My advice to everyone dealing with the SSA is: If they deny your claim, appeal, They seem to deny just about everyone right off the bat, figuring that you will give up and go away. I fought for three years, all the way up the Administrative Law Judge hearing. He seemed surprised I did not have an attorney, and I told him everything was in the file, which he already had, and was about 5 inches thick. All that was needed was for someone to read it who had a basic command of the English language. He took the case under advisement, and three weeks later, I got a letter notifying me that he had ruled that, due to my age, education, and physical problems, I had no realistic chance of obtaining employment, so the SSA was ordered to give me my benefits. Never give up. Appeal at every level until you receive your benefits. 2oxbowgirl, when you say a month and a half to get it, do you mean after you are notified that you have been successful? I know it is not from the time you began. My first check was huge, as they had to pay me back the full three years that I had been dealing with the SSA. finz, I wish you all the luck, just don't let them get you down. dolfinz, congratulations on the final approval. I called a lawyer advertising on TV, supposedly a former SSA judge, and when I said I had been denied, he said then I didn't deserve the benefits and hung up on me. Is it any wonder I handled my case myself?