If I were you I would call my local office and make an appointment, to go in. They go over the paper work with you and make sure everything is filled out properly. They can give you an idea how much you are entitled to, but the only way you will find out if you're qualified is to go through the red tape. The 1-800# only knows what you have filed. If there is no paper work they will only send you a lot of paper work that I think in your condition will probably confuse you. You can start by filing online at the ssa.gov site. There are so many factors that come into play, like if you're married, or if you have full work credits, if you have children. You are really lucky to be alive.. Good luck and take care.

Today is 11/27/10. If a claim is not filed with SSA or an intent to file a claim is not established in 11/10, it is possible that you will have lost one month's worth of benefits. If you can put everything together before Tuesday and have time to go to your local office and hope that the walk-in traffic is light enough, then going to your office on Monday or Tuesday is a viable idea. The most important thing, though, is to establish the intent to file and then file the claim within 60 days. You can accomplish that by calling the 800# and asking for an appointment or by submitting a claim online before Tuesday. I think it makes the most sense to be thorough from the beginning and not assume that SSA will fill in the missing pieces.

Thanks for the info Janke but, I was advising Westwood. I believe Westwood lives in Oregon and it could be a small town where you can walk in and be seen pretty quickly. When I lived in South Florida I would sometimes accompany some of my clients to the agency, but never without an appointment, which even with an appointment it would still be a good 2 hr wait. and found it necessary to straighten out up to three different letters from three different people, for instance one from the district manager(Dana) or regional commissioner)Paul) and sometimes there would be no name at all, all dated within a couple of days of each other. I always enjoyed the look on the agents face when they began reading all the inconsistent on the forms. For instance, one letter would have yellow markers accompanied with a post-it stating you need to fill this in, or you didn't send your birth certificate, but then another form would point out something totally different that was missed or needed. I found the local office very helpful because the agent would gather all the forms, go over them with the client, usually find that the missing forms were there rip up the unnecessary ones and reprint just one form properly filled out, which saved both my client and myself a lot of problems. Now that I live in a small town, if you wait 20 min. that's a long time. In my personal experience the 1-800# has never really helped, they seem to all have different opinions, some of them are very helpful where others act as if you are bothering them and usually have the same information I have already submitted. I have also helped fill out forms online and have had both positive and negative results with that. Sometimes they claim they never received the form , even though I have the number that is given to you. Then they try to tell me I must have not submitted it ,which I know I did because I have a number, or that the information cannot be submitted at this time, so you have to save it and then keep trying to get it through. At other times it went right through. I agree that Windwood needs to get this filed a.s.a.p. because the date of the application helps guide when the disability began. The holidays do slow things down so, I would get it done soon.

Thanks for the info Janke but, I was advising Westwood. I believe Westwood lives in Oregon and it could be a small town where you can walk in and be seen pretty quickly. When I lived in South Florida I would sometimes accompany some of my clients to the agency, but never without an appointment, which even with an appointment it would still be a good 2 hr wait. and found it necessary to straighten out up to three different letters from three different people, for instance one from the district manager(Dana) or regional commissioner)Paul) and sometimes there would be no name at all, all dated within a couple of days of each other. I always enjoyed the look on the agents face when they began reading all the inconsistent on the forms. For instance, one letter would have yellow markers accompanied with a post-it stating you need to fill this in, or you didn't send your birth certificate, but then another form would point out something totally different that was missed or needed. I found the local office very helpful because the agent would gather all the forms, go over them with the client, usually find that the missing forms were there rip up the unnecessary ones and reprint just one form properly filled out, which saved both my client and myself a lot of problems. Now that I live in a small town, if you wait 20 min. that's a long time. In my personal experience the 1-800# has never really helped, they seem to all have different opinions, some of them are very helpful where others act as if you are bothering them and usually have the same information I have already submitted. I have also helped filled out forms online and have had both positive and negative results with that. Sometimes they claim they never received the form , even though I have the number that is given to you. Then they try to tell me I must have not submitted it ,which I know I did because I have a number, or that the information cannot be submitted at this time, so you have to save it and then keep trying to get it through. At other times it went right through. I agree that Windwood needs to get this filed a.s.a.p. but didn't even ask the question until 11/22 so it will probably be next year before anything happens, the date of the application helps guide when the disability began. The holidays do slow things down so, I would get it done soon.

Anyone can establish a protective filing date by calling the 800# and asking for an appointment with your local office to file a claim. Another method would be to walk in the front door of any office. Another method would be to submit an online application. November is almost over. It would be a shame to miss out on a month's worth of benefits by delaying.

Keep on top of the workers comp claim with your attorney; while filing for SSI again. You got hurt at work --- so you are entitled to it. You might be able to receive workers comp & SSD--- I did. (one will offset the other) Your atty can explain it. In Pa. you have 21 days to file for workers comp, just like SS you have time limits. I had an atty who handled SS & WC so it was alot easier. Good Luck.

I just want to clarify that by calling the 800# and getting an appointment won't completely protect you, you must file and submit an application. SSA can use the date you call for an appointment on the application as the effective date but, it doesn't necessarily lock in the date. I hope I'm not sounding to stuffy but, I have had a few people lose out on months of benefits because their application was not properly submitted. To insure the date even further, for a few dollars more I personally send it certified that way the date is not an issue.

http://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-apply-ussi.htm

Apply as soon as possible so that you do not lose benefits. We cannot pay benefits for time periods earlier than your application effective date.

Just wanted to add other essential documents required in the application process.
http://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-documents-ussi.htm

https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0200204010

An written intent to file a claim by calling the 800# and establishing an appointment does serve as a protective filing date until SSA sends a prescribed notice giving a deadline to actually file the claim.

For SSDI, the protective filing can be used for up to six months after the notice is sent. For SSI, the protective filing can be used for up to 60 days after the notice is sent. SSA is required to use the protective filing date until the deadlines have passed. So if people have lost out on benefits, it is because they failed to complete forms within either 60 days or six months. It seems to me that a disabled person would have plenty of time to complete forms in 60 days, let alone six months. SSA will do it in 90 minutes. Maybe not as thoroughly, but it will get done.

I agree that it is best to file as soon as possible. You are disabled. Why add time to an already long process? But it is also important to be throrough.

Thank you Janke for finding that link, you just saved me mega time. I don't know how much time it would have taken me to find that but, I know it would have been a while. I'm gonna bookmark and print it right now before something happens to it. What's really strange is it has nothing to do with this current case but a case I have to start working on soon. So thanks once again, Take care.