Quote:
Originally Posted by angell
I find the comments in this thread strange. As if some have a vested interest in my not acquiring SSI. That is your right; perhaps we have different politics/morals/values/beliefs...
Here is what I do know:
I served my country's military earning two purple hearts and spent nine months in a cage as an enemy of the state in the former Soviet Union. I could have gotten disability then but didn't cause I was too young, too tough and too proud.
Though the nightmares and PTSD lost me many a nights sleep, I never called in sick to work but showed up every day and did my job.
I've had two heart attacks at work and finished my shift both times before driving myself to the hospital and getting a stint put in.
Never took a dime of the government though I qualified many times for food stamps, unemployment, etc.
I'm sick now. I can't work. I know this to be true. Yes, I did what I said and had my wife (a physical and massage therapist) there every step of the way working my body so I could continue working this book.
Should I have? Heck no. And don't tell my doctor I did it either or he'll kick my butt and unfortunately, for the first time in my life, I know I won't win that fight. I push myself; it's part of my makeup and, it'll be the cause of my death I'm sure - cause I don't always do what the doctor tells me to. I'm stubborn.
It took a lot for me to come to grips with the fact that I can't take care of my family any longer. And if you're American's, then I'm saddened that I can't take care of you folks any longer too. But to form an opinion that I shouldn't get disability because I am able to push myself beyond good sense or doctors orders is, in my opinion, unfair.
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Look, we all have a story, the painful reality is that the SSA really doesn't care, what they do care about is whether by their current standards you are able to work! You must understand, if you are under age fifty, in most instances you must prove that you are capable of less then sedentary work restriction, some circumstances allow for different allowances, either for or against! They turn down the claims of very ill people all the time, doctors are routinely discouraged, even horrified by the denial of their patients disability claims, thinking them no-brainers, when in fact they aren't!
It doesn't matter what we say or think here, in this medium, what matters is what is in your medical files, and whats in your work history. Most people applying for SSDI are low income, semi-skilled or less workers, those that are professional and educated beyond high school to include college and or grad school will find that they have a tough road ahead of them due to the nature of the systems reliance on the testimony of the VE!
It is my opinion that if you are in the position of having to confirm to an ALJ that yes, I wrote a novel last month, and then signed a contract in which I was advanced a substantial sum of money, that your credibility will be virtually nil in the mind of the ALJ as you submit a claim in which you are declaring complete, total disability, a less then sedentary RFC which translates as unable to even answer phones, keeping in mind that the vast bulk of this man/woman's face time with disability claimants is with those who are DoT classified "unskilled labor!"