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.
Thanks for the good advice. It's actually one of the things I think is going to screw me: the lack of documentation on a lot of this stuff. I feel totally unprepared and am scrambling to find even the most basic documentation they're requesting. A lot of it was actually lost when I had to evacuate due to fire, but also having AvPD means I have a big problem keeping track of things like that.
And yeah, I completely expect to be denied. It's a flat given. The lawyer I spoke to said it will probably take a couple of years of repeating this process before I see any results. If I see any results. I'm not dreading the rejection itself at all really, I'm dreading having to do this meeting, and knowing I'm going to fuck it up, knowing I'm not going to know what to say, forget everything, etc. So that's excellent advice to write it out. I will work on that. Wish I had more than just a day to do it. But that really is my own goddamn fault. I hardcore procrastinate on everything that looks daunting (which is an aspect of the "avoidance" part of AvPD).
As well as the advice, your solidarity and kindness are deeply appreciated.