearing near the end of that same year after my attorney had said I had no chance at all with the regular judge.

I applied for assistance in regard to other health issues, first in Pennsylvania, then NY. Pennsylvania is terrible about giving help. You have to have kids or be hospitalized or a quadriplegic, or some other such major disability before they will part with a dime. Some relatives living in NY got me a trailer in NY and helped me navigate the system, as one of them was born here in NY. I was initially denied assistance in NY, but they said I could appeal, and recommended I get a legal aid lawyer for my appeal. Part of the problem was that, although I have some serious health issues, at the time I had no medical proof of it, but without medical coverage, and with no money to pay for docs on my own I couldn't get the proof. The NY assistance office did give me a temporary medical voucher to see a doc, and that enabled me to get temporary Medicaid. Once I had that I was able to all the docs for all my problems. By the time my appeal came due, I had the medical proof, and a legal aid lawyer, and managed to qualify for SS because of all that. It took about 18 months, which I was told is about average in NY. If you qualify after the appeal, you do get back pay of benefits from when you started the appeal process, but the legal aid lawyer will get a chunk of that. It is worth it in order to qualify.

I pay a low rent to my relatives to live in my trailer out of my benefits. The amount covers the lot fee, the mortgage, and the insurance on the trailer. My relatives feel better knowing that I have a decent place to live, within easy driving distance to them and other relatives, and to grocery stores and docs. I feel better knowing that I have a roof over my head, and the solitude that I need.

Once you move to Florida, you will definitely have to start the process all over again, as this is handled on a state by state basis, not nationally. And yes, you will have problems qualifying if you are 21 years old, look able bodied, and have an invisible disability. Either try to find work you can do, even if it's just part-time, or get a very good legal aid lawyer, and some very good docs to back up your claim.

For my husband it's 4 years and counting. His disability insurance wants him to apply so they don't have to pay anymore. I think his 2nd court review is in a few months.

This is your problem. Tax payers don't want to pay for you. The judge will say none of your disabilities (even in total) are disabling enough not to find employment. Now employment can be anything. The judge does not care.

What have you done to "to get better"? The judge will look at...

How brittle is your diabetes. How well do you try to control it? Do you keep your doctor's appointments? Have you worked with a diabetes specialist? Have you tried an insulin pump (or whatever)?

Mental illness: what are you doing to minimize the issues? Counseling? Medication? Voc Rehab? Do you have a goal set up to work towards better mental health? Who are you seeing to get well?

Autism: see mental health above.

What the judges usually want to see is a history of "I tried and failed". Tried college-failed due to x,y,z. Tried community college-failed due to x,y,z. I have a list of 10 jobs I tried and none lasted due to x,y,z. I am compliant with my doctors treatment plans.

The other problem is you are young. My husband's last review had a whole hoard of young 20 somethings waiting for their hearings, and all except 1 was denied. That man was non verbal.

Just because a "doctor" says you are disabled, doesn't mean the judge believes it. He's looking is there absolutely any kind of work you could do. I'm not saying it's fair or right.

I think the averge to get SSI/SSA is 3 times in front of a judge, and that is around 5 years. UNLESS you have a disease or condition that is green lighted in the SSI Blue Book, and then it is under 6 months. Conditions would be stage IV cancer etc.

I think the average in Michigan is 6 years for non green lighted diseases/conditions.

well for me it's either SSI or death, so it's definitely worth a shot. I won't stop trying for it until i'm in the graves.

Indeed! SSI is crazed and hellish in its "policies," but the alternatives are much worse. I play along and grumble to myself frequently. At my SSA regional office, at least, the staffers are quite nice. That makes up a little for the policies that even three lawyer friends have told me "even we can't figure them out."

to be honest, none of it really seems that complicated or severe to me. Yeah, you're not allowed to own 2,000$ worth of money or anything that's listed as valuable and you have to report every time someone gives you money over 20$ and you're only allowed to have one car and one house, but it seems easy enough for me.

It took me around two years.Once I had the court date the judge approved it immediately.He said he had made his decision before he even saw me in court by reading my papers.You still have to wait several months for it to go thru.You do,or did get back pay from the date you applied.
It's basically a waiting game.Supposedly the younger you are,the harder it is to get.

I was denied, VocRehab makes you apply here but honestly I should of applied years ago. Since I actually try to better myself despite the toll it takes on me and I don't have a low IQ, I've been judged that I can work but never mind the no experience and anybody actually hiring me. I guess I didn't have good enough documentation, I wish I did more with my life after age 18 until this point. The appeals on the these things take so long, they want to do them over like a TV screen now but that seems totally wrong imo. I want to work if I can but I don't see myself out competing someone else for a job, I really need to get better self esteem.