Mental health conditions can be just as disabling as physical ones
May 2023 is Mental Health Awareness Month across the country, as it has been for 74 years. It is an appropriate time to recognize and honor our clients who face with dignity and grace challenging symptoms from mental impairments.
Mental impairment may provide SSDI or SSI eligibility
The Social Security Administration (SSA) for decades has been notoriously slow in its processing of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) applications. Ill and injured claimants who cannot work may languish for months and even years without cash assistance, placing them in perilous financial conditions.
Sadly, some cannot win this waiting game, losing homes or even passing away before SSA decides their claims or appeals. Most initial applications are denied, kicking off a long journey through levels of further review or appeal.
Attorney involvement
COVID-19 has only been with us a couple of years, but it has had a devastating impact on our collective health and psyche. For some individuals, it has turned into something more than a week of being extremely sick. A person may develop a condition called long COVID-19 in which a wide variety of symptoms – many severe and disabling even alone – can stretch out weeks, months or years.
When long COVID prevents a person from working, they should consider filing an application for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), an income supplement for those without adequate work histories to qualify for SSDI. But proving disability may be difficult for this condition that presents differently in each person.
Long COVID may prevent the ability to work
This weekend, our family followed our Nation’s custom of decorating the graves of family members who gave their lives while fighting for our country during their service in the military. The decoration of the graves included not only family members who died in battle but also those who, during their lives, served in the military. In the cemetery where our loved ones are buried, I noted hundreds of graves which had an American flag planted next to the grave’s tombstone. The Cemetary’s electronic chime system alternated tunes including patriotic songs.
The American tradition of decorating the graves of fallen American soldiers began shortly after the close of the Civil War in the Spring of 1865. With the war’s end, citizens across the country began to decorate the graves of soliders who gave their lives defending the Union in the Civil War. The decoration of the graves consisted of placing flags and flowers on their graves.
With the advent of the first World War, the nascent national tradition of remembrance extended to those soliders who died in the World War I. Remembrance was later expanded to included soliders who made the ultimate sacrifice in all of our Nation’s wars and conflicts including, Word War II, the Koren War, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
The Thanksgiving holiday allows all of us to take time out of our busy everyday lives to reflect on all of the benefits our great country has given us and the support of our family and friends. Our offices will be closed Thursday, Thanksgiving day and Friday so we can spend time with our families and loved ones. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
What is a Social Security Video Teleconference Hearing? A video teleconference hearing (“VTC”) is a hearing at which the administrative law judge appears from a remote hearing location and the Social Security claimant and his/her attorney is at another hearing location. The “video teleconference” part is how the judge and the claimant see one another. They see and hear one another by means of a secure link through a type of a television. A VTC hearing is similar to “Face Time” or “Skype.” The claimant and his/her attorney still meet at the Office of Hearings Operations. (In Indiana, those hearing offices are located at: Market Square Center, Suite 400, 151 North Delaware, Indianapolis; 6511 Brotherhood Way, Ft. Wayne; Old Post Office 100 NW Second Street, Continue reading
HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY!
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The Law Office of Ted Smith Attorney at Law honors the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our nation.
Our law office will be closed on Monday, May 25th in their honor.
Indiana Social Security Disability Attorney Blog
