Advice on disability with TBI
 

I've been procrastinating applying for disability for years, I simply do not understand this dang application and its frustrating and overwhelming beyond belief! Does anyone here have disability due to a Traumatic Brain Injury with or without broken neck and if so do you have any advice?? How long did it take to get approved, if you did, and was it initially denied?

I want to and more importantly need to get this ball rolling, I should of done this as soon as I turned 18 but I knew nothing about any assistance programs and also denied I had any problems to begin with but after 7 years I think I've come to terms with not being quite right right and I do not foresee any improvement, I actually feel I get worse by the day in regards to comprehension, anxiety, headaches etc.

So what the heck are the key points in applying for disability because of TBI, what do I need to have paperwork wise, proof or whatever. Any advice would be helpful I feel like I'm trying to navigate mars blindfolded.

It is a very complicated process, I do not suffer from your illness but I have been fighting for 4 years to get disability. You should call around and find a disability lawyer. Some of them will help you fill out the application, some will not. If you can't find one that will there are organizations out there that will help you fill out the application. The origanal application can be the most important part of disability, because they go by every single word you write down. I can't tell you how long it will take, it is different for everyone. You could be approved right away, or you could be like me and have to fight for years. I wish you the best of luck..

I had my accident a little over a year ago and my employer set me up with a compant called Alsup I was approved for SSD the first time . They also did all thepaper work for me ,I will have to look for there number and post it for you .

I am on disability for TBI. I filed myself and was approved in 2 1/2 months.

I had very good medical documentation from family doctor, neurologist, and neuropsychologist. I included lots of detail about how it affected working.

Have you worked since this injury? When and how much money? Did you work before the TBI? Since it seems that this happened to you before age 22, are you married and do you have a deceased, disabled or retired parent? Are you working now? What was the last day you were able to work?

The Social Security Administration has two programs, SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) and SSI (Supplemental Security Income). SSDI is for people who have worked and now can't work anymore because of a disability. If you have no work history or almost no work history, you can't get SSDI on your own earnings no matter how disabled you are. If you are unmarried and can establish that your condition was serious before you turned age 22 and you have a parent who is either entitled to SSDI or Social Security retirement themselves or is deceased and had enough lifetime earnings, you could apply on their earnings record.

Supplemental Security Income is the other program for disabled. But it is a somewhat restrictive public assistance, welfare disability program. Your income and assets can cause ineligibility. Your spouse's income and assets can cause ineligibility. If you don't meet the low income rules, you can't get SSI even if you are disabled.

Once you file a claim, these are the issues that SSA will sort out first, regardless of how good your lawyer is. It is important to get this right from the start because if you don't meet the work requirement for SSDI or the low income requirement for SSI, you can't get any benefits. At all.

The other thing to remember is that the name of your condition is not as important as how it affects your ability to function on a job. The name of the illness/condition is less important than the symptoms of the illness/condition. This is what I found about TBI in the Blue Book, and it is evaluated as cerebral trauma. How it is evaluated depends on how it affects your functioning - does it affect you more mentally or neuroligically? And since the limitation caused by cerebral trauma is highly individualized, it would be very hard to predict the outcome of your claim. The most important thing to have is current medical evidence of your ability to function. History with a neurologist or pyschologist would probably be the most helpful.

SSA would send you for exams, but having a supportive treating doctor is extremely helpful.

It may be helpful to hire a rep to help you fill out forms and represent you, but just remember that an attorney is paid a percentage of any retroactive benefits and the longer a decision takes, the larger the fee. Also, a rep does not know your life better than you do. I also think you should try really hard to understand this process yourself because ultimately, it is your claim.

I also think you should try to get the claim filed before the end of January 2013 because each month of delay is a month that you won't be paid benefits for and this process itself can take months and months or even years. Start online. Answer as many questions as you can. Get a re-entry number so you can stop and start when you get frustrated. See if a family member will help you. Be as thorough as you can from the beginning, but focus on your ability to function - how long you can sit, stand, walk. How long can you concentrate. How does your condition affect your memory and your ability to follow through.

This can be overwhelming, but you can do it in pieces, not all at once.

Once you have started the online claim, make an appointment to go into your local office to finish it and have a conversation with a claims rep who can show you your earnings record and can explain the non-medical requirements of both SSI and SSDI.

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/disabi...ical-Adult.htm

F. Traumatic brain injury (TBI). The guidelines for evaluating impairments caused by cerebral trauma are contained in 11.18. Listing 11.18 states that cerebral trauma is to be evaluated under 11.02, 11.03, 11.04, and 12.02, as applicable.

TBI may result in neurological and mental impairments with a wide variety of posttraumatic symptoms and signs. The rate and extent of recovery can be highly variable and the long-term outcome may be difficult to predict in the first few months post-injury. Generally, the neurological impairment (s) will stabilize more rapidly than any mental impairment (s). Sometimes a mental impairment may appear to improve immediately following TBI and then worsen, or, conversely, it may appear much worse initially but improve after a few months. Therefore, the mental findings immediately following TBI may not reflect the actual severity of your mental impairment (s). The actual severity of a mental impairment may not become apparent until 6 months post-injury.

In some cases, evidence of a profound neurological impairment is sufficient to permit a finding of disability within 3 months post-injury. If a finding of disability within 3 months post-injury is not possible based on any neurological impairment (s), we will defer adjudication of the claim until we obtain evidence of your neurological or mental impairments at least 3 months post-injury. If a finding of disability still is not possible at that time, we will again defer adjudication of the claim until we obtain evidence at least 6 months post-injury. At that time, we will fully evaluate any neurological and mental impairments and adjudicate the claim.

Janke, excellent post, as always. ;) It would be a great addition to the stickied thread, "don't start your claim unprepared..."

I have SSD and my husband does too . He got his thru Allsup also ... go for it ..

grrr wrote a whole msg and accidently hit back button :(
thanks everyone for the responses, i know these questions have been asked a gazillion times. my TBI occured at barely 17 y/o so my work history is very limited prior and afterwards contains only a few and far between job like fast food that were at tops 3mo durations before having to quit for medical or getting fired for symptoms. I did work all of 2009 but that was a good year symptom wise but in 2010 i ended up being hospitalized many times cause as usual my problems came back fast n strong.

I don't really have much support doctor wise as i have no insurance and cant afford a neurologist thats a big thing im worried about getting my claim denied because of and also a big reason i want to get disability.

Judging by your last post............
 

Strongly suggest that you read the following...........

Supplemental Security Income

And if you think you qualify...

How You Qualify For Social Security Disability Benefits

SSI may or may not be the only program for you. Today you should go to www.socialsecurity.gov and click on Get Your Social Security Statement online. You need to look at your earnings record. Whether or not you can get SSDI depends on what is contained on your earnings record as well as the medical evidence. You may have insured status at some point, you may not. The medical evidence would have to support an onset of disability before date last insured. Some of your work could be written off as unsuccessfull work attempts but you will have to provide some details to SSA.

One thing is for sure. If you don't start, you won't ever get an answer. No one is going to do it for you, but you can ask for help from friends, family and even a lawyer. But it is still your life and your claim, so I do not agree that you should turn it all over to a lawyer.

If you are willing to provide the details of your earnings record (years and dollar amounts) and your date of birth on this very public forum, or send me, a stranger, that information in a private message, I probably can compute a date last insured. It is a very important date that is used to determine SSDI eligibility.

However, if you don't have enough work history for SSDI and don't have a deceased or entitled parent, then SSI may be the only option but you still have to get started. It can be a long process so starting sooner is better than starting later.