Social Security Disability Intake: Fill & Download for Free

When i was working as an intake coordinator for a psych unit, I had a patient tell me that “so and so (Their attorney), told me that I needed to be admitted to a psych unit every so often to make my case look better”. When I wrote up my report of the intake that I knew would be requested not only by his attorney but also by Medicare, I quoted the patent. Jesus, it was not long before the hosptial got a call from his lawyer saying she was going to sue. I worked for a great doctor who said, “F” them, we documented what was said, let the assholes sue”. I never heard another word.

I had a juvenile on my caseload who literally could not count to 2. Someone in the intake/classification unit fudged his test scores so he would show as normal IQ and be placed in a regular program instead of going to our special unit for mental health/low IQ issues.This juvenile grew up in some true poverty. Once a year, our facility would have “Watermelon Day” where we brought in a truckload of fresh watermelons for the juveniles. There was always more than enough for each juvenile to have an entire full sized melon for themselves. It was a good way to beat the summer heat and lower the tension levels. Most of the juveniles would have contests to see who could eat the fastest, which usually consisted of smashing the melon slices into their face and making a mess. Meanwhile, this particular juvenile was carefully eating one slice at a time. He got bumped on accident and dropped his slice in the dirt. Instead of just getting a new slice, the juvenile picked it up, brushed it off, and finished eating it. One of the staff saw this and quietly remarked “You grew up in some real poverty, didn’t you? Not like these others who are wasting these perfectly good melons.” The juvenile quietly nodded agreement.The sad part was that his family didn’t want him to come home, and refused to sign any of his parole paperwork in order to prevent him from coming home. They were cashing his Social Security disability checks while he was gone (which they weren’t supposed to do, since the state was paying for his upkeep instead of his family).Then there was one of the sex offenders on my caseload. Horrific series of crimes. And the entire story started with “My dad wanted nothing to do with me because I wasn’t into football.” The absence of a father figure is a major risk factor for juvenile delinquency/crime. This juvenile had a father in the home, but since his son was “nerdy”, the father all but ignored him.The saddest by far, though, would be the visitation that didn’t happen. My last duty assignment before leaving TYC was overseeing admissions/releases in the Security Unit in the facility during 2nd shift (when all the real work happened). In order to have visitation, a juvenile had to behave properly that day. If they had any security referrals for negative behavior, their visit would be cancelled.One of our juveniles was particularly obnoxious and constantly in trouble. But he started to hold it in for a few days, trying to be eligible for visitation. Why? He found out that his father, who he had not seen for most of his life, was coming to visit him that evening. This was a turning point in his life… or would have been.Shortly after 5PM, Security staff brought him to the unit and placed him in the long-term wing instead of the referral wing. This was usually only done when they knew the incident was such that the juvenile would probably be admitted as soon as I received and reviewed the official reports. The juvenile was agitated, stating that he hadn’t done anything wrong, and wanted to know why people were trying to get back at him and take away his visitation.I then got a phone call for me to check my email. I had received a forward that had started in Central Office, to the facility administrators, to the chaplain & psych staff, then finally to the dorm staff. The dorm staff received it right before 5PM, even though the counseling people had received it earlier that morning. Dorm staff were told to “handle it”. “It” being passing on the news to the juvenile that his father had died in a car crash while driving across the state to visit him. Dorm staff wisely asked my staff to bring him to Security on a “self-referral” (these didn’t count as rule violations and did not affect the juvenile’s records). It fell to me to do the death notification, even though we had at least 4 people on the facility earlier that day who specifically had that duty in their job description. Unfortunately, this was not the first death notification that had ended up falling to me to do. “You’re not in trouble. You’re here so the other inmates won’t give you any trouble, so you can have some time to yourself if needed.” I then gave him the news the best way I could based on what I knew about him, and let him know that he could stay by himself for the night if he wanted. I would be available to talk or listen until lights out, and would check on him the next day. I don’t know how this story ended, but I can say that during the rest of my time working at that facility, that juvenile did make a serious effort to correct his behavior so he could go home. I guess he figured he didn’t want to risk anyone else in his family dying while he was locked up.

I've read and spoken with people who are being processed by the intake system: there are horror stories about the lack of examiners and appeals judges (Social Security Disability Claim Processing Times : The Social Security Administration Proposes 2 Much-Needed Changes, but There's a Big Problem ). If you're lucky, you'll be approved on your first try for SSDI, the main program. Then you have a five month wait for SSDI benefits. You'll only receive SSI if you make less than (as of 1/1/2020) $783. SSI kicks in immediately unlike SSDI.The problem is if you're denied on your first application. There is a huge backlog of cases in the appeals system. Currently, the average wait is 506 days for each appeal you file. This adds up if, as some people do, you need to file two or more appeals.Personally, I feel that Republicans can't discontinue Social Security Disability without tremendous pushback from American voters, so by cutting staff they're making it impossible to qualify for receiving it. After all, their big contributors and the corporations don't profit from it. Perhaps you recall the 2012 Republican primary debate where the audience started shouting, “Let him die!” ? Wolf Blitzer asked Congressman Ron Paul what should happen if a healthy 30 year old man decided that he didn't need health insurance and didn't buy any, then he was in an accident and racked up huge medical costs while in serious condition and couldn't pay for the care that kept him alive in the hospital. Dr. Paul hemmed and hawed, trying desperately not to answer the question. Finally, he said that the young man would just have to take the consequences of his decision. That's when the audience started their chant of, “Let him die!”I really don't know why anyone would vote for a political party that has no regard for human life. I wrote inexactly, “born human life” is correct. It can't be fiscal conservatism; it can't be for personal freedom, Pence would like to install an Iranian style theocracy; it can't be respect for the military, Trump's a draft dodger who mocks POWs, the wounded, people killed in action and their family members. I know: it's because they buy the propaganda. It must be terrible to be so easily swayed and so easily scared of the real world.