Like Breanda I'm in wait mode for my hearing since 05'. I finally got a hearing date the other day for Jan 4th of 08. I started the process in 06 around February after it became apparent I wasn't able to maintain my former employment due to post surgical issues.
Things I have learned along the way:
If you are working at all you will be denied. If you are working you need to make less than 840.00 a month in order to be eligibile for benefits.
Do not give up. If you do not file a document on time you'll have to start over and you will lose benefits. They will pay you retroactively from the time you applied. Which makes the long waits not make sense to me.
Document, document, document. Keep track of your medical records. Make sure you know what your doctors are saying about you. I had one document I was working 10 hours a day but in reality at the time was working 10 hours or less a week. Someone typoed and this did get sent to SSD which is why I was denied the first time.
Don't drive yourself to any doctors appointments or hearings, take someone with you to be your ears. They doctors I've been to at the request of ssd were very biased and knew before I walked in they were going to deny me. In one instance after recieving the report I saw a more qualified doctor to administer similiar tests that the ssd guy did to refute his findings. If you do better at some time during the day versus others schedule your appt when it's the worse time not the best so they get a true understanding of your limits.
If you are older than 50 you have a higher chance of being approved as the criteria is different than if you are younger than 50. Education plays a factor.
If you have the ability to work ANYWHERE in the US regardless if you live in the area the job is offered you will be denied. I did get a SS attn who put my conidition in a computer program which made possible suggestions on jobs I could perform. We dicussed the reasons why I felt I could not do them which were documented for my hearing. They won't let me have a gun to be a security guard and I can't chase anyone or yell since they won't let me shoot them it was determined that would not be an option LOL
(our local ss office has a guard who carries a gun).
I know of two people who have applied and recieved benefits post surgery. One pretty much got it right away, Brenda was approved. Deb finally received a hearing after a long wait and I was finally granted my hearing which took 18 months since my second rejection notice and appeal. They have passed new laws which is suppose to speed up the process. You don't need an attn until you've been denied the first time in some cases the second. The attns take a percentage of your award received from the beginning. If you are receiving LTD payments from your employer they get their money reimbursed. So don't expect a windfall.
If you feel you are disabled and can't work I highly encourage you to contact vocational rehabiliation. They will work with you to see what options you have as well as provide testing to determine if there is employement you can perform and ss will take their infomation into account. Currently, VR is paying for me to obtain a masters degree in accounting in order for me to become self employeed to get back to gainful employment.
Hope that helps. It is a long frusstrating process, don't give up!
