Living with a disability

Hey everyone,
could someone please walk me through how the whole process works for filing a disability claim and actually getting approved??😕
I've dealt with a physical impairment since birth, and while it wasn't a major issue for most of my life, things are unfortunately starting to catch up with me now. I'm 34 years old, and my condition is steadily worsening as I get older.

goldencobra97 said:Hey everyone,
can someone walk me through how the whole disability determination process works? How do I actually go about applying and getting approved??😕
I’ve had a physical impairment since birth—it wasn't a huge deal growing up, but unfortunately, things are starting to catch up with me now. I'm 34, and honestly, my condition just seems to be getting worse as I get older.

From what I gather, you basically head over to the Social Security Administration to file an application for disability benefits. After that, you’ll have to undergo medical evaluations to determine if you actually qualify for status and, if so, what the specific level of disability is. I'm not 100% certain on all the technicalities, but that's the general gist of how it plays out.

Exactly what I was thinking. I know this whole process drags on forever, which is just exhausting... In my specific case, it’s my fingers. It's gotten to the point where I have almost zero sensation left. Honestly, I’m pretty nervous about dealing with our government bureaucracy and the entire medical assessment procedure... I’m stuck wondering how on earth I’m supposed to prove that I’ve lost feeling. Does anyone here know how they handle extremities? For instance, do they calculate the disability percentages for each individual finger, or is it all evaluated based on the hand as a single unit?

Amy Rogers2 said:Yeah, that’s pretty much what I was thinking—and I know this whole thing drags on forever... It’s specifically my fingers right now, and honestly, I’ve reached the point where I can barely feel them at all. I'm a little terrified of dealing with our bureaucracy and the entire process... plus, how am I even supposed to prove I've lost sensation? Does anyone actually know how they handle limbs? Like, do they calculate the disability percentage finger by finger, or is it just treated as one whole hand?

The whole process takes a massive amount of time, but if you can prove the disability, you should get back pay for the period you were waiting. At least, that’s what happened with a friend of mine. As for how they actually nail down the specific percentage, I’m afraid I haven't a clue.