Managing the SSDI Maze

I'm not going to tell you how to apply for - and receive - Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. I haven't applied and I likely won't for quite a long time (numb fingers and toes crossed). Frankly, I'm freaked out by the whole process; by the idea that I'd have to quit my job before I'd even apply and then it's likely I'd be denied and denied for months and months to follow. I'm still more than healthy to work. But, just in the last two weeks, the topic has arisen in a variety of my conversations with a variety of different people. Prior to being diagnosed with M.S., I was ignorant about disability benefits. I have long term disability insurance through my employer and other than knowing it was one of my benefits, I didn't even know what it was for! I was familiar with Social Security, but not with SSDI itself.

Here is a staggering statistic provided by the Accelerated Cure Project: While the initial allowance rate for MS patients who applied for SSDI and/or SSI in 2006 was higher than the percentage for all impairments combined (48.1% and 34.9%, respectively), over half of the more than 13,000 M.S. patients were denied upon initial application. If you're like me, I often gloss over statistics when reading articles. Read this one again. In one year alone more than 13,000 of the 400,000 Americans with M.S. applied for disability insurance benefits through the Social Security Administration; M.S. applications are higher than all other disability impairments combined. And over 50% of M.S. patient applications were denied initially by the Administration. Denied. (Hence my fears mentioned earlier). Neurologists and other medical professionals certified that these patients were disabled (quite a process in and of itself), yet the Federal Government denied their initial claims - forcing patients into the lengthy appeals process without an income to support them along the way.

That's a lot of M.S. patients and a lot of folks who are no longer able to work at the same capacity as pre-M.S. This may be surprising to many people who don't have M.S. or who are just learning about the disease - that so many M.S. patients end up on disability. It all ties back into the "but she looks so good" quandary of our sometimes invisible symptoms. "She looks just fine; she must be able to do some sort of work." As I've said before, a person who has had an arm or leg amputated has a visible disability. People with M.S. do not. That doesn't make M.S. patients any less worthy of disability benefits. These are lifelong, hard working folks who paid their FICA taxes religiously. They've worked full and part time jobs for years and years. Some of them (like me) rarely used up their sick and vacation time; working so hard that their bodies paid the price. And now they have to beg and plead for what is owed to them. During the process, many file bankruptcy, lose their homes to foreclosure, and suffer immense financial hardship. Sure, there are scammers out there - people who really aren't disabled and just don't want to work anymore. But, scammers exist in all walks of life. You can't paint all M.S. patients with the same brush and you can't blame the group for the falsehoods of the very few.