How to Apply for Disability When You are Told You Can’t Apply for Disability

Art: Robin Mead

If someone has told you that you cannot apply for disability, please don’t give up hope quite yet. Even if the person who told you this is a lawyer, or a caseworker, or someone who works at Social Security!

We cannot make any promises, but we can tell you that many of our readers were told this and it turned out not to be true. Or it turned out to be true, but they discovered there were other ways they could apply.

What were you told?

Someone Told Me I Can’t Apply for Disability Because…

• I’m Too Young
• I’m Still Working
• I Just Stopped Working
• I Cannot Get to the Doctor
• I’m Already Getting Veteran’s Benefits
• I Don’t Know Why They Said That

Someone Told Me I Can’t Apply for SSDI Because… 

• I Haven’t Worked Enough
• I Waited Too Long After I Stopped Working
• Something to Do With Work Credits. I Don’t Understand.

Someone Said I Can’t Apply for SSI Because…. 

• I’m Not Poor Enough
• I Have Too Much Savings Or Own Too Much Stuff
• I Have Too Much Income
• I’m living with my parents or other people
• I’m living with a boyfriend or girlfriend
• I’m Married
• I Own Two Cars 
• If My Life Changes, Will I Become Eligible?

Wait! What’s The Difference Between SSI and SSDI?

• How to Understand the Difference

Someone Told Me It Will Be Impossible Because

• You Can’t Get Approved with Lyme Disease
• You Can’t Get Approved with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• You Can’t Get Approved with Fibromyalgia
• You Can’t Get Approved with Toxic Mold Exposure
• You Can’t Get Approved for Mental Unless You’ve Been Hospitalized
• I Don’t Have a Lawyer

• I’m Not Sick Enough. You Have to Be Dead to Get Approved.

Can I Apply for Anything Else? 

• What Other Forms of Disability Can I Apply For?

I’m Still Confused

• “I Have Questions and Can’t Find Answers”
• “I’m Having a Problem and Can’t Find Help.“
• “Someone At Social Security Said Something Weird“

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Thanks for Reading

🌷 This page is part of the free online guide: The Sleepy Girl Guide to Social Security Disability 

🌷 Art on this page by Robin Mead and Elizabeth D’Angelo.

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