Asperger's, Autism, and Social Security Disability (Poll)

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I'm wondering how many of us here are on disability. How hard is it to qualify? My understanding is that something like 80% of people on the spectrum are unemployed, so I would expect most of us to be on disability. I'm trying to qualify right now, and it seems to me that it's very difficult, and I've had a very hard time finding any kind of helpful information. I think there must be some serious censorship going on.

For example, does it matter what label you try to qualify under? I mean, it seems to me I could apply under Asperger's, HFA or ASD - would I have an advantage one way or another?

I have a bunch of other stuff going on too - depression, anxiety, social phobia/anxiety, chronic fatigue, etc.; I certainly feel disabled, and my life history would indicate to any reasonable person that I'm disabled. But because of some stupid technicality, I'm having a hard time qualifying. Specifically, a few of my attempts to work have lasted a bit too long and/or earned too much money. But their thresholds are SO LOW! It's just ridiculous.

I'd love to hear your own experience - if you don't feel disabled by your condition, how do you support yourself?

If you do feel disabled by it, have you applied for disability benefits? Did you get them? If so, what label did you qualify under? What other conditions (if any, such as depression, chronic fatigue, etc.) did you use to qualify?

I'm on disability, $1200 a month, Got it my first try. Just submitted my school assessment & my Psychological Assessment

Canada is GREAT!

I also help my mom deliver the papers, So i get another $400.

$1600 a month is not bad for not working. I also get 100% medical benefits covered, They paid for my dentures that i got

I also started to be in a awesome program that help you with work, so i'll even make more soon. Will be my first job.

My label was that i function between 10-12 years old & my school report shows my mild mental delays.

My son is on SSDI ($674). I have been told by a mental health professional that I qualify because of my depressive disorder, but

ironically I get more depressed if I don't work. I am still only able to work at low skilled jobs. I was curious and looked it up in re: to

my ADD-PI and they said basically you'd have to not be able to make $1,000 a month. I make just a few hundred over that. With

my income and my son's SSDI we are still at poverty level for a family of two. The only reason I am able to see a mental health

professional is I go to a sliding scale fee non profit place. I can't afford health insurance. I get my meds through there too.

I have two main diabilities [AS being one] and get financial help and support here in the UK.

I'm not on disability, instead I currently work full-time. Prior to working full-time, I was studying full-time and claiming Australia's student benefits.

I did think about claiming disability back in July, not for Asperger's which my treatment team apparently can't up their minds about, but for schizoaffective disorder which at least is officially next to my name. I mentioned this to my psychologist who said that she wouldn't have supported my claim and most likely my psychiatrist wouldn't have supported it either, because she didn't think I would be disabled long-term by my condition. Guess she was right.

I've been approved medically for ssi for a long time but haven't gotten money yet. Its a complicated story. I first applied in 2005 after not holding a job for more than a week. I didnt know how to fill out the paper work and I was denied so I got an ssi atterony. I was medically approved but I didnt get finantinally approved because I found out I still had stocks in my name from when I was a kid. Before all this in 2004 some kids from my school asked me to help them move their stuff and they reported their stuff stolen for insureance money and said I did it and I got sued for several thousand dollars that my parents had to pay so I signed the stocks over back to my mom to pay for it. She never transfered the stocks and I didnt know they were still in my name until 2009 when they were officially transfered and we showed ssi the paper work. As of today social security still thinks I have stock and wont pay me. They also told DSHS to cut off my benifits because of the stocks leaving me unable to pay rent and having to leave my apartment paying $1700 for breaking the lease that I wont be able to pay and am probablly going to collections soon. My lawyer says hes never seen any kind of case like this happen and is still trying to get me back pay to 2005 and recieve ongoing payments. If this happens I should have a lot of money. Its looking like ssi has screwed me out of ever having any source of income though.

Yes, because of an ASD (let's just say "only" AS). I have OCD too, but I didn't put that down.

Just filled the forms out, handed them in, and saw a government psychologist (albeit, my mother did much of it, like using the phone, talking to many of the people, and whatnot).

I'd rather be working.

In order to qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance with AS, you must not only prove that you are disabled, but you must prove how your disability is so severe that it makes you unable to hold down gainful employment. You also must have worked 5 of the last 10 years, and paid into Social Security. If you are looking for a good resource for more info, check out Social Security Disability Help ---although whoever is moderating this site will probably take it down before you get to use it.

in order to apply for disablitly you must have worked five years for the last ten?
but if you can't hold down a job... how can you work for five years?
that's ridiculous.
won't they say, "if you worked for five years, how come you need help? just go on working the way you had for the last five years."

Stupid contradictory rules...

The work history is a requirement to get SSDI - that's mostly for people who have worked, not disabled, but then acquire a disability.

The other one is SSI. I don't know their specific requirements, but most developmentally disabled people would fall under this instead of SSDI (if they qualify). This is what I get. There was never any hassle getting it (I was approved quickly, which surprised me since I heard how hard it is to get, and I am rather academically capable - I guess my spotty college record and lack of work and official diagnosis was sufficient. I also had to fill out a paper asking about stuff I do and stuff I can't do. I get roughly $670/month. About two thirds of that goes to rent, not including the gas/electric bill. My money sense is a little off (I'm normally very frugal, but sometimes, especially if I'm out doing errands all day and hungry, I make unwise spending decisions on food and books), so it's a good thing I can ration my food to eat small amounts on days I need to, and I cook from scratch (canned food, bags of rice/lentils, drink mostly water) whenever I have the time and energy.

I was diagnosed with Asperger's in elementary school, though the most recent diagnosis (since the district couldn't find my original papers, I had to go through another assessment) indicated HFA. Sometimes I wonder how much of my disability is related to the lack of transition skills (nothing) I got as a kid, and they expected me to make it on my own just because I had high IQ and test scores. Gee, if that was the only thing required to succeed living on a college campus away from parents, then why didn't they just ship me off when I was twelve like I asked? At least then I would've learned my limitations in time to make some significant interventions. Oh, but it's developmentally typical to struggle living on your own at that age. Seriously, who expects an autistic people to just magically develop life skills and social skills when it's developmentally typical, when they didn't do that during the whole life span to that point?

Yes, I'm still bitter that the school didn't really do anything for transition planning besides talk about my skills and how I'm so smart.

There should have been options for "in the process of applying."

I am in the process of applying for SSI on the basis of my existing conditions.

I was approved for SSI last month due to anxiety and panic attacks. I can't go into a building without panicking. They said my ASD (moderate autism) was not severe enough to qualify for benefits in itself.

Applied for ASD, depression, PTSD. Accepted within six months, no problems. It's nice not to have to scramble to keep oneself fed. I'm using the breathing room to try to get myself an education so I can have a job. Those of you who are on SSI should consider whether you're unemployable, period, or whether you could work if you had training. If you can, then go out and get that training--you've got your immediate needs taken care of, so go for it!

No I did not get approved, probably because I don't have an official diagnoses of the AS or anything else I guess, though I have multiple issues.....but yeah I guess that diagnoses is important, kind of hard to get when you cant afford it and then get denied for SSI so have no way to afford to get the diagnoses.


uhh maybe if they actually sceduled an actual appointment not a 5 minute BS session with some guy who does not even know what AS is and really does not give a crap if you get approved or not people who need a little help could get some.

For now though I am intelligent so I can get financial aid for college.......its only going to work for so long though, I just have not decided what else to do yet.

Never applied but told I should for my migraines (in an insulting manner). Haven't looked into it. I don't feel like I can really say I can't work, I just have a really hard time finding a job that works for me.