| My experience with Social Security has been a | | | | fill out a request for a hearing, so a judge |
| rough one. In the beginning, my family and I | | | | could decide my case. When I saw the judge, |
| did not want to consider it because we | | | | he could see how nervous I was, and at the |
| thought it would be easy for me to get a job. | | | | hearing the judge agreed that I should get my |
| However, it was not so easy. The first time | | | | Social Security Disability benefits. |
| I went to their office I had to wait a long | | | | |
| time for the clerk to give me an application. | | | | I feel this whole system is ridiculous and |
| The long lines were terrible and so | | | | unfair to those who suffer from a disability. |
| overcrowded. | | | | To go through this struggle every time |
| | | | Social Security reviews your case can damage |
| After I finished with the application, I sent | | | | a person's mental health even more. |
| it to Social Security and within weeks | | | | |
| received an answer. It stated that although | | | | If I had a book that would have helped me at |
| I have difficulty in stressful situations; | | | | that time, I probably would have received it |
| based on my age and education I could have | | | | the second time around, if not the first. I |
| done a job with simple tasks. What Social | | | | probably would not have to get a lawyer |
| Security does not comprehend is that there is | | | | either. However, the book was not available |
| a need for accommodations in order to get a | | | | at that time. |
| job and keep it depending on the severity of | | | | |
| a person's mental illness. They do not | | | | Today, there is a book on how to help people |
| realize how stressful job interviews are, why | | | | with Bipolar Disorder or other mental |
| disclosure is so difficult, and how hard it | | | | illnesses to win Social Security Disability |
| is to maintain a job with today's technology. | | | | Benefits. The book is called "Bipolar's |
| | | | Guide to Winning Social Security Disability". |
| After the first rejection, I filed another | | | | Although it is a specifically geared toward |
| application form for reconsideration. This | | | | people with Bipolar Disorder it can be used |
| time Social Security realized that I have | | | | for other mental illnesses too. It is an |
| Bipolar Disorder, which has given me | | | | excellent book to get and I wish they had |
| difficulty concentrating and relating to | | | | such a book in my time, it would have made |
| people, and they still felt that I could work | | | | things a whole lot easier. |
| doing simple tasks. How could they say this | | | | |
| to me when they know I have a serious mental | | | | For those of you who have Bipolar Disorder or |
| illness? How can a person work when there | | | | any other mental illness, I strongly |
| are issues and problems that the mentally ill | | | | recommend that you buy this book, especially |
| are facing? For instance, stigma, | | | | if you are applying for Disability. Do not |
| discrimination, etc. | | | | worry how much this book will cost, it is for |
| | | | your benefit if you have not found a job yet |
| I thought my battle with Social Security was | | | | and will help you get some income for |
| a lost cause until I was advised to see a | | | | yourself and be more productive and |
| lawyer. The first thing I had to do was to | | | | independent in your life. |