participating in the SSDI crawl blog

[Guest guest]

All she needs to do is follow the link to the website and the blog

(on the left). She will then be free to comment as she likes.

I will also try to make the blog subscribable, so new posts will come

by email or RSS reader. Can't do that until I get settled in for the

night, though.

regarding:

*You have taken the words out of so many of our mouths.

Thank you.

Congress needs to read this blog with our thousands of signatures and

same stories.

I have been in support groups with people dying ( 6 mths to live 1 yr

to go) and they are waiting for approval?

This is wickedly cruel.

I love the perspective you place it in.

Where do I sign on?

Carol*

\

regarding:

Hi,

If you're reading this, it's because you're in my contacts list as

someone who understands the issues with sick buildings, mold, and

other environmental health issues. It's not my intention to impose,

and I won't be sending these often. Please let me know if I should

remove you from this list.

It has been over 4 years since I was injured while working in a water-

damaged building at the CDC. I have spent those years fighting for

recognition of this problem, and I'm happy to say that with many of

us working together, the GAO has finally issued its report

recommending federally-funded research be coordinated and handled by

the CIAQ office. Please support efforts to get this recommendation

mandated and funded through Congress!

On the personal front, I have also spent these years battling the

insurance companies and Social Security - which is the topic of this

announcement. I am so very, very tired. And there is so much yet to

be done. But I won't back down. After waiting, filing papers,

appealing, doing whatever was demanded of me, I'm heading back to

Atlanta (slowly, slowly) to duke it out with them or die trying. It's

that simple. To get the policy benefits I paid for year in and year

out, and to get the Social Security benefits I worked for decade

after decade when I could still work.

Most people do not realize that over 16,000 Americans have died

waiting for Social Security Disability Benefits that never arrived.

Some of them were like me - people whose illnesses were misunderstood

or outright ignored. And that's not ok. I don't know when bureaucracy

became more important than the people it was supposed to serve, but

it's time for that to end. If I do nothing, I will become one of the

casualties. So. Off I go. If they will not do the right and honorable

thing because it's the right and honorable thing, then we'll see if

they do it out of public embarassment.

-Announcing the SSDI Due Process Crawl-

Starting on November 9th, I began a personal trek I call The Social

Security Disability Crawl. Other causes have 'marches', 'walks' or

'runs'. But if I could do those? Then I wouldn't be dealing with

Social

Security.

Due to brain injury, I have a very hard time with numbers, but my

calculations show that as of today, November 8, 2008, IT HAS BEEN

1,351 DAYS since I

became disabled and unable to work.

It has been just about as long since I applied for Social Security

Disability benefits, but they have let my claim sit, despite

inquiries

from my congressman and actions by my lawyers and my doctors on my

behalf.

IT HAS BEEN 635 DAYS since UNUMProvident wrongfully dropped my claim

to the Long Term Disability policy I paid for years on end. They sent

a

letter claiming I did not suffer from a disease which doesn't even

exist. Which is true. I don't duffer from any made-up diseases. But I

do suffer from the very real ones I claimed, and those were ignored.

In that time, UNUMProvident has violated the MultiState Settlement

agreement they signed in lieu of being tried under the RICO

(organized crime) statutes more than a dozen times, just within my

own claim. On October 23 of this year, UNUMProvident was found guilty

by a federal jury of defrauding the American government by knowingly

forcing ineligible claimants to file for Social Security Disability

benefits - clogging the system even more, and making God alone knows

how many people suffer through this.

IT HAS BEEN 396 DAYS since I became homeless due to these lies,

failures, and outright abuses. I have lost everything I ever worked

for

- my home, car, profession - everything. I get no help from my home

state of Georgia. Georgia, like some states, has contracted with the

Social Security Administration to make its disability determinations -

and we can see how well that works out.

So today, I say enough is enough! I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna

take

it any more. I've followed the rules, I've done everything I was

asked.

I've been patient. I've written letters. I've waited my turn like a

civilized person. I'm not a bum or a greedy person. I worked hard for

nearly 40 years and tried to make sure I did the responsible things

about preparing for a situation such as this, just like a lot of

working

people have done. I liked what I did for a living. And I'd do it

today,

if I only could. But now I'm just sick. And so very, very tired. And

now

I know what happens to Joe the Plumber when he can't be Joe the

Plumber any more. It isn't pretty.

But I know I'm not alone. There thousands upon thousands of us being

treated like this, and others who understand what is happening to us.

I'm just thankful I can at least make one last ditch effort to bring

this sorry situation to a halt. It might not be pretty. But neither

was

the Boston Tea Party or the march on Birmingham. I might not succeed

at

all. In which case, I won't have anything to worry about any more.

But I

will not go quietly. And at least I'll know I've done my best.

I invite you to follow along with me on this journey I call The

Social

Security Disability Crawl.

You can see the blog and video family and friends are helping with

here:

http://sites.google.com/site/ssdicrawl/

This will be updated as I go, hopefully daily.

And you can send me email at:

pushcrash@...

I would love to hear from you! You'll never know how much your good

wishes mean to me and what strength they give me when I think I can't

move

even one more inch.

JoEllen

P.S. - I will not ask you for money. I don't want your money. I only

want mine - the benefits I worked for and paid into for all those

years, that's all.

--

Follow along with me on The SSDI Due Process Crawl.

Website:

http://sites.google.com/site/ssdicrawl/

The Daily Crawl Blog:

http://pushcrash.wordpress.com/