My therapist told me to apply for disability

[u/Longjumping_Buy_9026]

i struggle with nervous system burnout. basically every symptom you would think comes from something deadly, but it’s actually my nervous system going “HEY, we’re on high alert. we’re traumatized”. tremors, extreme fatigue, memory loss, brain fog, dizziness, racing heart, POTS, joint pain, muscle weakness, IBS, TMJ. I know there is a side of reddit prone to telling people they are faking it, but that side of reddit is unfamiliar with the neuroscience of chronic illness. if you’re one of them, just be grateful you have a brain and nervous system that knows how to alchemize sensory input and stress appropriately. seriously.

I’ve had a really hard time working this year. the job market sucks and I keep having to quit because my job is putting me on bed rest.

October was the worst month of my adult life. I had head-to-toe pain so severe, I started thinking about Jesus and the meaning of death. I struggled with basic tasks. I basically gave up.

I fear the future. I can’t work enough to achieve my goals. I’m currently on my dad’s insurance for another year and a half. I live with my mom but we’re losing the house in the divorce and I know she wants to live with her new boyfriend, not with my ass.

so my therapist said disability could help me get on my feet, live independently, which might actually increase my recovery. less childhood trauma coming up, and more control over my environment.

but
1. I don’t want to take those resources from someone who needs them
and
2. the system seems too difficult to navigate. I have to cap off my income from my part time job, they might say I make too much at 20/hrs a week
and
3. I’m afraid it will keep me stuck. stuck in a label, stuck dependent on the government, stuck in poverty

[u/cherrylimebongwatr]

The thing is, your tax dollars wouldn’t even be going to OP! Those are tax dollars OP has already paid for herself in the form of work credits as an insurance policy! It’s crazy that the government makes it so difficult

[u/TillUpper6774 → u/cherrylimebongwatr]

Totally agree it's way harder than it should be! One gentle note though: SSDI works like insurance, not a refund of what you paid in. The formula is weighted so lower earners get back more than they put in, and someone who gets disabled young usually gets a lot more than they paid. That's the system doing its job, so it's worth protecting. 💛

[u/cherrylimebongwatr → u/TillUpper6774]

I’m aware of this, I was just trying to simplify it. I mentioned that in another comment here that it works like insurance because most here seems to think it’s a welfare program and it isn’t. Like it’s not like SSI where it’s going to run out somewhere in the next couple of decades which is why OP said she feels like she’s taking it from someone else. If she meets the work credits, she’s earned the ability to collect.

But you’re right and I tend to over simplify it from my lense when I explain my SSDI claim because my circumstances are not at all the norm. I should remember to clarify it’s not a literal refund program.

[u/TillUpper6774 → u/cherrylimebongwatr]

It’s a good point that we do not need to call it a welfare program! I was deep diving this the other day and 4/10 people on Social Security or Medicare say they’ve never used a government benefit program. 🙄 The older generation were propagandized by the “welfare queen” rhetoric in the 80s and now they are the biggest demographic receiving government benefits. I’m so sick of them.