RivkaRivka, thank you so much, and all of the others who got out there, told their story, got the sign together. It is something to be very proud of, and I personally thank you. It is so difficult for most of us to even get dressed in the morning. In my 10 + years of being sick I have had some good day, weeks......and now seem to be hit hard again. However, I am grateful for that time. For you all to get out there......no one else knows how hard it is.
I applied for SSDI sometime in 2001 and finally after 2 1/2 years, being turned down twice (I am in CA), and had to go before a judge. All this was pretty new to everyone, or at least not as out in the open as it is now, so I had to fight. I was lucky with a good attorney, and a judge who listened, but the process to get it was hard. I had worked hard from the time I was 12 years old and at 50 years old lost my career. I told the judge, " maybe I could work for you, I can't work any place else. I don't show up some days, some days I can only work an hour, but I would have to come in at 12noon, or maybe later, or come in for 10 minutes and all of a sudden I might not feel good and have to leave. I might not come in to work for 2 weeks, or maybe work 1/2 day one week. Would you hire me? No one else will if I have to work like that." And so it went. I waited about 6 weeks and he deemed me disabled. It was a long process that most people don't want to go through, to tired......I didn't want to give up my career, I was proud, didn't want to admit I was to tired, how could I be so tired?
Anyway, you all know this.
We do need this to be recognized as a disability. (I went to a Dr. in SC who told me I had deep psychological issues that I had not ever delt with, that Drs. on the East coast did not recognize this as a true illness, it was in my head....that was in 2008 after we had moved......coming back to CA in 2009, thank goodness)
Rambling, I know.......thank you again RivkaRivka!!!
