Meghan Smallwood: 0:00

Welcome back to the Postsecondary Transition podcast where we have conversations around the ins and outs and everything in between of the transition process for families of students with disabilities. I'm one of the hosts. My name is Meghan Smallwood.

Patrick Cadigan: 0:13

And my name is Patrick Cadigan, and we are both public school transition coordinators. This week, we wanted to have a conversation about the conversations we've either been having or been hearing about as it relates to SSI and the online quote, unquote process. Now, full disclosure, I say we, what I really mean to say is she i.e. Meghan. This is something that Meghan has mentioned several times.

Meghan Smallwood: 0:39

Yeah, and I feel like, when we talk about what our conversations are going to be, I usually have to think for a minute. But this time, I was like, I know exactly what we should talk about, because I hear about it at least once a day from a parent or a teacher or just somebody in general. SSI, how do you apply? I feel like, historically, parents had always been told it's better to call, make an appointment and go in person, and so that's kind of the route I always went. But I know there definitely was a shift after Covid, and even more so in the past couple years, just with staffing and the abundance of requests that come in, I've heard from a number of families now saying that they are encouraged to apply electronically or online. So I went and I checked it out myself, and I can see how it gets a little confusing. And I think we've talked about this before, because I know we had another conversation around SSI, which was very popular. I think the biggest mistake, or hold up I see families having is that they automatically go for SSDI...

Patrick Cadigan: 1:43

Yes.

Meghan Smallwood: 1:43

...because when you get on the web page, you see disability and click right there.

Patrick Cadigan: 1:47

You know and it's funny you should say that, because I remember when you know, one of our last conversations, we had talked about the Disability Employment event that we went to, and there was a panel they talked about SSI, and they kept referring back like they kept like being they were very specific to say that SSI is different than SSDI. And yet it seems to be this thing that keeps coming up,

Meghan Smallwood: 2:10

Cheat sheet.

Patrick Cadigan: 2:12

...a cheat sheet, right? This is what I'm this, this confusion. All right, so Meghan, being Meghan, and the person that she is, she's like, all right, this is something going to do. So I am basically going to introduce the cheat that comes up. I am going to create a... sheet. So, Meghan for families who are applying, who are planning to apply for SSI electronically, where do they start?

Meghan Smallwood: 2:45

You can go to the Social Security Administration website, which is www.ssa.gov, that's your starting point. I know it gets very overwhelming, because it took me a minute. I was like,"Okay, I'm just going to take my time and go through this slowly," but you will definitely start by clicking on benefits, and it gives a description of SSI versus SSDI when you're in there. And I think it's important to read what the eligibility is, because with SSDI, it will go into specifics about being injured on a job. SSI, will talk about having that long term disability that prevents you from working. So make sure under type you click on Supplemental Security Income(SSI).

Patrick Cadigan: 3:32

As you're telling me this, I'm literally I've opened...

Meghan Smallwood: 3:36

...gone through it...

Patrick Cadigan: 3:37

Yeah, I've opened my web browser. I'm going through this step by step. I am so ready.

Meghan Smallwood: 3:43

I love it. Okay, well, then you can call it out if there's any corrections that need to be made.

Patrick Cadigan: 3:48

Let's see, so...

Meghan Smallwood: 3:50

So then you're going to want to apply for an adult age 18 and over, because remember, we're not doing any SSI application until your young adult is 18.

Patrick Cadigan: 4:00

And do you want to quickly remind everyone, why is it that they have to wait until after 18 before they apply for SSI.

Meghan Smallwood: 4:11

Yeah, it's because it takes a little time for their system or database to recognize that the individual is now an adult. It has to be the first full month that they are 18. So for example, if your birthday is November 6, you're going to want to wait until December to apply. That's just best practice, so that they fully recognize that you are 18. They're looking at only your assets, or your young adults assets, and no one else. It just makes the process a little less complex.

Patrick Cadigan: 4:41

They've gone to the website, they've clicked on the Benefits tab, and they're going to by type, they're going to click on Supplemental Security Income, SSI, and then there's a button there that they can click on that says, "Learn How To Apply."

Meghan Smallwood: 4:57

Yep, and you're going to apply for an adult age 18. And over, and they will ask which SSI program you want to apply for, and then you will see that it will say Supplemental Security Income for disability. So they do use the word disability in there, but you want to make sure it's Supplemental Security Income, SSI. That's the only benefit for this purpose that you want to apply for. So do not select any other box except for that one, and then you will click apply online. Did it work? As you check me...

Patrick Cadigan: 5:34

I got to do Supplemental Security Income for Disability. And then no other boxes and then Learn How To Apply.

Meghan Smallwood: 5:45

Yep and they'll have a check box saying you understand and agree to those statements. They're very thorough.

Patrick Cadigan: 5:52

They're keeping it direct.

Meghan Smallwood: 5:53

Yes.

Patrick Cadigan: 5:53

which is good...

Meghan Smallwood: 5:55

...but it is a little scary or intimidating, as I was going through it, I'm like, "Oh, I don't want to mess this up at all, you know."

Patrick Cadigan: 6:01

Well and again, like any typical bureaucratic based website, there's other things to look at. And of course, you're always probably thinking, Am I missing something?

Meghan Smallwood: 6:11

Yes, exactly.

Patrick Cadigan: 6:13

Is it, you know, am I on the right page? Like I think I'm on the right page I was on the right page the last time. But no, no, this seems to be pretty straightforward.

Meghan Smallwood: 6:21

Yeah, once you once you get in there, and you know what you're looking for, it's really not too bad. But then you will start a new application. And I went back and forth on how you select how you're applying, because you can opt to apply for yourself, you know, as representing your young adult, or you can select applying for someone else. And when I went through it, it looked like the easiest option was to select, I am applying for myself.

Patrick Cadigan: 6:52

So the idea is that you are essentially becoming the placeholder for your child. And so when you are entering in that information, you are entering in that information as if you were them.

Meghan Smallwood: 7:02

For them, right. Because you're ultimately going to make a Social Security account for them, because then it will ask if you already have one set up, and if you don't, that is the process where you will go next to start making a Social Security account. And then I kind of stopped there, because that's where it requires you to create an account with either login.gov, or id.me, and I figured, families can take it from there.

Patrick Cadigan: 7:32

And the one thing that I will throw out there, and this is just being a tech guy, when you create that password, make sure that it is secure. There's ways to do it to be safe, but definitely, and this is a challenge that I run into with my parents all the time, just definitely make sure you write it down. For somebody like myself, like I have a password manager, which is a computer program that will create passwords for me and then essentially store them. But that is not a typical practice. So just make sure that when you create this account, that you are writing down those passwords, and then you know how to get back to them.

Meghan Smallwood: 8:07

And one thing that actually came up today when I was meeting with the parent, she was completing the list of or gathering the list of documents for her coordinator as they're preparing for the waiver application, and it was noted on there about Social Security, I'm looking for the eligibility letter, and I think that the coordinator was trying to make sure that they had SSI, and had put something in there about the SSI account. And the mother got very nervous and said, I'm not giving anyone that information. I said, No, no, no, do not give out the account information to your CCS or anybody else. They should not need any of that. The only thing they need is the word letter from SSI stating that they are eligible. So I just wanted to throw that out there as well. No one will be going into this account, except for you.

Patrick Cadigan: 8:51

Got it. At this point; they've created the account, they've logged in, they've done they've taken care of all of the things. They've submitted all the documents that they need. Once that application is completed, then you go back to the website. What purpose does the website serve at that point?

Meghan Smallwood: 9:08

This was a really cool feature that I actually don't remember ever seeing, and I'm not sure if they updated or I just got too overwhelmed and didn't go down, you know, the right path. But you can actually check to the status to see where you are in the application process. And so I think you just have to enter your password, obviously, and go into your account, but you can see if there's been any progress on there. Additionally, you can estimate how long it might take to get a response from SSI, and that you can do without even going into your account. It actually has on there where you can put the month in the year that you applied, and it'll give you an estimate for when you might hear some determination from them. So there's families that I know are still waiting, and you could always go back and, you know, back date it to the month and year you put it in if you're still waiting on there, just to see when it should be going through.

Patrick Cadigan: 10:01

So this seems to be somewhat of an upgrade from...

Meghan Smallwood: 10:04

Yeah.

Patrick Cadigan: 10:04

... last time that we had this conversation, because, yes, I do remember that it was very clear that you, if you were going to apply for SSI, you had to do it in person. You could not do it online, which even even back then, I thought that was kind of weird, but...

Meghan Smallwood: 10:19

Yeah, it's one of those things that was always, like, ingrained and drilled into my head when I started this role. And I'm like, okay, okay, like, I guess that's just the better option. But so I don't know if it was always an option, or if it just, like I said, with covid has become more of a thing, and I know short staffed, and people aren't, you know, in the office as much. And there's just, I know that they actually one thing I know we mentioned when we talked previously about SSI is that families might get letters from departments or offices in Virginia, or, I think it was like West Virginia or Kentucky, something crazy like that, because they've had to outsource and have other offices help with the eligibility. And one thing I learned from a parent too is that the offices don't always talk, so you might have an office in West Virginia handling your your case, and then you go to the office by your house and give them your rental agreement. Well, they're not communicating. So it gets very convoluted and confusing, and I can understand what a frustrating mess it can be for parents.

Patrick Cadigan: 11:18

Wait a minute, a governmental bureaucracy that is convoluted and frustrating, and you know, the hand doesn't talk to the foot or get out crazy, but it sounds like then that this will be a nice supplement to that discussion that we had about SSI. So it was glad that we could have that, and there will be a link in the show notes to the website for the application. And I have a sneaking suspicion that Meghan is probably going to make her cheat sheet available as well. So...

Meghan Smallwood: 11:54

Took the words out of my mouth...

Patrick Cadigan: 11:55

Yeah.

Meghan Smallwood: 11:55

...it's coming soon.

Patrick Cadigan: 11:56

Yeah, so this is going to be really helpful, and I think that that is a fantastic place to end this conversation, because we're going to have more coming up, and we're looking forward to it.

Meghan Smallwood: 12:09

Yes, we are.

Patrick Cadigan: 12:10

All right. Well, thank you everybody for joining us.

Meghan Smallwood: 12:12

Thanks everyone.

Patrick Cadigan: 12:21

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