disability hearing???

True, too many people beat the system. Some people are so savvy when it comes to getting welfare and disability. I wish they'd put those smarts to a better cause. My neighbor has about a year and a half to go for social security but his disability made him stop working now or it could get worse. He would have been fine if he could have kept working another year.

Grumpy, just be happy it's not you that needs it. That's how I like to look at it.

And some disabilities are not outwardly visible to others, but can be very dangerous to others who have to work around or near those people who have the disability. Even to the general public if they are exposed to that worker with the disability.

I agree wny_pat, being on the job with others relying on you to perform your job efficiently is important. There are a lot of people that just go with it and put others in jeopardy. Sometimes there is other work that can be found but not so easy when you are up there in years.

Its kind of like traffic court not formal but I would not go in flip flops and shorts. I had one of the worse judges you could get 30% approval rateing. She grilled me for an hour and a half and I made it a point to answer every question and thats it no more no less. Two months later I had a fully favorable rating.

The hearings are private meaning only parties to the action. Now let the bullying begin.

I would stop now and go back to work if I could. SSDI is awfull to be on Sucks living check to check.I dont know why anyone would want to be on it. It's a must for me now. I worked for myself made 60,000 year its a big adjustment. And yes you get medicare but you still cant afford to use it deductibles and copays and the drug plans constatly changes drugs moving them up the tier ladder making them more expensive. So please dont look down your nose at some one on SSDI and think they have it easy some times it a choice between eating and meds.

Never have understood disability. I had a Dr. tell me almost ten years ago I was disabled. I asked if he meant I should file for SS disability. He said no, there was work I could do, just not the kind of work I had been doing for the past 30 years. If I could talk, move my hands, etc. there are jobs I could do. I asked how do I find a job like that,he said disability is not unemployment, you don't get it just because you can't find the job you can do. I wound up losing a business, unemployed for 2 years. Finally got back into manufacturing and have made to to within a few years of being able to retire. It is very painful to get through the day and pretty well eliminated all the recreational things I used to do. It takes all I can do to get through the work day.
I know this is not helpful to the OP's questions but just saying the disability system is not fair or just. I guess it depends on the definition your doctor puts on the term disabled.

I do not remember the time frames the state you live and file in has a time limit, when I filed the state must have forgot about me or I slipped through the cracks who knows, after the state failed to do anything in the time limit they had the U.S. government then was in charge I did not have a attorney I went to a doctor that social security picked. But at that time my treatment had been at the sansum clinic in santa barbara Ca. even though we lived in las vegas nevada, my doctors had told me if things did not change I would not live another two years and told my wife I might not live another year, the doctor for social security kept seeing other patients and I was ready to leave when he saw I was almost passed out, he did his report and it was approved some six months later. I still see a doctor every month but very glad to be alive some 16 years later I have some problems and some bad days but have 3 wonderful sons and a 22 year old daughter that calls me every day and spends weekends with me, so I am the luckiest of the unlucky I have a truck camper and go somewhere every time I feel like I can travel it will all work out for you also I would rather be working but grateful for all I have. I hope your friend gets his social security and is lucky as I am

5rdriver wrote:
Never have understood disability. I had a Dr. tell me almost ten years ago I was disabled. I asked if he meant I should file for SS disability. He said no, there was work I could do, just not the kind of work I had been doing for the past 30 years. If I could talk, move my hands, etc. there are jobs I could do. I asked how do I find a job like that,he said disability is not unemployment, you don't get it just because you can't find the job you can do. I wound up losing a business, unemployed for 2 years. Finally got back into manufacturing and have made to to within a few years of being able to retire. It is very painful to get through the day and pretty well eliminated all the recreational things I used to do. It takes all I can do to get through the work day.
I know this is not helpful to the OP's questions but just saying the disability system is not fair or just. I guess it depends on the definition your doctor puts on the term disabled.

When my doctor told me, I told him right back, no way! About a month and a half later, I got thinking about what he said and made a appointment with the doctor to go back and talk to him so more. He said that he did not want me working any longer, cause if I didn't end up harming myself, I'd harm someone else. Said he would back me up 100%. I took early retirement the next day, but it took close to two years and a hearing before a judge to finally get 100% disability. Those two years were not easy either with only a 50% early retirement pension coming in, and nothing else. I pity anyone who has to go through it with no income.

I am on full disability both from the state and also s/s. I worked for the State of Florida and they were the ones who put me on disability. I had a stroke while coming on duty for work in a state prison. A high risk, high stress environment. Lots of health problems among staff. They could not take a chance of me having another one. They gave me full disability and s/s agreed and gave me full also. I was only 57. At times I feel good and feel guilty for being on disability. The catch is, I only feel good a couple of days a week. The rest of the time, I could not work a job if I had one. It has improved some with my new defibrillator. Would gladly give up disability payments if I could have my health back and go back to work.
In the hearing, answer all questions candidly and don't volunteer any additional info. If they need to know, they will ask. Good that he has a lawyer. I have heard that s/s automatically turns most applications down the first two times.

Good luck.

I am profoundly deaf, always have been. Because of that, I do not finesse my way into better paying jobs through brown nosing and knowing the right people to feel up for the promotion. I totally suck at it, so I have had opportunities severely limited to me, so the best I could do was work office or retail jobs, and stay stuck there. I've been on SSDI continuously since 2005, and from time to time before that dating back to 1998.

I finally decided I had enough of that and fought my way out of the city environment, which took 5 years of reading, studying, and learning from underground financial information (meaning info that the Financial Mob based out of NYC don't tell you about, like the stock market is really rigged to fail you, paper money, the New Great Game underway around the world, etc. - if you read stuff from GATA, Ed Steer's Daily, know names like James Turk or Ted Butler, you know exactly what I'm talking about) to determine how to break out of the typical American occupational profile, which is basically unskilled jobs in the cities. I needed to get into areas of food production, mining, resource extraction, or manufacturing. I decided on farming, since without farming/growing food, there is NO civilization that can exist at the current level without it. I might even specialize in GROWING SOIL, which is something even most organic farmers are still not thinking about.

Given that, I have SSDI and look for ways to make money to supplement that income, like working at renaissance/medieval faires (my home faire is Sherwood Forest Faire just north of Bastrop) or volunteering on the farm for a reimbursement stipend, all the produce I would eat on a given day, and free rent and utilities for my travel trailer. It's working out pretty well, if I can just get a handle on all these functional emergencies on my used travel trailer (had to replace my toilet's water module assembly today, and watching my hot water heater's tendency to stop the pilot light every 1 to 3 days).

In regards to qualifying for disability based on deafness, I think that when you pass a threshold for "how deaf" you are, you are AUTOMATICALLY granted SSDI under certain scenarios, like your income level and job history, etc. Lots of people, having lost their hearing later in life, tend to not fall in that category I find myself in.

Just saw this topic come up again. My friend did get granted disability, no problem at all. Good work history helped said the lawyer. Thanks again for all your responses.