I'm not sure my disability meeting went well

[mvd]

The IMA group evaluator was mean and nasty. Because I can’t hear very well, I had to ask her to repeat some things. She never spoke up. She said my mom could be on but seemed annoyed by her talking. Then after one question she abruptly cut the meeting off with “that’s all for today.” What a mess. Wanted to vent.

[onecaliberal]

1. Call your Congress person.

[mvd]

2. I will

Also maybe call Social Security? I don’t think the abrupt end was a good sign for her recommending approval, and I do not feel the Zoom meeting evaluation was fair.

[onecaliberal]

3. If you got one question in, no way that is fair.

[mvd]

4. Well she asked a few, but she was so nasty

And why the abrupt end when I couldn’t hear the question? Shouldn’t the not hearing help me?

[onecaliberal]

5. I would think the not hearing is a clue. It's sad how they're allowed to treat people.

There are feee lawyers and other resources. Contact your Congress person to find out.

[mvd]

6. Will do

Thank you.

[onecaliberal]

7. Good luck to you:

[llashram]

8. mean, mean, mean

in this society now. I do hope things work out for you.

[mvd]

10. Thanks, and true

I wanted to put this in the Lounge because so much big stuff is going on in GD. Thank you for the support.

[XanaDUer2]

11. They'll do anything to deny

God bless America. So glad I got a SSDI lawyer

[XanaDUer2]

9. Mine was in person

She was abrupt. She did say I had problems but her assessment got me turned down 1st time. My lawyer sent me her report.

Now I have to go see their doctor for shoulder problem. They're there to deny you.

[mvd]

12. My mom has a lawyer

Maybe he can recommend one. So true about how biased they seem.

[XanaDUer2]

14. Good

My lawyer said my case will go down twice, then before a judge. He says well win. Well worth 23 percent back pay

[XanaDUer2]

16. She spoke to me 10 mins

Then wrote 8 page report. Lawyer said they get 200 a pop

[Akoto]

13. Been on disability for half of my life, best tip I can give...

Lawyer up. It's expensive, I know, but it pays for itself in the long run when you receive (or are continued with at a regular review) those benefits. My experience, 100% of the time, has been that the *whole* demeanor of the meeting changes when they know a lawyer is present. I never talk to them without mine.

Oh, and save everything. Get hard copies of your medical records on a regular basis, after every time you see the doc, etc. It does help to overwhelm them with years worth of factual, physician backed evidence that you have a disability and have continually sought treatment. If you can get your doctor(s) to write letters of support to include in hearings or before the judge if you go that far, it's also very good to do.

For a lot of people (myself included), victory does not arrive until you have two rejections from filing your first application and then your appeal. Unless you have an 'automatically approved' condition, they will usually find stupid excuses to deny you. The wait for these replies takes a lot of time in some cases, especially with how backed up the system is. Their hope, though, is that you'll just give up during that process rather than wait the sometimes long wait for step three - going before a judge. This is where most people win disability, because someone has to finally look you in the eye and listen to what you endure, hopefully with your lawyer present.

[XanaDUer2]

15. This

Everything is thru my lawyer now

[Mr.Bill]

17. My wife's disability claim was approved in a matter of weeks.

But there's a catch. My wife is a retired RN who spent the last five of the 40+ years of her career as a hospital case manager. She was trained and certified in assisting people with disability claims, among many other things.

Therein lies the problem. You shouldn't have to be a medical professional with 40 years of experience to file a successful claim for a government benefit.

[XanaDUer2]

18. Yes

Esp an earned benefit workers and employers have paid into for years

[Kaleva]

22. Mine was approved in 3 months and I'm no disability claims expert

But I had a long medical history which supported my claim. The letter I got from SS stated I had met the requirements for 100% disability some years, I think it was 3, before I filed but law limited them to paying me back benefits 12 months prior to the time I applied.

I never did have a face to face meeting with anyone in SS. I filled out and sent in the forms along with a signed form giving SS the right to request and review my medical records.

[mvd]

19. Another thing

So few of the questions were about my disability. They were things like:

Are you depressed? I said no, mostly anxiety disorder - no followup

Are you suicidal or homicidal? A clear no

Drugs or alcohol? No again

Also some math and word questions that were pretty irrelevant to my case

She never even said hello.

[XanaDUer2]

20. I was told bring all my meds

Which I did. She was rude and said she didn't need to see them.

Okaaaay

Asked word questions. Don't remember being asked if I'm suicidal. Sorry it went sideways, seemingly.

[Skittles]

21. you need to follow up on this

it is not right that she couldn't make the slightest adjustment to accommodate a reasonable request - and this is someone who supposedly deals with disabled folk for a living? HELL NO.....FOLLOW UP - contact her boss

[mvd]

23. I did - good idea!

They apologized and said they never heard of one of their people being so bad. Somehow I don’t think that’s true. Anyway that was the first step and the complaint was made.