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Post by trentt on Jan 24, 2019 16:37:32 GMT 2
You can also go to many social service agencies or non-profit community organizations and get free help with disability claims, but I chose a for-profit because I figured they'd have the incentive to pursue the claim to its utmost. I imagine the free advocates are overworked and do not have the same motivation (or personnel with legal expertise) to help their clients win.
Of course I hope I succeed eventually, but for the time being I'm planning the next segment of my life as if I will not. If I can get some debt paid off, I might be able to afford living on my own again within the next year, and just hang on until 2022, when I can take early Social Security retirement benefits, then hang on until 2025, when I will qualify for Medicare health insurance (if it still exists by then).
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Post by shrjeff on Jan 24, 2019 19:34:15 GMT 2
good luck, trent...
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Post by trentt on Feb 2, 2019 14:28:55 GMT 2
The legal team at The Advocator Group finished its review of the administrative law judge's decision. They recommend taking it to the Appeals Council, a step they told me they don't often recommend. They said there's strong evidence that the judge cherry-picked statements and facts to reach his conclusion that I have residual functionality sufficient to hold a job. They are preparing a brief with their arguments. If the Appeals Council accepts it, the whole thing goes to re-trial and at some point there'll be a 2nd hearing. However, there is only one Appeals Council for all of USA, so this procedure could take anywhere from 12 - 24 months.
Guess I'll continue my online course in Basic Machine Feeding for the Blind.
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Post by shrjeff on Feb 2, 2019 14:35:13 GMT 2
glad the advocator group recommends appeal... and i iterate my earlier suggestion to involve your congressperson's staff...
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Post by auntieannie on Feb 2, 2019 14:43:20 GMT 2
That is a good outcome for now. May they hurry up. In the meantime, I concur with shrjeff. Especially as the election circus is getting on its way in the States.
What can the potters do to help in the meantime, Trent?
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Post by Voy on Feb 2, 2019 15:29:44 GMT 2
This is good news - and may it all happen more quickly than you expect ! and what Annie says - what can we do ? esp those of us who are here in the US ?
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Post by trentt on Feb 2, 2019 16:27:56 GMT 2
You are doing all that I need; to wit, listening. The despair, self-pity, and desperation of the early days of this undertaking are gone, replaced by detached resignation.
I'd consider contacting the congressperson in this district if I didn't live in Trump country. That party doesn't give two shits about middle-aged, blind, impoverished people. In fact, helping out someone like me would probably not play well with their base in next year's elections.
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Post by shrjeff on Feb 2, 2019 17:21:44 GMT 2
i can't argue with that, trentt, as in both the cases in 2018 that the congressperson's staff helped get a positive resolution, they were democrats, but i would think that (a) a politician is always seeking more votes, (b) they have the staff who are the ones who advocate and (c) what do you have to lose? perhaps you would be pleasantly surprised...
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Post by tzarine on Feb 3, 2019 0:27:00 GMT 2
i would go to my councilman's office. he's a real advocate.
shrjeff is right again. you have nothing to lose. absolutely nothing.
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Post by Scrubb on Feb 3, 2019 5:21:28 GMT 2
Really glad that they recommend the appeal. IT's only logical, IMO!
And the above have a point. Nothing whatsoever to lose.
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Post by Kate_R on Feb 16, 2019 13:39:49 GMT 2
Oh bugger, just catching up on this.
I hope the appeal happens sooner rather than later.
As useless as it would be for you I feel like messaging my local mayor and getting him to kick butt in the USA. Because he has been good here for local stuff.
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Post by trentt on Dec 22, 2019 2:35:49 GMT 2
I'll just keep this all in one thread so as not to spread the bad news or hijack other threads.
The latest is that the Appeals Council rejected the latest attempt to get my case heard again. This is the final decision of the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration. One option is to file a civil suit in the US District Court. I cannot afford an attorney so will not do that. The other is to file a new claim, which is starting over, back to January 2017, all these three years wasted and for nought, and possibly for nothing. I will listen to the attorneys I have, since they seem to be in favor of this, but my inclination is to leave this ghastly ordeal behind. I have no new evidence to present, no medical insurance to see doctors to gather new evidence, and little appetite for another 3 years of being labeled a liar and malingerer. So thus ends this wretched story.
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Post by auntieannie on Dec 22, 2019 21:32:37 GMT 2
crap.
Is there anything at all we can do to help you in any way?
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Post by trentt on Dec 23, 2019 1:09:17 GMT 2
Not really, but thanks for asking. I was neither shocked nor overly disappointed by the news. The disability claim was similar to a lottery ticket - of course you hope to win, but it is no surprise when you do not. Speaking of which, I won $6 on lottery tickets when I checked this morning. That should be enough to start over and move into a new place on my own!
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Post by Scrubb on Dec 23, 2019 3:33:55 GMT 2
I'm really, really sorry to hear that, Trentt. I just don't understand.
Give yourself a bit of time to process, but I think that if your attourneys think that submitting a new claim is worthwhile, I'd be inclined to listen to them.
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Post by sophie on Dec 23, 2019 4:05:30 GMT 2
I don’t know about the American system, but here in Canada it is very worthwhile to mount an appeal; I know of several disability claims which were rejected first time around, later accepted. Good luck.
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Post by shrjeff on Dec 23, 2019 7:30:43 GMT 2
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Post by trentt on Dec 23, 2019 15:36:29 GMT 2
Well this one has been rejected 4 times, and the appeals are exhausted. I cannot fathom what could be included in a new claim that was not in the first. They had all my medical records, plus letters and documentation from the doctors they sent me to during the past 3 years. I am uninsured so have no access to medical professionals to get updated diagnoses or new evidence.
My life has been in limbo for 3 years as I waited for this final result, and I'm not-so-secretly relieved that it's over, even though the outcome was unfavorable.
What I hear so often from those I tell here is some story about someone they know who was awarded disability the first time, for something treatable and relatively trivial (e.g., kidney stones). It's demoralizing, and I just don't get it. I don't want to have to deal with it anymore, even though it means living on an austere budget. In 3 years I'll be 62.5 and can collect early "old age" Social Security, so it should be easier then. I'll probably stay on here with my brother for the next year or two while I pay off debt.
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Post by wikki on Dec 23, 2019 20:37:47 GMT 2
I can understand that you feel relieved that this is past now, but still it's a bummer that it was rejected!!
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Post by shrjeff on Dec 23, 2019 20:44:58 GMT 2
what wikki said...
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Post by slowcoach on Dec 23, 2019 21:02:56 GMT 2
Aggressive gatekeeping is now well established in the UK.
I don't know how it is viewed by officialdom. Is it just a crude money saving tactic, a form of rationing due to financial constraint, or a moral/ideological crusade, or what?
Anything from asylum applications down to medical appointments have to negotiate someone whose forte is refusal.
On the other hand, prior to this and for many years, low level disability could be seen as a neat way of getting people off the unemployment register.
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Post by Voy on Dec 24, 2019 4:17:14 GMT 2
Oh Trenttums.... shit shit shit. I'm so sorry, and the only silver lining is that the waiting is done.. please try and have a nice Christmas anyway !
many many hugs!
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Post by trentt on Jun 9, 2023 3:20:37 GMT 2
I found & resurrected this thread to report the death of my best friend ever ... my mother ... who died just over an hour ago. I am messed up & will update later.
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Post by Voy on Jun 9, 2023 3:33:12 GMT 2
Glad you have come back to the pot for some comfort - here is one very gentle hug {trentt}
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Post by Scrubb on Jun 9, 2023 5:30:22 GMT 2
I'm so sorry, Trentt. Much love to you.
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Post by slowcoach on Jun 9, 2023 11:02:34 GMT 2
So Sad!
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Post by Netsuke on Jun 9, 2023 11:54:21 GMT 2
Very sad time for you. Sending condolences and prayers.
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Post by trentt on Jun 9, 2023 13:12:51 GMT 2
She was my biggest cheerleader throughout my ordinary & unremarkable life. To the world I am a man you'd pass on the street without notice ... to her I was a superhero & a superstar. I will miss that!
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Post by Voy on Jun 9, 2023 14:44:50 GMT 2
but you will always have the memories of that , and as time goes on and the immediate intensity of grief starts to fade, the happy memories of the good times will surface more and more.
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Post by auntieannie on Jun 9, 2023 17:03:54 GMT 2
oh, Trentt... YOU ARE a superstar and a superhero! my deepest condoleances.
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