They Denied Disability for 7 Years Even Though I Am Blind

Spell the acronym for Social Security Admin backward, you get ASS.

Have you ever had to deal with the Social Security Administration because of disabilities?

If not, can I recommend trying something easier? Perhaps a nice bull goring you from the backside would be better.

Blind guy here. I have been for 13 years now, starting when I was 38 years old. I went from being able to earn my keep doing what I loved to do, to sitting around the house in a funk I couldn’t get myself out of.

Depression circled around my head like Tweety Bird on crack and, though I wanted to just see it all end, I knew I had to hold on for the sake of my kids.

I was, unfortunately, stuck being a single parent at the time on top of it all. My ex decided to walk out of the door in the middle of the night and never looked back.

I was taught asking for help was wrong.

Growing up, the parental units taught me to be a proud man. Never ask for help, never depend on anyone else. They drilled it in my head. I was on my own and if I sank, who the hell would care? You either make it, or you don’t.

I resisted trying to get on disability for a long time. I didn’t want to depend on the government to get me through. What if, one day, they decided to yank it away from me? Where would the kids and I be then?

In desperation, having nowhere else to turn or any idea how I was going to help feed those babies, I moved myself and the kids into my mother’s place until I could get things figured out.

When I decided trying to apply for disability would, in fact, be the only option in my tool chest, I went with my hat in my hand, bumping into the walls the whole way.

7 years. It took them 7 years and a crap load of torture to finally approve me for something they should have done from the first step.

The standards for blindness are simple.

For those unfamiliar with how the disability system works when it comes to blindness, it’s a simple explanation.

You are considered blind enough to be disabled if your vision is 20/200 or worse in your good eye after any corrections. Corrections, in this case, mean glasses, contacts, surgical procedures or anything else that improves your vision in any way.

Seems simple, right? 20/200 or worse in your good eye means you’re disabled and should get assistance.

The first time I applied, my vision levels were 20/3600. They’re now closer to 20/30000, but it’s impossible for them to calculate it accurately at this stage. Either way, for me to be able to tell that big E on the board was actually anything more than a bit of background radiation, it’d have to be 20 feet tall and 6 feet away.

Nice, right?

They denied me.

That’s not too odd, I guess, in the scheme of things. I think many people get denied the first time they apply because the SSA thinks they’re going to give it all up and go get a job.

So, I prepared for an appeal process, thinking the whole thing might take a few months or so.

What a joke.

When you apply and are going through the whole rigmarole, they will likely send you to one of their physicians to help determine your status. That, too, is okay. They need to make sure you’re being truthful, after all, and who can you not distrust more than your own doctor?

Can you feel the eyes rolling?

The first doctor could not figure out why I was there.

The trouble is, the first doctor they sent me to see was a chiropractor.

I’ll wait a moment while you process that.

Got it? Good.

So, yes, they sent me to a chiropractor because they wanted to determine if I am blind enough to qualify for disability.

When I walked in and the doc pulled me to the back room, he asked all the questions about my status. Of course, my body at that point in time wasn’t nearly as arthritic and fibromyalgic as it is these days, so there wasn’t much for him to do.

“Why are you here, then?”

That was his question after the whole exam was done. The process was about ten minutes’ worth of asking me questions that had nothing to do with my eyes.

“You tell me, doc. They had me come to you.” That probably wasn’t the best answer, but what else could I do? I knew from the moment I received the letter telling me I’d see this guy I was going to get shafted with no cream.

I’m betting you won’t be surprised to know they denied that claim.

Another doctor, another BS reason for denial.

Appeals processes after denials. They did everything they could to keep me from getting approved, and I can honestly say I am not sure why. It was a simple claim. Every evidentiary piece of paper I had showed my levels of blindness far surpassed what should trigger an approval.

One appeal, they sent me to a doctor who asked about my living situation. When I described what was going on, he said he would recommend denial because, “I don’t think it’s right for a man to sponge off of his mother that way.”

I reported the situation, but it went nowhere. Again, are you stunned?

I — only half-joking — exclaimed to one of the workers that my ex-wife was approved the first time she applied because of depression. No appeal, no questions. A simple process and within a few months, she was on disability.

“You keep denying me. It’s making me depressed. Can I get on it for that, instead?”

When they finally approved it, they cut me down to size.

The worst part is when they finally granted my claim, the amount they give per month is woefully below poverty standards. The reason? They took so long getting my claim to go through that I ran past the amount of working credits I had, due to so much passage of time.

Shameful waste, especially after working hard for years to make sure I’d be okay when I retired.

I think it’s totally appropriate, with the backwards way the Social Security Administration acts, that their acronym reversed is ASS.

It fits all too well.

Thank you for being you.

Keep striving to “be the best you that you can be” at this moment. Remember, no matter who you are or what you’re going through, you are worthy of being loved. Don’t let anyone teach you anything different.

If you like my work and feel inclined to support it, please consider supporting me on Ko-Fi. For free fiction stories, you’ll find nowhere else, grab my Original Worlds Substack newsletter. Any funding goes directly to helping this blind man feed his family.