How do you know what one the person is on? First of all Social Security Disability recipients receive a primary payment on the third of each month and depending upon how old one is persons born in 1940-1965, must have 20 work credits before they are eligible for social security disability payments.

For each four months in a year a person receives 2 work credits so every year they work they receive 6 credits per year.

Persons born after 1965 only have to work 2.5 years and earn 10 work credits and people before 1940 have to earn 40 work credits .

To qualify for Social Security Disability one must meet two requirements 1) medical and 2) non-medical to be able to receive disability payments. These payments do not become automatic. One must wait six months before one receives his or her first disability payment.

Likewise, the person must be on Social Security Disability for two years before become eligible for Medicare Part A and Part B.

Social Security Supplementary Security Income is the alternate program in which where as if one is disabled and has not been able to work and obtain the 20 work credits to receive disability, the person is able to draw a disability on the grounds of disability.

The requirements for SSI are the same, accept the non-medical reasons. They have already been established and only medical ones need to be met.

SSI payments are received on the first of the month and some SSDI recipients if they had not been able to work full time but part-time may qualify for a SSI payment.

The current SSI payment is $553.00 if there is no other monies come in and no other source of finances.

The current amount of SSDI depends upon the type of work the recipient did and the highest paying job he or she did in the last five years before he or she became disabled.

Regardless to the nature of the disability, everyone is reviewed tri-yearly, some are reviewed yearly, some every seven years, depending on the nature and severity of the disability.

The U.S. Department of Human Services/Social Security Administration allows each state to determine through their state vocational disability review board if the person falls under the rules and meets the criteria for disability payments.

Once a person files an application and all medical information is gathered on and about that person. Social Security then sends to the State Disability Review board run by the State Vocational Services and then they review the records and if they need additional information and are not satsified with what the person's doctors have said, they can and will send the person filing for the disability to a private doctor to get a second opinion.

Social Security pays these medical specialists but the medical specialists are not under Social Security and so forth. Many people think they are.

A typical response takes between sixty and ninety days after the initial application was filed.

What Social Security does not tell anyone is that the two different programs are different. Very different.
One has many more advantages to it, than the other. Both have pitfalls and lead to no where.

The Ticket to Work program was established during the presidency of Bill Clinton. He signed into law that it was to help disabled persons to a better way of life. However, President Clinton nor did The Senate, Congress, or anyone else who helped to write this enactment realized that those of us who have chronic mental health problems and developemental disabilities, most likely will not be able to use it nor will it do any good for us.

The Ticket to Work program will help those who have prior work histories, who do not have a "developemental" disability or prolong mental health histories or psychiatric problems which were onset before their twenty-second birthday.

It will help those individuals that suffer from mental health problems now, but came on after their twenty-second birthday. This is because they were able to work prior to the time they were diagnosed with their particular psychiatric problems.
They have verifiable work history.

Not all psychiatric problems keep people from working full time jobs. No should not use it to stop working. If they are able to continue to work then they need to be given the proper medical attention and medication, supportive services to stay on the job.

For no reason, whatsoever, should any one with Physical disability resort to getting on Social Security at all. They do not have to confront the stigmatism surrounds those of us with mental health and psychiatric problems.

There is no stigmatism surrounding anyone with a physical disability. They do not know how lucky they are. People accept what they can see and don't accept what they can not see.

The Ticket To Workprogram created to help those persons on either SSDI or SSI, however the program for persons on SSI is different.

The formulation for SSI recipients to work is below:

The current payment is $553.00. If a person works Social Security does not count the first $85.00 of the persons earning. They then divide the remainder of the monthly payment one earns from work by 2 . So if the person makes $6.00 a hour and gets paid $480.00 a month.

Social Security uses net pay before the taxes are taking out. Ok so $480.00-$85.00=$395.00 divided 2=$197.50 and then they substract the $553.00-$197.50= monthly payment of $355.55 for the SSI recipient.

Social Disability recipients are able to work for a nine month trial period and collect up to $790.00 a month during that nine month trial work period and still collect their full benefits.

If a Social Security Disability recipient earns over that amount it is considered subtantially and gainfully employed. If this is the case, Social Security will do a medical review on the recipient and if he or she is no longer found to be disabled under the rules of Social Security being disabled. They are allow to collect the last three months of benefits and their medicare and then they are cut off.

Social Security SSI is different as we are not able to keep our full benefits and our work period is calculated differently.

The Ticket to Work certificates were mailed out to varies states to see how it would work out. The first five states to receive these tickets were Iowa, Illinois and three other states. The full program is to go an effect in 2004.

So no matter what state one lives in, if he or she is on either program they will receive a Ticket To Work.

The person can use this ticket to get services for job training, vocational training, supportive services, and anything it takes to help the person become employable and to keep his or her job.

The Tickets can be used at All State Vocational Services, some employment networks, and other agencies that help disabled persons receive services for going back to work. But the agencies must apply for the priviledge of being in the network.

First, understand, there is no guarantee that any of us with a developemental disability will be able to work full-time. Especially if we were born before Special Education came into existence and we as young adults were not given the tools we needed to work on the outside.

Social Security and many State Vocational Services are short-sighted. They don't realize that we can not make anyone hire us and give us the opportunity to join the workforce.

Currently Social Security has a Ticket To Work Incentives Advisory Panel. This panel is made up mainly of physically challenged individuals and persons that may have never suffered from any developemental disability such as learning disabilities, down syndrome, mental retardation to a certain degree or one of many psychiatric illnesses.

This panel does not realize that no one make anyone hire anyone unless there is an incentive to do so.

Like the saying goes " it takes a person to walk a mile in that other person's shoes to understand what he or she is going through and up against".

What this panel does not realize, is that most health insurance will not cover anyone with a pre-existent health condition such as mental illness, depression, or so forth.

Such is the case for many people with particular physical disabilities as well.

The fact remains those persons with a physical disability is more likely to have a work history and experience than a person with a developemental disability.

It is not easy living on a fixed income each month and having to go with out and doing without, just because the Federal government has reduced one to living in proverty and it not being the person's fault.

Individuals that file for SSDI payments should take full advantage of their nine month trial work period regardless of what their doctors have said. This way they can put aside their earning and have something more to live on later on. This is not the case for those of us who live on SSI payments. We do not have the same privilege.

This author who she who herself is disabled due to developemental disability and despite her many attempts to find part time employment is finding many obstacles in her way and is currently using the "Ticket To Work" certificate with the hopes of finding and obtaining a part time job.

However, the outcome is grim. I have now been using this ticket for about three months with my state vocational service and nothing has come from it.

If one is able to continue to work with out the need of applying for Social Security disability benefits under either program, please do.

Utlilize the state vocational services for help and supportive services to help you stay on the job.