From the site I looked at it says that you acquire 1 work credit per $1160.00. You can only get 4 work credits per year after making $4640.00 or more.

At your age you need 20 credits to be eligible for SSDI. So that's either 5 straight yrs. of working making at least $4640.00 per year, or several part time years.

This is general info. I pulled of the website. The best thing to do if your serious about this is find an attorney, many are online and will give you a kind of "evaluation" to tell you if you have the credits to be eligible and if your illnesses are covered. And they don't charge you for that first consultation.

You can find out how many work credits you have by creating a my social security online account. Go to www.ssa.gov. Your earnings statement that they use to mail to everyone each year will also be there. The website should also tell you how much your monthly SSDI benefits would be if.you have enough credits and are approved.

Here is what I know. If you haven't put enough credits in you can still get disability it will just be ssi instead of ssdi and you can work up till you get it in order to survive.
Now another thing that works is this after you have applied if you do not hear anything within 6 months write a letter to your local senator and state that you have been waiting and have not been accepted or denied. Hand deliver the letter to their local office because someone will sit down and talk to you and they will look into it. My wife and many others that I have known have done this and within a short period of time you will get your disability. My wife got her less than a month after doing this. They hate having their congressmen looking into what and why it is taking so long. It has worked in every case I have heard about and it worked for my wife. Also it doesn't matter if it is something on the list on their website cause there are new thi gs being considered for disability all the time that people have never heard of

Thanks, Dragonfly. That is good stuff to know.

I finally was approved in February after waiting years. It wasn't until after my second spinal fusion failed. And I had a great lawyer.

I'm under 50 which some judges will deny you just for that reason...is what my lawyer said. I had great doctors helping me and their testimony as well as mine made all the difference. I was backdated to Aug 2011. My judge had about a 7% approval rating. Talk about being nervous!! But it worked!
It was a long fight...but if you fit all the criteria everyone has mentioned...don't give up!! Good luck!

It never ceases to amaze me how difficult it is for people to actually claim the benefits they should legally and morally be entitled to after working for years versus how easy it seems for some people to simply never work and be automatically entitled.

How stressful to have to go through a legal battle when sick...

I ended a friendship with someone a few years ago because I couldn't stomach her gloating attitude for getting on full disability for lupus- when she clearly didn't need full disability; I have a neighbor now who makes everyone's life a misery because her disability benefits due to drug abuse enables her crazy lifestyle...

But like everything else- it spawns an industry and people make money from it so it will continue.

You perform SGA, which is earning $1,090 a month in 2015 and receive disability. Some people have been approved working a few hours a week. But. most attorneys won't take a case if the claimant is working at all. It can be a very difficult balancing act and it depends a lot on.your impairments, how many hours you're working and what the work requires. Many people have ended up.homeless and on the streets waiting for their disability to be approved. Some families have had to move in with family and friends etc. There is a lot of difference in it being difficult for a person to work and a person.not being able to work no matter how difficult it gets

'most attorneys won't take a case if the claimant is working at all.'

@IsJustMe

if that's the case then what incentive is there for anyone to try to continue being a contributing member to society? It seems very discriminatory- people with other disabilities are encouraged to work or volunteer however little they can contribute.

Impairments affect people differently. You van have 2 people with the same impairment at the same level and the same age. But person A may not be able to work at all doing any.job, while person B can work but it is difficult and a struggle. SSA Disability is for those who can't perform SGA. If they are under 50, SSA looks at jobs in the national economy. The general public and drs don't look at this. So if someone is working 29-30 hours, they can more than likely perform SGA. It makes getting approved harder. That is why most attorneys won't take a client that is working.

When someone is no longer able to work they have to change their life. They can find other things to do that are far less demanding and that they don't have to do consistently.

You don't have to see SSA drs unless your medical records are missing info they need..Continuing Disability Reviews are done usually St 3 years and 5-7 years, although they can be done at 18 months in some cases. CDR's are timed based on the possibility of medical improvement. Usually younger folks get the 3 year or 5 year. How frequently you have them can also change. They have short forms and long forms. The long forms get copies of your medical records and send you forms to fill out like they did when you first applied.

Attorney v/s filing yourself.

My daughter hired an attorney, got all of the records and kept a copy for herself. The attorney filed the paperwork and my daughter was turned down. She requested a copy of what was filed. The attorney filed the suit stating that she had low blood sugar only. My daughter has 20 different medical conditions, has had 2 heart attacks . Has permanent nerve damage from blood clots in her leg. She has not gone more than 4 months without being in the hospital. She wrote a letter to the judge and copied him the medical records. The judge cancelled her attorney's appeal and granted her SSDI. She was 29 years old. The attorney wanted the case to go on so they could make more money.

For myself, I called SS to ask some questions about disability, the person answering my questions told me they could file the paper work for me and set up a phone interview for me. My doctor told me to just put down the symptoms that I was having and how that affected my ability to function. I was approved within 6 weeks. The biggest advantage I had over my daughter and you, is that I worked in one field for 35 years, and was considered too old and too medically challenged to learn a new trade.

I would suggest calling SS and find out if you are qualified by the years that you worked, then ask them to help you start the application. They told me that I should wait until I had been denied before hiring an attorney, because the attorney will slow down the approval process.

I wish you luck.

The mistake a lot of people make is trusting their attorney to do what they are suppose to do and what they say they do
You need to go behind your attorney and call and verify with the ALJ that they have received all of your medical records. Very few attornets even look at your medical records before the hearing. They say they can.win.a case without knowing the facts. If you lose the attorney has investment very little and he has a pay check coming in. If you lose you have another few years of waiting to see if the appeals council demands your case, which doesn't happen often. And then you can still.be denied. Or you can file a new application with your alledged onset date the day after the ALJ's decision. Or you.can go.back.to work.

in Australia I know someone with same condition as me. perhaps not as bad. he did his injury at work. and was on work cover for a long time. then settled for a sum and went onto disability support pension.

I guess it is about what the actual injury is. and if it can be proven.


in Australia u cant get DSP if your husband is working.

@sunshin...
'in Australia u cant get DSP if your husband is working.'

In America it seems very random who gets what; some people are punitively treated and have to fight even when they are desperate, others who already seem fairly comfortable hire the right lawyer and seem to get things easily.