I think that my son needs SSI

[TerriH]

He has aspergers and mild bipolar, and while he has tried a couple of jobs he has not done well at them and then he quits. He is, and always has been a very emotional person who does not tolerate stress very well. People do not usually realize this because he has a flat affect and he does not usually talk about his feelings, and he also does not realize when he should and should not talk about his feelings.

Nor does he understand the feelings of his supervisor. So, he usually has trouble at his work even though he has had at least one darned good supervisor who bent over backwards to help him.

Now, I found the food stamps application hard to get through, as the questions were had to understand. I am thinking that I might need help to fill out an application for ssi, but mostly when I google it I get people who want to help him apply for ssdi, and he has only worked for a few months over the last few year so he does not qualify.

I am 62 and he is 23, and he will not be able to rely on me forever. I did get him into section 8 housing almost 2 years ago and I got the food stamps application filled out last week.

Does anyone have any advice on getting help filling out ssi forms? Because I just recently found out that there are 2 types of disability and I do NOT know what I am doing!

 

[Littleboylost]

I am in Canada so my advise won't help you. Good luck.

 

[BusynMember]

This is how we did it and how we were told to do it when my son was in his last year of high school.

Your son will need assessments and recommendations from medical people. We had already taken our son to a neuropsychologist (this is a special type of psychologist with extra training in the brain). He had ten hours of intensive testing. School also helped...if you can dig up old records and IEPs it could help. His employment record shows his problems impede his ability to support himself on his own. This is about proving your son is unable to support himself. A part time job does not equal supporting yourself. You need to get both an autism diagnosis and a bipolar diagnosis from his medical team. Both are serious disorders and indicate problems working, but you need to submit medical proof.

We were told to go to our office of Aging and Disabilities. Forget that the word aging is in there. They are very helpful with disabilities too.

They told us where to go and what to do, although I dont remember the specifics.

You do not need to spend money on a lawyer right now.

Hopefully, he will get SSI on the first attempt. If not, you go back to Aging and Disabilities to ask to try again. It is common to have to try several times. But my son and also I got SSI (me SSDI) the first try.

It is getting harder to get it now and the, er, man in the Oval Office isnt helping, but keep trying. At some point you may need a lawyer, but your son has very real disabilities and could get it the first time.

Good luck.

 

[TerriH]

OK, I will get started on the paperwork when I get back!

I am visiting my elderly father at the moment. After that, it will be time to get back to the real world.