After seeing what
@Zugzug has gone through it's really demoralizing. I've actually applied for mental health related disability in the past but of course got denied. I didn't bother fighting because I thought I had to suck it up. But it ended up screwing me up even more.
I was able to hold a very limited and specific job with minimal people contact, then of course lost it because of all this. That was before I got tinnitus or hyperacusis though. Ironically they let me go because I apparently scared someone into thinking I had COVID-19 due to my breathing issues. I'm wondering if those conditions and my past attempts will help me in this case. But it also doesn't help that I can't seek any sort of medical care right now due to only having valid insurance in my home state, and not being able to speak anyway. Not like I'd even want to.
The UK, as far as I know, is very lax with disability. A friend has a friend who is on full benefits and housing for dyspraxia, which isn't even recognized as a disability in the US. I really envy people there.
I am really tempted to play up the mental health aspect to the point of acting crazy but I'm also afraid that in doing so it may reinforce the idea to these people that tinnitus and hyperacusis are mental issues. Should I do a bit of both, or just completely omit the "yeah noises paralyze me and give me nerve pain and I haven't bathed in weeks" part of it? Or rather completely attribute those conditions to "anxiety"?
(I'd honestly love to write "tinnitus and hyperacusis are horrible, recognize these as disability already you stupid f*cks" in the booklet.)
Another fear I have is being forced to get mental health care or be on medication just to make some disability people happy. I react poorly to most psychiatric meds, and I've been on a lot. Do I really need to jump through these hoops to appease these people? I assume so.
Best of luck with applying and I hope it doesn't take you years.
It's funny (not really) to me the way humans have an inability to predict patterns of injustice and get out in front of it all. For example, take psychiatric problems. For centuries, anxiety and depression were not recognized as real health problems. It was believed that since everyone deals with anxiety, the people with "disorders" were just exaggerating.
Now we have become mega woke on mental health problems. Yet, here we are with people insisting that they are too disabled to tolerate any sound at all. What do we see? "We ALL get ringing in the ears."
You would think a light bulb would go off -- like oh, hyperacusis could be like all of those diseases that used to not be recognized and now are. But it never does.
It's very pathetic how stupid mankind is. We really are idiots who need step by step lessons to see patterns.
Anyways, if it was a matter of going hungry, I would have no issues faking extreme mental illness for disability. I could pull it off no problem. I would just have to go in with my hyperacusis and take no precautions. I would involuntarily shake and start spazzing out from overstimulation (my LDLs are in the 20s). But instead of saying it's from hyperacusis, I would say it's from mental health problems. They would then give me empathy for a change, as well as disability.
It's really fucked up. I began my progressive hyperacusis when I was 28. I never even heard the word "hyperacusis" until months in when I looked it up. Yet there are "research" papers fraudulently claiming that hyperacusis affects 2-8% of the population.
Trust me, if what I have affected 2-8% of the population, the world would collapse in weeks until a cure was found. True hyperacusis is very rare and it's not something you just work through. You are royally fucked. I used to be a workaholic; my biggest psychological problem was that I was addicted to working and didn't have enough hobbies. Now I'm told, as I haven't left my house (literally, at all) in 10 months that I could hold a job, I'm just not interested or willing to change jobs.
And the coldest part of the rejection letters is they say everything so affirmatively. It's not like, "based on our records, we believe..." Instead, it says "You can handle everyday tasks. You struggle with complicated tasks," like I'm a fucking asshole trying to game the system. Gee, I'm so sorry to be suicidal every day for 20 months. I'll remember that next time when I try to "game the system" again.
I'm not sure what to say,
@Shizune, as there is a risk involved. Personally, I'm not going to fake it since I have enough money and because if I ever recover, I suspect I could become a somewhat public figure (not famous, but enough to be spotted) since my cause of severe hyperacusis is so rare.
This makes me so angry. There are so many selfish assholes who aren't generous without getting something out of it themselves. I was almost in this situation myself. 
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