DoggieMom86 Asked April 24, 2025
Can you get disability in a year?
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Hello, it looks like my brother, who is not yet 60 might be becoming disabled. I can see certain patterns like his back problems. He is in insane amounts of pain and refuses to go an hour away to see specialists. He has stenosis and is getting barely able to stand. He's married but my SIL has Addison's and fragile bones. My question is,.he gets a pension from the state for working there for over twenty years, how soon can he get disability. I can't get back into the frying pan as I've got my own life to live, but I think my brother will continue to make it worse.
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My DH and I have been on the SSDI journey now for over 2 years. We were advised up front that a large % of first time petitioners get denied. He got denied the first pass.
As we were starting the appeal, we found an amazing disability attorney to continue the process with us. I will say likely the best thing we ever did, even though we didn't spend much time with him as far as face to face goes. He was there every step of the process after we brought him in.
He advised us then that many people, especially his age (he is younger than 60) get denied a second time. DH was denied a second time and had to go into the appeals process once again, this time for the in person administrative review with the courts.
There is still another level of appeal after the 3rd pass/administrative hearing - but we were very lucky - as we just heard in the last couple of weeks that DH was approved for disability.
I'm going to be straight with you. A single disability is often not enough. They have experts who review the individual health of the applicant and review possible jobs they could do even with that condition. It is very easy to get discouraged and want to give up - which is probably the point in a lot of ways.
It is time consuming, and you have to have doctors that are willing not only to provide your medical records of course, but also speak (in writing) on behalf of your ability to no longer work.
I suppose it may vary from state to state. But we were advised to plan on 2-3 years for the process.
For the record, my DH has a laundry list of the accepted disabilities on the list. I do think his age factored in to why they were denying him.
To be frank - unless his case is just a slam dunk - which would be up to the disability review board - I wouldn't say that expecting to be approved in a year is reasonable. I would also say that the chances of getting denied at least the first time are high. And finding a disability attorney is his best bet.
"Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA): There are limits to how much you can earn while receiving SSDI without jeopardizing your benefits. The SGA limits for 2025 are $1,620 per month for non-blind individuals and $2,700 per month for those who are blind.
Trial Work Period: The trigger for a trial work period, where you can test your ability to work without losing benefits, is earning over $1,160 per month in 2025."
Did your brother have to retire because of his problems? Did he try to get short-term disability thru the State before he retired? That would have given him 6 months of pay and time to apply for SSD.
Your SIL does qualify for SSD. She too should go to Social Services and apply for both SSD and SSI.
"Fortunately, the Social Security Administration (SSA) considers this disease a disability under the endocrine disorders. This means that individuals with Addison's disease are eligible to apply for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) "
There may be other things this couple qualifies for, like food stamps. Medicaid for health on in home care. But they need to go and talk to someone. From what you wrote, you have been helping, maybe financially? Maybe time to tell them there is help out there for them and because there is, they need to take advantage of it. Because, they cannot expect you to help forever especially when they have options.
He didn't want someone who was that dishonest working in their home for my mom.
Also, if his wife is so disabled, why is she not on disability and on Medicaid with it?
He's young. What EXACTLY is going on with the back? What do the docs say about prognosis and diagnosis.
The truth is that there are many tricks that are "need to know" heading into disability. Do go to youtube and to the internet and look up everything you can about applying for disability. Rather have HIM do this. The initial diagnosis and application and interview is one thing, but with the final interview with disability itself it is important not to stress the diagnosis, but just WHY YOU CANNOT WORK. That is that the agony takes you down within hours. You cannot deal with people you work with or for because the agony is constant forefront in your mind and so on.
Do tell him to look up the process for your state, and to look at youtube before starting this process. It's important in getting approved without constantly filing after being denied.
I think this process will be getting a good deal more tough. Currently we are being told that the days of the able playing video games on the couch are OVER. I think the application process will get a good deal more tough soon and I am not saying that it should not, just that I think it will.