I assisted someone in the process to receive SSDI and it was the most kafkaesque process I've ever experienced. I think every individual person at the SSA invol

I assisted someone in the process to receive SSDI and it was the most kafkaesque process I've ever experienced. I think every individual person at the SSA involved in the case was trying their best, but it really feels like the organization functions in a way to prevent as many people as possible from getting the benefits they qualify for. The process took us about a year and required us to bring back the same forms and supporting documentation over and over and over again. Of course this all has to be done in person so I hope your disability doesn't make it difficult for you to get transportation and accommodations during business hours! You're told by Alice at the SSA that you need Form A with supporting documents. You bring back the documents the next day and find out that Alice is not there and you have to speak to Bob. Bob tells you that you actually needed Form B so he refuses to process what you brought in. A few days later you get a scary letter saying that because you didn't get Form A processed in time, your application has been denied. So you have to meet with Alice again who tells you that Bob was wrong, and they restart your application. Not only is this frustrating but it proved to be critical when it came to calculating back pay. If you don't know, when you are approved for SSDI you receive backpay starting from the date you first applied, minus a few weeks or months. Well because our application kept getting unfairly denied, we didn't receive any backpay for over a year of trying to get approved.