Disability?

Question

I've heard that once you are on disability you will be on it for the rest of your life and poor. Is this true?

I suffer from depression/social anxiety and have not been able to keep a job for more than 6 months. I cannot attend collegel 3 days out of 5 because I cannot mentally leave my house. I am 22 years old.

Should I try to apply or wait? I

I have seen my current psychiatrist for 6 years and have been on medication the entire time as well as therapy.

Answer 1

Hi L K:

You should apply for disability. No you do not have to be on it for the rest of your life and poor.

If you are disabled in one way, shape or form you are entitled to receive disability compensation.

You go to your local social security office, fill out the application, sit with your case worker and go over very basic things, name address, etc...

Now all is up to the government. The do the records requests and so on. When you get your letter in the mail to approve or deny you do not expect an approval. Expect the denial.

Now you appeal the decision by your self or with a lawyer. I appealed by my self and again was denied. For my 3rd try, I hired a disbility lawyer. I paid no monies up front, he only got paid if we won and his fee would be 33% of the first check which is actually retroactive from the day you first applied at the social security office.

With the help of my lawyer (Oh, who was excellent) I was approved right there in court in front of the judge. I was shocked.

I am on disability and I will not state the amount that I receive be it is well beyond the $600.oo that is mentioned, if I am able to work even a little I am allowed to earn up to $500.oo a month w/o my benifits being affected. If I am able to work or earn more the a meeting with social security will be made and the options will be discussed with you. If you can go back to work full time then your disability will stop, BUT if working full time makes you disabled again, then you will be placed back on disability.

You do not have to be on disability for life. Being poor has nothing to do with your benefits. You can have a million dollars in the bank and that will never effect your disability benefits, ever. So it also has nothing to do about how much money you have or how much money you don't have.

I would not wait, you sound as if you have a disability. Go to the social security office an apply. The sooner you go, the faster it will be activated.

Be safe and be well

Answer 2

I don't think that is necessarily true. As long as people can make decisions about their lives, they don't have to accept a disability forever. Maybe you can go on it for a set time, say five years. During that time, please try and find a good therapist. With the right professional, I think your mental issues can be resolved or at least improved upon enough where you can get off the disability. You mentioned that you can't attend college 3 days out of 5. Does that mean that you can attend one or two days a week? Unfortunately, this may actually disqualify you. They will take the mentality of, "Gee, she has the ability to go to college at least a little, so her disability can't be that bad." They want you incapacitated to the point that you can't do ANYTHING in order to qualify for benefits. It's unfortunate. There are many people who have severe problems but still manage to work a little or go to school a little, yet they still need help. But the disability office can be a harsh one so get ready to be denied. Don't give up, though. Many people have to try two or three times before they're accepted. You might even need the assistance of an attorney to get you accepted. It won't cost you anything up front, he or she would collect their fee only if you win your case. Sometimes it can take a year or longer to get on disability. But if you get accepted at the end of the year, you will receive benefits all at once for the months your case was pending, so you could receive a check for 6 or 7 thousand dollars at the end of the year. Then you'll continue to collect monthly payments thereafter of whatever amount gets awarded to you. As far as waiting, don't. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to win your case. You'll have to supply documented proof from your Doctor/Therapist/ Psycologist of your disability, they simply won't accept your word for it. An Attorney could come in handy here since they know what documentation the disability office would be looking for. But you can try it on your own if you want. Anyway, I hope they don't turn you down just because you are going to school a little. I wish you the best of luck! And whether you try for it or not, please seek help with a good therapist if you are currently not working with one. It could change your life! Take care.

Answer 3

Yes it is true that you will be on disability the rest of your life and poor (WELL BELOW THE POVERTY LINE, SSI PAYS ONLY $600 A MONTH OR SO!!!!) And you can't own anything, so even if you can somehow save money on that piddly income, you can't buy a fishing boat, for example, if it's at all nice.

I'm thinking you sound like you are in the US, so here goes,

Here are my generic disability tips:

Get the book "Social Security Disability" from Nolo Press, at nolo.com, or see if you can get it at your library (maybe even through an interlibrary loan?) It will give you a lot of background on how to apply, what criteria are used, and how to fill out the forms.

You have to be profoundly disabled to get disability, and if you are relatively young and educated, it will be harder. But if you really can't hold down a job, and you can document that, you should get it eventually. You will almost certainly be rejected the first time, and the process takes awhile, so somehow you have to manage your finances in the meantime.

Keep in mind that once you go on disability, you will never get off of it, no one does. You will be in poverty the rest of your life unless you marry out of it or a miracle cures you. The ways the rules are make you dependent on the system, so keep that in mind when you are deciding if you want to do this. A lot of people have no choice, because they can't work at all, or they can't keep a job with insurance to get their pills. but it's still humiliating in America to have no job-people ALWAYS ask when you are being introduced,"Oh hello, what do YOU do for a living?" which ends up being a very nosy question without meaning to. YOU WILL FEEL LIKE A LEECH THE REST OF YOUR LIFE even if you really are very very disabled. I call myself a tick when I get really depressed, it's just fuel for my depression. I think all the taxpayers want me to die (and probably a lot do!) If you can get supportive help from social services (in my state, they will pay for support groups and a social worker to visit and help with paperwork) or tweak your meds some more, or from a local consumer group (google the words consumer, mental, and your state. Consumer=person getting mental health services) then maybe you won't have to go on disability.

I'm on SSA myself, and need the Medicare, so I'm not being judgmental, I just want you to know what you're getting into. For me, there was no other way. I know a lot of people in the same boat. Get the book I recommended, it will give you all the legal and inside information to see if you qualify.

Summary:
Get very very aggressive treatment with meds and counseling and support groups and keep going, don't do disability except as a last ditch thing.

All the best to you! I hope you feel better soon!

Answer 4

I hope that's not true because I am on disability for depression right now and I hope that I will one day be able to hold down a job again because it's even more depressing to have absolutely nothing to do with my time. Of course, if you start working again and make over a certain amount, you'd be kicked off disability I'd think.

Answer 5

You need to find a doctor who will really help you and if you can't leave the house that's more than depression it's called agoraphobia it means fear of open places. If you can't leave the house than how do you see your therapist does he come to you? I know that there are programs where they do that because mine comes to me once a week with either a nurse or social worker coming another day of the week. You do need to find out why nothing is getting better. You might have to change medications until you find one that works for you. But there are ways for things to get better I know because I've dealt with depression for over 40 years and there have been times when I was able to work even with the depression it's not what causes me to be unable to work it's my hip disability that makes it impossible for me to walk for any lenght of time or distance. I know people who have depression and work I even know a psychologist who works while dealing with depression. His is mostly under control but he still experiences it.

Answer 6

You probably should. Maybe people that say that once you're on it you don't come off is because many people find that it's an easy way to earn a buck, by doing NOTHING. So if you're having trouble making ends meet, yes. Also keep looking for an employer that is ok with your disability, work on it to try to stabilize your disability, and also look into other ways of making ends meet, maybe you're eligible for food stamps or something like that...

Good luck, and for some hope, my dad was deathly ill for 3 months and was in the hospital, he couldn't work almost 6 months, put him out of a job, he collected disability, but when he got back to his feet he ended up getting his job back and only had trouble paying bills for about a month after that (see, the disability was more than he earned regularly...why people stay on it...), so there's hope for you!

Answer 7

Honey you need to go to a doctor? Baby steps make sure you go to therapy first and find out the root of your depression....They have a lot of great things that don't include drugs if you aren't into that. Try taking a year off from school and get back in touch with you. Then, get back up on your horse. Meditation is key. Maybe try reading your bible. If not that then pray about it....That always works for me. It will get better.

Answer 8

'you will be on it for the rest of your life and poor. Is this true?'
Well you could not be on disability and see what happens.
Who in America is not poor these days? Connecticut has some of the highest taxes in the country. Good luck finding work here or an affordable apt, too.

Answer 9

If you go on disability you can get off and if necessary back on again. They even have programs to help people get back into the work force. At least in Canada

Answer 10

Seek therapy and talk it over with a counselor. Meds will help too.