Are you on SSI? If so, can you share your story?

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Raederle
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04 Apr 2021, 5:54 pm

Hi there forum readers and writers. I have decided it will probably be worthwhile to go forward with seeking SSI for my husband Lytenian. But I still have only a vague idea of what to expect. I would really love it if you could share anything about your journey to getting SSI. Here are my questions:

1. Where do you live?
2. What made you eligible (or not) for SSI?
3. How long ago did you get it?
4. How much do you receive monthly? (I realize this can be very taboo to discuss, but I need to know if this is really worth all the debilitating stress it will take to strive after.)
5. What were the steps of the process for your getting SSI?
6. Once you have SSI what do you need to do (if anything) to continue to receive it? (I once had SNAP benefits but you have to re-apply regularly. Do you have to do anything like that with SSI?)
7. If the person applying for SSI goes non-verbal or has a meltdown in stressful situations are they allowed to have an advocate who speaks for them at the doctor, psychologist's office, and courtroom when/if needed?

Thank you in advance for sharing your story with me! :heart:


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Texasmoneyman300
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06 Apr 2021, 1:41 am

I would recommend you to get a social security lawyer to help with getting on SSI for your husband.



ezbzbfcg2
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06 Apr 2021, 1:52 am

Someone more knowledgeable should respond.

If I understand correctly, SSI is pin money (though it comes with Medicaid coverage).

The real disability payment is SSDI (disability insurance) that pays a surviving wage.

SSI doesn't necessarily require a lawyer, but SSDI often does.



Texasmoneyman300
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06 Apr 2021, 3:57 am

okay my bad sorry if i was confused but i did read that hiring a lawyer can significantly increase your chances.I have heard that getting SSI can be an ordeal.Or you could go to community services agency for mental health and they will help your husband for sure.I dont know if New York has that or not.Just FYI those on SSI can only 2,000 dollars worth of resources in financial accounts.You are not allowed to save money if you are on SSI.



FleaOfTheChill
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06 Apr 2021, 7:22 am

I get SSDI, not SSI. Still, I'm going to respond. I hope it's not completely irrelevant.

1. Where do you live?
-Michigan

2. What made you eligible (or not) for SSI?
-If I recall correctly, my work history qualified me for SSDI instead of SSI. If you mean, what personal issues qualified me, it would be my psych issues. At the time, my autism dx wasn't an official thing yet. I'm not sure what exactly qualified me, but it was likely a combination of several things including, OCD, GAD, my agoraphobic tendencies, and periods of going catatonic (didn't know they were shutdowns at the time) and episodes where I would lose my s**t (didn't know those were meltdowns at the time).

3. How long ago did you get it?
-I'm not sure, exactly. Somewhere between ten and fifteen years ago, I think.

4. How much do you receive monthly? (I realize this can be very taboo to discuss, but I need to know if this is really worth all the debilitating stress it will take to strive after.)
-I get around $1000 a month. But like I said, I get SSDI, not SSI. I know a guy who gets SSI and he gets under 800 a month, but not a lot below it. Maybe 790something? I dunno.

5. What were the steps of the process for your getting SSI?
-I have no idea. I had a therapist help me with my first application, I got denied, then I got a lawyer. I don't remember a lot of the details from my life at that time. I was not okay at all. Now it's a bit hazy. Paperwork and processes with a lot of steps overwhelm the hell out of me. I'm not surprised I blanked it all out now. I probably wasn't capable of retaining or understanding any of that back then.

6. Once you have SSI what do you need to do (if anything) to continue to receive it? (I once had SNAP benefits but you have to re-apply regularly. Do you have to do anything like that with SSI?)
- Again, I get SSDI, but I also have a payee. I'm not sure if that matters or not. But my payee gets forms once every few years asking how I'm doing, if I have improvements, if I've gotten worse, and things like that. I answer the questions, send it back and that's been the extent of it for me. I've never had to talk to anyone about it in person or by phone since. My payee also gets forms asking what I do with that money, how much goes to housing/living costs, and how much is spent recreationally. They don't ask for receipts or anything, just numbers that break down to a yearly total, example, $10,000 for living and $200 for recreation is all they want to see.

7. If the person applying for SSI goes non-verbal or has a meltdown in stressful situations are they allowed to have an advocate who speaks for them at the doctor, psychologist's office, and courtroom when/if needed?
- I had an advocate (the woman I had been dating at the time for several years) who went with me to the lawyer, psych appointments, and everything. She was amazing and I was pretty close to nonverbal throughout the duration of that application process. I was dealing with a major burnout episode at the time (learned that shortly after) and the stress of it all was beyond overwhelming to me. So yeah, they will absolutely let you have someone to speak on your behalf if you cannot. During the court date itself, I didn't have to go talk to the judge at all. I sat in a waiting room and my lawyer went in and spoke on my behalf. The judge only came into the room once to get a look at me and decided she wouldn't make me try to talk. Which was nice because I couldn't have done it had she insisted. So yeah, I had, in a way, two advocates for the whole thing and I didn't say much to anyone throughout it all.

The psych consultations were a little different for me. There were things my lawyer and my ex couldn't do or say for me, iq tests, for example. But I managed to get through that all okay enough, I think. It wasn't ultimately too important though if I had an iq of 90 or 900 :lol: it wasn't relevant in my situation. But they did let my ex go in with me while I was taking the tests and talking to the psych people.



Raederle
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06 Apr 2021, 10:25 am

FleaOfTheChill wrote:
I get SSDI, not SSI. Still, I'm going to respond. I hope it's not completely irrelevant.


Thank you, this sort of feedback was exactly what I'm looking for. I don't think he can qualify for SSDI because he hasn't worked since 2010, and it was in California and now we live in New York State, so I don't think he can get SSDI, which seems to be at least partly based on previous earnings.

FleaOfTheChill wrote:
I had a therapist help me with my first application, I got denied, then I got a lawyer.


I always imagine lawyers costing hundreds or thousands of dollars. That part is intimidating since the whole incentive here is to be less broke.

Thanks for the note about savings. He never has much in savings anyhow, so that's not a big issue.

How do they know how much is in his bank account though? Like, if it is ever above $2,000 for a month, that's something they would know? I wonder because he sometimes gets decent Christmas money, which is his spending money for the year, so it might go over that in December or January sometimes.


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Raederle
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06 Apr 2021, 10:25 am

ezbzbfcg2 wrote:
If I understand correctly, SSI is pin money (though it comes with Medicaid coverage). The real disability payment is SSDI (disability insurance) that pays a surviving wage. SSI doesn't necessarily require a lawyer, but SSDI often does.


What does "pin money" mean?


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Raederle is pronounced: Ray-der-lee


FleaOfTheChill
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06 Apr 2021, 1:23 pm

With my lawyer, I got one who only got paid if he won. If you win, you get retro paid in a lump sum that goes back to the date you filed. My lawyer took some percentage that got capped at a certain point. I forget what but it was something like 10% up to $2000 or something like that. It wasn't a crazy high amount or anything. It didn't matter to me though since I got such a large lump sum because they went back to my original file date which went back from before I was originally denied. I know lawyers who get paid for disability like that are common where I live, they might be where you are as well. It's worth looking into. A lawyer is the route to take, my two cents anyway. It's a damn nightmare to file and lawyers do it everyday. They got it.

As for work history, I don't know if it matter how long he hasn't been working or not. I had been out of work for a few years when I filed, but since I had worked so much previously (pretty much nonstop from 16 to about 30) it was enough work credit for me to qualify. The time off didn't matter, I don't think. But I hadn't been off work for ten years at the time I filed. I'm not sure if they have a time limit with that, but it would seem irrelevant if he has enough work credits/time paying in.

They ask for paperwork about bank accounts, property owned, and so on during the proceedings. No one has ever asked me about money since I got approved beyond the whole 'what are you doing with your disability money' reports I get. I'm not sure if that is different with SSI though. For me, they don't seem to care about any money I may or may not have squirreled away someplace (I had none at the time I applied though so it was irrelevant to me). But the person I know who is on SSI, got denied his first time applying because he had money in a bank account. It was about 5k and they told him he was not able to get it because of that. He had to reapply once he completely ran out of money. At risk of sounding shady, worst case scenario, just pull the money from the bank and hide it in the house somewhere. :lol: Because they will deny you if you have a decent amount of money in the bank, though I'm not sure how much is acceptable to them.



madbutnotmad
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06 Apr 2021, 5:27 pm

You guys are lucky that you live somewhere where no win no fee lawyers are available.

I live on a small UK island that has an extremely controlled and unfair legal system.

The legal system is presented to look normal and fair from the outside while in reality, the system is
designed to make it impossible for people with out capital to do anything if they are subjected to mistreatment
or abuse at the hands of one of the services.

There is a "Legal aid" system, which is supposed to mirror the UKs.
However, this legal aid system is different to the UKs in that the lawyers only do work for legal aid clients because they are obligated by law and do so not because they want to but out of penance, and while doing so they are not allowed to charge as much as their normal rates, which for many of the lawyers in this island is extortionate (£1k per hour!+)

So the legal aid lawyers generally do not want the legal aid cases, and when they take them on, they often do so in order to clock in their hours rather than seek justice for the individual.

The island, being an off shore centre does all it can to promote a cleaner than clean image.
So any court cases that make the local lawyers / police / doctors / social services etc. look bad are generally frowned upon and not given the light of day.

In Jersey, in order to even get to speak to a legal aid lawyer in order to consider your case, the prospective candidate must first meet with a representative of the local government (who is also a lawyer), who will consider the merits of your case (or intercept your case if it is too controversial such as being bad PR for the island.

If you are one of the few lucky candidates that gets the approval of the government, you then move to the next stage, where you will be able to then seek advice from a qualified lawyer.

However, as mentioned before. The island is very small, and lawyers operate within an established system which is intrinsically connected. Most lawyers in the island (if not all the lawyers) do not want to rock the boat within the system, as it is the same system that brings in the other work that makes them super wealthy.

I have not heard of any instance where anyone has taken the local social services to court. The facility is simply not there.

The island being so small with a small but mostly wealthy population, does not operate as normal modern society operates when it comes to such things.

The finance industry and its tax havens are basically big monsters that make money for those with money.
Everything else on the island with regards to law is treated as irrelevant.

There are aspects of life that most people in the modern world take for granted which Jersey simply chooses to ignore.
A great deal of modern infrastructure is there in the island but only for show, and really does not functions, especially for those who need it the most, those who have no income who are usually the most likely to be abused due to their financial circumstances.

For example:
The local Police have a "independent" complaints department, which is actually housed at the same police HQ and is run by a man who recently left the same police force after haven spent 30 years plus serving along side the police force that you may need to complain about... The "phrases conflict of interests" and "impartial to the investigation" come to mind.

The local medical doctors work independently and self employed on the island. There is no governing body to regulate or monitor them with regards to their standards nor their conduct. If you get abused by a doctor, there is nothing you can do.

The local Hospital has a "feedback" address, where you may send your "feedback" (notice the word complaint is not used). If you are abused while in medical care, then apart from this email address, you have no other way to seek justice.

The person who deals with the complaints, comes from the health care background and again is not independent but works for the same hospital that you wish to complain about.

The local government has politicians in charge of various areas of the island, but these are not to be contacted directly.
If you do, you will not have your correspondence answered.

If one of these politicians does something that you wish to complain about, (for example, not addressing the ASD issues). Then there is a policing avenue which the local government call "scrutinising" officers or panels.
Now, the members of the scrutinising panels are made up by other members of the same government,

so if you do have a legitimate complaint, the complaint is then used by the "scrutinising" officer as bargaining chips for their political endeavours rather than to serve justice. These people are playing "politics" after all, rather than doing all they can to serve justice.

So, you may say, perhaps you could get a lawyer from outside Jersey, as surely Jersey, being part of the UK, these other lawyers would be able to take on the case.

Well, that would be an interesting question. UK lawyers could take on cases, however, UK lawyers often are reluctant to do so because many of the local law firms are very wealthy and powerful, some also have offices in the UK and around the world. So people don't want to rock the boat.

To complicate matters further, Jersey law is different to the UK. So lawyers taking on the case would need to do more work in order to take on a case (as they would have to read up on the relevant law).

At least the laws now exist in English so that the layman may be able to read up on their rights by law.
This is a fairy recent development, as the laws all used to be written in a dead language known as Jersey French,
which only 10 or so people speak now!! ! 10 out of 120,000 plus. really good idea to have them written in Jersey French!! ! Morons.... or tooo clever.

I also speculate that UK lawyers also do not want to cross horns with the Jersey Establishment, as they also do not want to make enemies.

I also speculate that even if a UK lawyer were to take on a strong case and presented to the court of law the facts which in any other normal court would ensure a win. The same case would not necessarily win in Jersey due to being "against Jersey's (Finance industries)" interest.

Lastly, I mention that although Jersey CI promotes itself as cleaner than clean, it has been known in the past for
Court Judges (who were made judges after spending years as lawyers), have been struck off for committing
gross fraud.

So, in an island where there is no facility for the abused to seek justice, is it any surprise that abuses occur?...
The island was involved in one or two international scandals over the years, and still they have done nothing to address their broken systems.

So... in short. Feel thankful that you have the option of getting a no win no fee lawyer and good luck to you, I wish you well.

On the positive side about Jersey, the island itself isn't such a bad place. Quiet naturally beautiful with low violent crime, and high (but expensive) standard of living.

The island that I love, which i was born on, its just the corrupt establishment that i hate.
Unlikely to change, in the same way that the super wealthy and privileged are unlikely going to stop loving money and the privilege that their corrupt system gives them...

But what else would a monarchy give the world. But inequality.
Nothing against the personal royal family. However, they do reign due to inherited wealth and power. And doing so, they make sure that places like Jersey exist.



Nosho
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08 Apr 2021, 4:10 pm

madbutnotmad wrote:
You guys are lucky that you live somewhere where no win no fee lawyers are available.

I live on a small UK island that has an extremely controlled and unfair legal system.

The legal system is presented to look normal and fair from the outside while in reality, the system is
designed to make it impossible for people with out capital to do anything if they are subjected to mistreatment
or abuse at the hands of one of the services.

There is a "Legal aid" system, which is supposed to mirror the UKs.
However, this legal aid system is different to the UKs in that the lawyers only do work for legal aid clients because they are obligated by law and do so not because they want to but out of penance, and while doing so they are not allowed to charge as much as their normal rates, which for many of the lawyers in this island is extortionate (£1k per hour!+)

So the legal aid lawyers generally do not want the legal aid cases, and when they take them on, they often do so in order to clock in their hours rather than seek justice for the individual.

The island, being an off shore centre does all it can to promote a cleaner than clean image.
So any court cases that make the local lawyers / police / doctors / social services etc. look bad are generally frowned upon and not given the light of day.

In Jersey, in order to even get to speak to a legal aid lawyer in order to consider your case, the prospective candidate must first meet with a representative of the local government (who is also a lawyer), who will consider the merits of your case (or intercept your case if it is too controversial such as being bad PR for the island.

If you are one of the few lucky candidates that gets the approval of the government, you then move to the next stage, where you will be able to then seek advice from a qualified lawyer.

However, as mentioned before. The island is very small, and lawyers operate within an established system which is intrinsically connected. Most lawyers in the island (if not all the lawyers) do not want to rock the boat within the system, as it is the same system that brings in the other work that makes them super wealthy.

I have not heard of any instance where anyone has taken the local social services to court. The facility is simply not there.

The island being so small with a small but mostly wealthy population, does not operate as normal modern society operates when it comes to such things.

The finance industry and its tax havens are basically big monsters that make money for those with money.
Everything else on the island with regards to law is treated as irrelevant.

There are aspects of life that most people in the modern world take for granted which Jersey simply chooses to ignore.
A great deal of modern infrastructure is there in the island but only for show, and really does not functions, especially for those who need it the most, those who have no income who are usually the most likely to be abused due to their financial circumstances.

For example:
The local Police have a "independent" complaints department, which is actually housed at the same police HQ and is run by a man who recently left the same police force after haven spent 30 years plus serving along side the police force that you may need to complain about... The "phrases conflict of interests" and "impartial to the investigation" come to mind.

The local medical doctors work independently and self employed on the island. There is no governing body to regulate or monitor them with regards to their standards nor their conduct. If you get abused by a doctor, there is nothing you can do.

The local Hospital has a "feedback" address, where you may send your "feedback" (notice the word complaint is not used). If you are abused while in medical care, then apart from this email address, you have no other way to seek justice.

The person who deals with the complaints, comes from the health care background and again is not independent but works for the same hospital that you wish to complain about.

The local government has politicians in charge of various areas of the island, but these are not to be contacted directly.
If you do, you will not have your correspondence answered.

If one of these politicians does something that you wish to complain about, (for example, not addressing the ASD issues). Then there is a policing avenue which the local government call "scrutinising" officers or panels.
Now, the members of the scrutinising panels are made up by other members of the same government,

so if you do have a legitimate complaint, the complaint is then used by the "scrutinising" officer as bargaining chips for their political endeavours rather than to serve justice. These people are playing "politics" after all, rather than doing all they can to serve justice.

So, you may say, perhaps you could get a lawyer from outside Jersey, as surely Jersey, being part of the UK, these other lawyers would be able to take on the case.

Well, that would be an interesting question. UK lawyers could take on cases, however, UK lawyers often are reluctant to do so because many of the local law firms are very wealthy and powerful, some also have offices in the UK and around the world. So people don't want to rock the boat.

To complicate matters further, Jersey law is different to the UK. So lawyers taking on the case would need to do more work in order to take on a case (as they would have to read up on the relevant law).

At least the laws now exist in English so that the layman may be able to read up on their rights by law.
This is a fairy recent development, as the laws all used to be written in a dead language known as Jersey French,
which only 10 or so people speak now!! ! 10 out of 120,000 plus. really good idea to have them written in Jersey French!! ! Morons.... or tooo clever.

I also speculate that UK lawyers also do not want to cross horns with the Jersey Establishment, as they also do not want to make enemies.

I also speculate that even if a UK lawyer were to take on a strong case and presented to the court of law the facts which in any other normal court would ensure a win. The same case would not necessarily win in Jersey due to being "against Jersey's (Finance industries)" interest.

Lastly, I mention that although Jersey CI promotes itself as cleaner than clean, it has been known in the past for
Court Judges (who were made judges after spending years as lawyers), have been struck off for committing
gross fraud.

So, in an island where there is no facility for the abused to seek justice, is it any surprise that abuses occur?...
The island was involved in one or two international scandals over the years, and still they have done nothing to address their broken systems.

So... in short. Feel thankful that you have the option of getting a no win no fee lawyer and good luck to you, I wish you well.

On the positive side about Jersey, the island itself isn't such a bad place. Quiet naturally beautiful with low violent crime, and high (but expensive) standard of living.

The island that I love, which i was born on, its just the corrupt establishment that i hate.
Unlikely to change, in the same way that the super wealthy and privileged are unlikely going to stop loving money and the privilege that their corrupt system gives them...

But what else would a monarchy give the world. But inequality.
Nothing against the personal royal family. However, they do reign due to inherited wealth and power. And doing so, they make sure that places like Jersey exist.


Honestly, the US has its fair share of issues too.

Depending on what state or county you're in, assistance can be a nightmare to get if you have mental health issues... There're too many levels to politics, and different loopholes and methods to leverage them illegally..

Then you have personal prejudices that're present in some government workers on top of it all, who often aren't found out until after the damage is done and they've already wrongfully denied hundreds if not thousands of applicants.

The fact of the matter is, it's a fight every day, no matter where you are.. The landscape is constantly changing, and as a living, grazing animal, you must move and change with it, or perish...



Tawaki
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12 Apr 2021, 7:40 am

In my state, SSI is under $1000 dollars. There are means test for Medicaid and it's basically if you own a shopping cart you make too much money in my state. So you husband will get the bare minimum. Anything you own/save will count against any means tested benefits (like Medicaid)

Only your husband and attorney go before the judge. The judge asks questions and the attorney answers them. Or he'll specifically ask your husband to answer. You want the attorney to do as much speaking as possible.

Getting SSDI for my husband was a full time job 5 years ago. With COVID-19, it has to be an utter nightmare with things being closed and more people applying.

SSI/SSD is about the paper trial of what you did to get better, and showing how none of what you did made it better. Terminal cancer is easy. Smashed by a car and on a vent is easy. Everything else is the SSA saying nope, and you trying to prove otherwise.

No. They don't give a damn. Lol



kraftiekortie
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12 Apr 2021, 8:08 am

SSI means you didn't work enough to get SSDI, basically. One gets a little less than $800 a month, as alluded to earlier. One is almost always eligible for Medicaid when on SSI. One is eligible for Section 8, but that's hard to get onto immediately. And many landlords don't take Section 8.

There are many stringent restrictions with SSI. One can't earn more than about $1,200, for example. And once somebody earns about $400 in a month, the benefits start going down.

Frequently, one is denied SSI on the first application, but one could hire a disability lawyer on a "contingency" basis for the appeal, as alluded to earlier. That means you don't have to pay until you "win." The lawyer gets maybe 1/3 to 1/4 of your "backpay."

To be honest, especially if there is a "safety net" (i.e., parents, relatives, etc), I would try working first before applying for disability. The Social Security folks like to make it hard on SSI and SSDI recipients. If autistic, I would seek to get an office job, rather than a job in fast food or retail.

Social Security "reviews your case," as alluded to previously, every few years. Many times, during the "review," they cut off your benefits temporarily, and restore them once you "pass" the "review." This sort of thing is rough on recipients, obviously, because they might not have any money coming in for a couple of months or so.

A disability lawyer would serve as an "advocate" if you become nonverbal.

I would contact a disability advocate person to get more information about all this, in general. But I think people here got it pretty well.