I find your situation troubling for multiple reasons. First, the SSA and DDS employees would like nothing better than to get your case off of their pending workload by making either a favorable or unfavorable decision. It is a normal part of their workday to answer questions about status. I actually think it is foolish not to ask about status. Second is that you are age 63 and the local office should have recognized that you were also eligible to file for reduced retirement and part of normal processing, would have contacted you about that and given you your options. Third, you don't say anything about what you may have signed with this 'counselor'. Third parties cannot file claims on your behalf. They may be able to establish an intent to file, but you still have to sign documents and you don't mention anything about signing anything.

Are you sure that a claim was filed? Did you and this counselor complete a disability report and submit it online with the online SSDI application? If so, there would be a receipt for the application. You can also call the teleservice center 800-772-1213 to see what the status is. They won't be able to give you much in the way of specific details; for that you would have to know the name of the DDS analyst and the field office claims rep. That may take a few phone calls to figure out.

IMO, attorneys don't do much at the initial level besides filling out forms and then they let their lower level staffers take care of that. I think any reasonably intelligent person can complete their own forms as good as a attorney staffer, as long as they are thorough.

I do not think sitting back and doing nothing is a good plan. And it has nothing to do with whether or not you have an attorney now or not. SSA treats represented claimants no differently than unrepresented claimants. Represented claimants at least have someone who understands the procedures better than you do, but are not all that helpful at the initial and reconsiderations level. IMO.