[Blindtlk] Question about SSI
S L Johnson
SLJohnson25 at comcast.net
Thu May 19 01:21:51 UTC 2016
Hello:
When I was still working I was a disability rights advocate for an
independent living center. One day one of my consumers came into my office
all upset because she did not receive her SSI check. When I called social
security for her they told me they had her listed as deceased. I said that
was impossible because she was sitting with me in my office. I made an
appointment and took her to meet with them in person. What a job it was to
prove that my consumer was not deceased but very much alive. It turned out
that someone at social security entered the incorrect birth date for someone
with the same name as my consumer and declared her dead instead of the
person who really had died. It took me several meetings and phone calls to
fix the problem. Sometimes our government officials do make big mistakes
and they are too stubborn to admit they are wrong. It can take a lot of
time and effort to correct their mistakes. Good luck to you. Perseverance
pays off and eventually all the paperwork gets done and the benefits begin
arriving in your bank account. I do think they should have a better system
for those of us who were born with a disability or who have been diagnosed
with a permanent disability. Even though I was born blind and have had
multiple sclerosis since 1976 I m still sent paperwork every three years
saying they have to evaluate to see if I am still disabled or not. My
doctors get tired of always having to fill out this stuff. A few years ago
my doctor got frustrated and put on the form when you find a cure for
multiple sclerosis and make my patient get her sight back, then I guess you
can say she is no longer disabled. I wonder what they thought when they
read that? I can understand re-evaluating someone who has a temporary
disability due to an accident or illness. However, I think re-evaluating
those of us who have been diagnosed with a permanent disability so often is
just a big waste of time and money because our condition will never change.
Anyway, it is the way they do it and we have to just deal with it and
hopefully things turn out right.
Sandra
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Tardif via blindtlk
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2016 6:21 PM
To: Blind Talk Mailing List
Cc: Mark Tardif
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Question about SSI
Wow, that blows me away. It can be so frustrating dealing with Social
Security sometimes. Back when I first applied for SSI, way back when I was
in college in 1975-76, they screwed up my file totally and had me as being
married. You should have heard how my then girlfriend reacted, even though
I was able to reassure her that this simply wasn't true.
Mark Tardif
Nuclear arms will not hold you.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ericka via blindtlk
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2016 11:56 AM
To: Blind Talk Mailing List
Cc: Ericka
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Question about SSI
No kidding Mark. I had quite an interesting experience was so security
administration today. One lady insisted that she couldn't fax anything to me
unless it was to my home. First she was in shock someone asked to get
anything faxed. I told her three times that I had a fax machine at the house
before she insisted she could only fax information to me at my home. What
part of I have a fax machine at my home do you not understand? After I gave
her the fax number she disappeared to never come back again. I think she
hung up on me! After 25 more minutes of waiting when I called back I got a
guy with an Indian accent that actually did everything right and was
respectful. Go figure!
Ericka Short
"What is right is not always popular; what is popular is not always right."
from my iPhone
> On May 17, 2016, at 5:47 PM, Mark Tardif via blindtlk
> <blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
> You would be surprised, Ericka. I was working with an agency recently and
> I don't know how many times I had to give them my phone number, and they
> still occasionally tried to call me at wrong numbers, including my old
> Florida number with a 772 area code. You gotta retrain these dummies all
> the time. It's like a professor I was listening to once saying that you
> study material, it's discussed in class, it's reviewed again, and even
> then the exams come back in ways that you wouldn't recognize.
>
>
>
> Mark Tardif
> Nuclear arms will not hold you.
> -----Original Message----- From: Ericka via blindtlk
> Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2016 10:44 AM
> To: Blind Talk Mailing List
> Cc: Ericka
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Question about SSI
>
> In this day and age, how can someone lose documentation? That's the only
> reason I can think of that she can't find it in needs a new copy. Why
> you'd have to come in is beyond me. Good luck Sami. Training center
> approach is good!
>
> Ericka Short
> "What is right is not always popular; what is popular is not always
> right."
>
> from my iPhone
>
>> On May 16, 2016, at 7:31 PM, Sami Osborne via blindtlk
>> <blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> That's a good point, Mark. My mom told me that it didn't seem to her
>> that the person she spoke to didn't seem to know much about SSI. What's
>> even
>> more ironic and disturbing to me is that this woman that she spoke to is
>> the same one who we spoke to during my last in-person appointment six
>> months ago. It seemed to me that she did a very accurate job of
>> explaining everything about SSI to us. So now I have no idea why she
>> would suddenly contact us again six months later and say, "We need proof
>> of your blindness" when the documentation is very clear as someone
>> pointed out.
>>
>> Anyway, thanks Mark and everyone for all your comments and suggestions.
>>
>> Thanks again,
>>
>> Sami
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Mark Tardif via blindtlk <blindtlk at nfbnet.org
>> To: "Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org
>> Date sent: Mon, 16 May 2016 17:10:56 -0400
>> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Question about SSI
>>
>> Oh that teacher-hating, union-hating Walker character, yes. Our governor
>> LaPage is just as bad. In fact, he is the fifth least popular governor
>> in
>> the country, according to some polls, and with good reason, too. Anyway,
>> this does sound a bit strange and it makes me wonder if the worker your
>> mom
>> talked with knew what they were doing. I do remember when I first
>> applied
>> for SSI way back in 1976 having to appear at the local office, but not so
>> that they could have proof of my blindness, just so we could get the
>> application done more easily. As people have said here, documentation
>> from
>> my doctor took care of the blindness issue. It also sounds strange that
>> 6
>> months after you were supposedly approved, suddenly you have to show up
>> to
>> prove your blindness. Sorry, that doesn't sound right at all.
>>
>>
>>
>> Mark Tardif
>> Nuclear arms will not hold you.
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Ericka via blindtlk
>> Sent: Monday, May 16, 2016 12:16 PM
>> To: Blind Talk Mailing List
>> Cc: Ericka ; nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Question about SSI
>>
>> Something seems weird. I've never heard of this. Then again, Wisconsin
>> isn't
>> the same state when I was applying 20 years ago. Perhaps we do this now
>> with
>> the idiot governor we have.
>>
>> Ericka Short
>> "What is right is not always popular; what is popular is not always
>> right."
>>
>> from my iPhone
>>
>> On May 16, 2016, at 7:15 AM, Sami Osborne via blindtlk
>> <blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> 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
>>
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