Disability or Bust!

I had no income and I needed some, so I decided to apply for disability income from the Social Security Administration. I heard a lot of bad stories about how applications weren’t approved the first time around and that people almost always had to appeal denials. Armed with my discharge papers from all three hospitals, I was ready for a fight.

The application was online (SSA is going paperless, it said). It took a week to finish, and this is when having a doctor for a father was a blessing. Thank you Dad for all your help and for giving me the medical terms I needed! I submitted my application and soon got a call from the Georgetown SSA office asking me, “When was the last day you worked?”  You see, you don’t receive any income for the first five months after becoming disabled. (I bet you didn’t know that, because I certainly didn’t.) I became eligible for benefits on January 2018, which was four months before I submitted my application.

My application was sent to a SSA office in the East for review (I can’t remember which state). This office didn’t get the memo about the SSA being paperless, so they sent me two questionnaires to fill out and send back. Walter wrote these for me.

The next status was receiving a notice saying that my application was approved and that a letter of benefits would be coming. YEAH I DID IT! And it was easy!!

Oops…I spoke too soon.

After about two weeks of nothing, I called the Georgetown SSA office and asked, “What is the hold up?” Well, there needed to be two approvals - a medical one and an administrative one. (Again, I didn’t know this.) The problem with the administrative approval was my citizenship status. They needed to see my Green Card (Resident Alien Card). (Yes, I’ve lived here since I was seven, and, no, I haven’t gotten my citizenship. That is a story for another day.)

My occupational therapist took me to the SSA office, and we waited for my number to be called. The lady that called my number looked at my Green Card and said, “The names don’t match.” I explained that my green card was in my maiden name, but she said that all of my documents had to have the same name. She said I had to request a new Green Card with my married name. Funny, when I changed my name to Kirton, the SSA changed my Social Security Number without a problem.

I got home and immediately got on the computer. I could apply for a new card online, and it only cost $540.00. I got an appointment for my fingerprints and picture the following week on my birthday. 

The appointment was going well until the lady informed me that I would get my card within the year.

Walter asked for confirmation, “Excuse me. What did you say? It will take a year?” She explained that it would take about a year to process. A year! They had no delay when they took my $540.00.

We decided to go back to the SSA office to show them documentation from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I talked to a really nice lady and told her I couldn’t wait a year for my disability income. She agreed and copied everything I had from CIS and said she would make note on my file.

Within a week, I got my letter of benefits saying my first payment for 4 months of disability would be coming shortly. It did, and now I get money every second Wednesday of the month.

Whenever you have to deal with the government, you have to smile and laugh because otherwise you would die a grumpy old man or woman.