My application for disability here in the states in 2011 was turned down. It took hours to prepare the paperwork to get as far as I did, and I was in no condition to continue the fight.
After my children both reached adult age or left home, I lost the Single mothers Pension which had helped me to survive seeing I wasnt capable of doing much work. I actually didnt go right away trying to claim Disability when I stopped getting single mothers Pension even thou I couldnt work full time as I knew it would be a NIGHTMARE to get the Disability benefits I should of been on, so it was the last thing I wanted to do (I was near phobic about the whole Disability process due to the how bad Ive been treated by those who dont understand this illness and just how much sicker I used to get from stress and effort).
So I ended up working but at a level in which I could of also actually been claiming government dole benefits as well, so I forfeited getting over $400 a fortnight for a couple of years (forfeited getting a health care card etc) as I knew how much stress Centrelink would put onto me. (I was scared to even try to go and get the Dole as I was worried I'd be offered full time jobs I wouldnt be able to take up and that is what did happen when I finally had no choice but to apply).
I was working only 9-16 hrs per week, not claiming the gov benefits with the money I was getting in and going without basically everything (never buying clothes, never getting breakdowns in my appliances fixed, I even didnt have a TV in that time, tried not to use electricity etc), I lived off of rice, potatoes (which were very very cheap at that time) and noodles cause I couldnt afford to eat much else during that time. I started growing my own food to supplement my terrible diet and was living off of handouts of others.
I ended up in trouble with the tax dept as they wouldnt believe that I was only "trying to" live off of that. They couldnt understand why I hadnt gone for gov payments so assumed I must of been getting more money and ripping them off so they put me under pressure and under investigation. (so I ended up in a very stressful situation with them so my attempts to avoid stress to avoid crashing further, well didnt work). I was even filmed by someone sitting in a car on the other side of the street. This car ended up being left in that location for a couple of days with what appeared to be a camera pointing at my house affixed to its inside mirror. I can understand thou why my situation of me not claiming when working so little, didnt appear "logical" to them.
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Id like to add that I was correct and it was completely disasterous for my health having to go onto the dole while applying for disability and appealing over and over due to the knockbacks for a pension.
I went due to that from being able to work 9-16 hrs per week and was in a recovering mode (improving over time, , I believe I would of gone into a complete remission again had I not been pushed to work), to going into a major crash due to them forcing me to try to work more (under threat that I would be completely cut off of benefits which by that time after not getting much money for so long, I really really needed to have as I was very deep in debt by then).
It was this what Centrelink did to me, which lead to where I are today. not able to work AT ALL, not being able to care for myself so now having to have gov support services. Had I immediately got that Disability Pension which several doctors were supporting I needed or not been pushed under threats by them beyond what I should of been doing, I do think I'd be recovered again today. I hold them responsible for me being disabled today. Instead, Im now just a burden on the system and still in a worsening state due to the battles which are continuing (Im worsening again now cause I arent getting enough support hours throu DisabiilitySA, there is a good chance I may end up long term bedbound again).