I just got a letter from my disability attorney that my hearing date in front of the admin law judge will be March 17. I don't have very high hopes, unless the ALJ is really well educated on MS in particular, because I'm one of those people who "don't look sick".

Anyone have any advice? SSDI would be a huge help, especially in my ability to hire childcare.

You don't have to "look sick" to get disability benefits. Hang on for a moment and I'm going to go look for another post that I made on NeuroTalk on the subject of Social Security. I'll put the link to the post in here.

Edit:

Ok, here's the link: http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...950#post195950

Do you have particular questions rather than just asking for general advice? Your attorney should prep you before the hearing so you know what to expect. That doesn't mean that he/she will go over all the questions the attorney will ask you, but at least procedurewise there should be some sort of prep.

bumping up for you!

hey G/F! I just got my hearing date as well! I am soooo nervouse as this has been an almost 3 year battle!

The ALJ hearing should be your friend not something to worry about. It is your time to tell your story. It was the occupational consultant that won my case for me. I am only probable MS but have a lot of fatigue issues. The consultant told the judge his estimate of how many days on an average I would need to be calling in a month. I don't know if you have fatigue or not but it defenitley is not something you can predict. Good luck

Okay -

I'm so prepared to get flamed for this - but...

I say get a walker....and lay it on thick. Make yourself look sickly. LOL. Because even though you don't need to "look sick to be sick" - we often judge that way. It's sad - but often true.

I mean if you "look" well enough...then why the heck can't you work? (I'm not really saying that - I'm just saying out loud what a lot of people think.) I've only been sick for 5.5 weeks, so what do I know?! I know that if you saw me sitting somewhere, you wouldn't know I was "sick" - but that if you spent twenty minutes with me, I might need to lay down because I can barely keep my head up b/c I'm so dang tired....or I might burst into tears because the pain in my head is so excruciating...or if we were walking, you'd see that I tilt to the side and that I need to hold onto a wall (because I'm still denying the use of a walker). See, the thing is - you can't see that pain or "disability".

Good luck with your meeting - I wish you well!!

~Keri