[Blindtlk] Question about SSI

Thu May 19 18:57:12 UTC 2016

Of course, but a government job should have several systems of checks 
and balances in place.  I'm sorry but there's no reason for such a major 
issue.

On 5/19/2016 12:37 PM, Mike Freeman via blindtlk wrote:
> If simple mistakes like writing in the wrong birthday uniformly resulted in
> instant firing, the unemployment rate would go up by five percent, at least,
> I'd bet.
>
> At some point, we must acknowledge that all of us are human and that all of
> us make mistakes.
>
> Mike
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kevin via
> blindtlk
> Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2016 7:54 AM
> To: blindtlk at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Kevin
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Question about SSI
>
> I understand mistakes happen but that was a stupid mistake.  The workers
> responsible for entering the wrong birthday should have been fired on the
> spot.
>
>
> On 5/18/2016 9:21 PM, S L Johnson via blindtlk wrote:
>> 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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