I had my first interview for SSD this morning. I told the lady that I was trying my best to consentrate and focus but as the interview went on she became more iritated with how slow I was and my memory problems. She kept saying things about needing to hurry and having other apt.s Then when going over my meds she asked questions and when I asked witch med she was asking about she snapped at me. I started to cry and she didnt like that either."Don't cry. Stop crying. There is no reason to cry." I was trying my best but it wasnt good enough.

Seems like they should be able to understand when this happens...

Did they reschedule another time for you?
I wonder if it would help to take a friend or family member with you - that could help fill in with details when you aren't able to keep focused.

mbrook,

Sorry to hear of your experience. You were treated very poorly. I can't image how she made you feel.

I hope she wrote down what happened in her notes. This is all evidence of your brain injury. Be sure to make a note in a journal about your experiences.

You may try calling your Senator or Congressman's office. They can sometimes trigger a better reception from the SSDI/SSI people. You could even try to get an Congressman's Aid or Intern to accompany you to the SS office. If that person reads some of Dr Johnson's TBI Guide first, they will be better equipped to assist you.

Do you know anybody who can accompany you to the SS office? That person could just be there to support you when the SS rep tries to speed things up.

Because of my injury I have lost my job and had to move in with a freind. I have blown through my savings and now I'm on food stamps. My friend has helped me organize and fill out paperwork and gone to other apt. with me but was unable to go to this one. I thought I could do it. I explane to the woman in the very begaining that I had memory problems and I was trying my best to consentrate. She said she understood and helped people like me all the time. But she was mean and impatient and didn't understand that she was stressing me out and making it worse. Aren't these people trained? Isn't there a supervisor who checks in on them to make sure they aren't making people cry? she stressed me out so bad that I really don't know what she put down in that report.