Does anyone in the U.S. have experience in registering for disability?
@mrbrightside614 @Cape crusader -- Yes, I've registered for SSDI, and ended up qualifying for it (back in the late 1990's). I was told my chances of getting it were very slim, but I had/have CFS, and I was going through a period where I literally could barely make it from my bed to the bathroom upon waking in the mornings. I would usually crawl, and sometimes have to rest for several minutes half way there before making it.
CFS was controversial at the time (and still is), with many doctors believing it is nothing more than depression (they know much more these days). Part of the application process is that one has to go through a routine psychological evaluation. After going through my first overall evaluation, I was denied benefits. But this apparently happens to literally everyone who applies. So I was prepared for that.
When I re-applied, I was told there was disagreement as to whether I should be eligible for benefits. There was apparently a discussion, after which they took an unusual step and decided to send me to another psychologist for a 2nd psych evaluation, someone who had a reputation for being somewhat of a "tough cookie". That is, somebody who could flesh out whether or not somebody was being honest.
This guy was fairly aggressive, but I kept my composure, which I was determined to do before even going in. I answered every question and concern he had with complete honesty. I don't recall a lot of the details, but he ended up advising that I be eligible for benefits. His conclusion was that I either did have a health condition called CFS which prevented me from working. Or I had some kind of somatoform condition, that would also prevent me from working. Either one would make me eligible for benefits.
In the end, they approved me for a somatoform condition, as there was little scientific understanding of CFS at the time. Somewhere along the line I learned that when somebody has a condition that is relatively misunderstood, they have a better chance of getting benefits because of depression (or somatoform) that is caused by it--such as tinnitus--than for the condition itself. For somebody applying because of tinnitus, from my experience, it would seem having a sympathetic psychologist for the initial psych exam would be paramount.
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