[Blindtlk] Question about SSI

[Sami Osborne]

Hi all,

I'm having a rather frustrating issue with Social Security here 
in NY, who are providing me my SSI benefits.  A few weeks ago, I 
received a letter in the mail from Social Security telling me 
that I need to show up in person at their office because they 
wanted to prove that I'm actually blind even though I provided 
them with all the documentation and was approved almost six 
months ago.  What bothers me is that as I said, they asked me to 
show up in person at their office.  My mom thought that we could 
just talk to them on the phone, and she called and spoke with 
them (I couldn't because I'm at my blindness training center for 
the week and only go home on weekends).  My mom said that she 
even spoke with them two or three times.  The first time they 
said that they would call me personally at home to set up the 
appointment for showing up in person, but obviously I wouldn't 
have been able to speak with them since I'm not home during the 
week.  My mom gave them my cell phone number, but they haven't 
called me that way either.  This is a very frustrating issue in 
my opinion.  I have asked other friends of mine at the training 
center that I'm at if they had to show up at their Social 
Security office six months after they were approved for SSI 
benefits, and they said no.  My mom thinks that it depends on the 
state, and that the reason they do that is probably because they 
want to make sure that you're not cheating in getting SSI (by the 
way, the people at the training center that I'm at come from all 
over the country).

So I'd like to know if you guys have gone through a similar 
experience, and if so, have you had to show up in person at the 
office or just talk with them on the phone?

Hope to hear from you soon, and for those of you who just 
finished with college, I hope you're enjoying the end as your 
semester!

Thanks,

Sami