break the beats 'cause i'm hardcore
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 04:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
erikaJust got back from SSA hearing.
Oh. My. Fucking. God.
So, okay! The SSA hearing was today and it's over and I am officially not dead, nor did I cry in the hearing (I did directly afterwards but my mom was there so it was okay).
They started off by having me and the vocational expert stand up and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, blah blah. Then the drilling began.
Well, good news first.
The vocational expert testified at the end of the hearing that according to the limitations the judge set out, there was no work that she felt someone of my age, experience, and educational background could do with my limitations.
That is a major good thing. I mean... not a good thing in that it probably means that I'm fucking disabled, but a good thing in that my lawyer seems to think that means there's a 75% chance that I'll be awarded disability because of my testimony + the VE's testimony + my strong medical record.
Bad news: ... well, actually it's not so much bad news as just a bad experience.
I had to go over the worst parts of my life, in painful detail, including the fire, AND including various (minor) criminal acts I'd admitted to my therapist and was NOT expecting the judge to bring up.
I had to go over my lack of hygiene when I'm depressed, the fact that I live with my parents and do jack shit around the house—basically imagine the most probing psychiatric examination given by an unsympathetic doctor and that's pretty much how it felt.
I'm glad I have taken enough klonopin over the last two days to kill a small elephant, or I probably would've had a panic attack during the hearing, that's how awful it felt to be perfectly honest.
But that's as bad as it got. And my lawyer was there with me every step of the way during the hearing and she practically held my hand afterwards and cheered me up.
Holy shit am I so glad that's over.
Did I mention HOLY SHIT am I so glad that's over.
I promise to clue you all in about my spontaneous trip to Dallas soon! Sneak preview: I got laid. You're shocked, I know.
Oh. My. Fucking. God.
So, okay! The SSA hearing was today and it's over and I am officially not dead, nor did I cry in the hearing (I did directly afterwards but my mom was there so it was okay).
They started off by having me and the vocational expert stand up and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, blah blah. Then the drilling began.
Well, good news first.
The vocational expert testified at the end of the hearing that according to the limitations the judge set out, there was no work that she felt someone of my age, experience, and educational background could do with my limitations.
That is a major good thing. I mean... not a good thing in that it probably means that I'm fucking disabled, but a good thing in that my lawyer seems to think that means there's a 75% chance that I'll be awarded disability because of my testimony + the VE's testimony + my strong medical record.
Bad news: ... well, actually it's not so much bad news as just a bad experience.
I had to go over the worst parts of my life, in painful detail, including the fire, AND including various (minor) criminal acts I'd admitted to my therapist and was NOT expecting the judge to bring up.
I had to go over my lack of hygiene when I'm depressed, the fact that I live with my parents and do jack shit around the house—basically imagine the most probing psychiatric examination given by an unsympathetic doctor and that's pretty much how it felt.
I'm glad I have taken enough klonopin over the last two days to kill a small elephant, or I probably would've had a panic attack during the hearing, that's how awful it felt to be perfectly honest.
But that's as bad as it got. And my lawyer was there with me every step of the way during the hearing and she practically held my hand afterwards and cheered me up.
Holy shit am I so glad that's over.
Did I mention HOLY SHIT am I so glad that's over.
I promise to clue you all in about my spontaneous trip to Dallas soon! Sneak preview: I got laid. You're shocked, I know.
