Basically the title. But for context:
I have AvPD, Avoidant Personality Disorder. I know I'm not the only hexbear who suffers from this, as it's been discussed here and mentioned a few times. It's pretty severe in my case, enough that the psychologist I am able to see (at a low-income clinic that accepts my state's version of medicaid) has been strongly suggesting that I apply for disability. And without going into detail, I don't know how I'm going to survive in the looming, relatively near future without aid. (I'm already on SNAP aka foodstamps and really struggling). So I applied for SSI. I have my first means-testing meeting this week. It will just be over the phone, but they say to have at least 2 hours of time for the interrogation. I'm deeply dreading it, and figured it couldn't hurt to see if anyone here maybe had some advice. I know I will be denied at first, that denial on the first attempt is a given for literally everyone since they want to weed out people who "aren't serious" about needing help. I know I'll have to reapply and appeal probably a few times and even then it's not exactly likely, especially since I'm applying with a psychological problem rather than physical. I do have some physical problems too, but they are secondary.
So... is there anything a person should know going in? Does anyone have experiences with the process that they'd care to share? Or hell, even just thoughts on how fucked up the whole thing is.
I'll just put this in the comments rather than editing the OP and making it even longer. One thing that really pissed me off (though it didn't surprise me) was something the lawyer I consulted told me. Basically I have to be very careful now and censor what I tell my psychologist. He (the lawyer) did not like the fact that I had recently informed my therapist that I had been drinking at night to cope with hellworld. I was informed that the means-testers will be reading over all my doctors notes, including any psychologist or psychiatrists I've seen, looking for reasons to disqualify me. And alcohol use is plenty reason enough. So much for doctor-patient confidentiality (which I know is a complete joke in a country where healthcare is privatized). I made sure to tell my psychologist the following week I was not drinking anymore. If I do have any alcohol in the future, I can't tell the only person I could really talk to about it anyway. :agony-acid: