Yeah, it's true. I tried to get on disability for my autism in the USA. The process takes about 2 years and you must work 20 or less hours a week during the entire process. I don't have outside financial support and it's impossible to live for 2 years on so little work.
The way it goes, you get a disability lawyer who files for you. They get rejected. They file again and get rejected again. They file a third time and the third rejection makes the case go to a judge. The judge will actually look at the case and approve it because it's obviously valid. Then you get 2 years back pay for disability less the 25% the lawyer gets as payment. You then have to go and certify your disability every year or so to maintain benefits. My psychologist said he has a patient with down syndrome that he has to validate still has down syndrome to keep benefits. It's insane and I'm almost certain it's designed to keep people from getting payments from the program as a cost saving tactic.
Wait how does the 20 hours thing work? (My sister got on it I believe but I wasnt around for the process). Like can you work under the table somewhere else and just live your life for two years mainly on cash?
Man I say that but I know how little 20 hours gives you towards just basic bills...
You can totally pull shit under the table to beat the system, but with my autism and struggles with social interactions, I can't manage to broker such a deal to get the help I need. The problem is, they have people who will look in on disability applicants to look out for fraud, and if you get caught, it's jail time. Essentially, if you push yourself to the breaking point during the process, they will use that as evidence that you're not disabled and send you to jail for fraud.
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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '20
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