Episode Transcript
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Meghan Smallwood (00:00):
Welcome back
to the Postsecondary Transition
podcast where we haveconversations around the ins and
outs and everything in betweenof the transition process for
families of students withdisabilities. I'm one of the
hosts. My name is MeghanSmallwood.
Patrick Cadigan (00:13):
And my name is
Patrick Cadigan, and we are both
public school transitioncoordinators. This week, we
wanted to have a conversationabout the conversations we've
either been having or beenhearing about as it relates to
SSI and the online quote,unquote process. Now, full
disclosure, I say we, what Ireally mean to say is she i.e.
(00:35):
Meghan. This is something thatMeghan has mentioned several
times.
Meghan Smallwood (00:39):
Yeah, and I
feel like, when we talk about
what our conversations are goingto be, I usually have to think
for a minute. But this time, Iwas like, I know exactly what we
should talk about, because Ihear about it at least once a
day from a parent or a teacheror just somebody in general.
SSI, how do you apply? I feellike, historically, parents had
always been told it's better tocall, make an appointment and go
(01:01):
in person, and so that's kind ofthe route I always went. But I
know there definitely was ashift after Covid, and even more
so in the past couple years,just with staffing and the
abundance of requests that comein, I've heard from a number of
families now saying that theyare encouraged to apply
electronically or online. So Iwent and I checked it out
(01:23):
myself, and I can see how itgets a little confusing. And I
think we've talked about thisbefore, because I know we had
another conversation around SSI,which was very popular. I think
the biggest mistake, or hold upI see families having is that
they automatically go forSSDI...
Patrick Cadigan (01:43):
Yes.
Meghan Smallwood (01:43):
...because
when you get on the web page,
you see disability and clickright there.
Patrick Cadigan (01:47):
You know and
it's funny you should say that,
because I remember when youknow, one of our last
conversations, we had talkedabout the Disability Employment
event that we went to, and therewas a panel they talked about
SSI, and they kept referringback like they kept like being
they were very specific to saythat SSI is different than SSDI.
(02:10):
And yet it seems to be thisthing that keeps coming up,
Meghan Smallwood (02:10):
Cheat sheet.
Patrick Cadigan (02:12):
...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 basicallygoing to introduce the cheat
that comes up. I am going tocreate a...
sheet. So, Meghan for familieswho are applying, who are
(02:39):
planning to apply for SSIelectronically, where do they
start?
Meghan Smallwood (02:45):
You can go to
the Social Security
Administration website, which iswww.ssa.gov, that's your
starting point. I know it getsvery overwhelming, because it
took me a minute. I was like,"Okay, I'm just going to take my
time and go through thisslowly," but you will definitely
start by clicking on benefits,and it gives a description of
(03:07):
SSI versus SSDI when you're inthere. And I think it's
important to read what theeligibility is, because with
SSDI, it will go into specificsabout being injured on a job.
SSI, will talk about having thatlong term disability that
prevents you from working. Somake sure under type you click
(03:29):
on Supplemental Security Income(SSI).
Patrick Cadigan (03:32):
As you're
telling me this, I'm literally
I've opened...
Meghan Smallwood (03:36):
...gone
through it...
Patrick Cadigan (03:37):
Yeah, I've
opened my web browser. I'm going
through this step by step. I amso ready.
Meghan Smallwood (03:43):
I love it.
Okay, well, then you can call itout if there's any corrections
that need to be made.
Patrick Cadigan (03:48):
Let's see,
so...
Meghan Smallwood (03:50):
So then you're
going to want to apply for an
adult age 18 and over, becauseremember, we're not doing any
SSI application until your youngadult is 18.
Patrick Cadigan (04:00):
And do you want
to quickly remind everyone, why
is it that they have to waituntil after 18 before they apply
for SSI.
Meghan Smallwood (04:11):
Yeah, it's
because it takes a little time
for their system or database torecognize that the individual is
now an adult. It has to be thefirst full month that they are
18. So for example, if yourbirthday is November 6, you're
going to want to wait untilDecember to apply. That's just
best practice, so that theyfully recognize that you are 18.
(04:32):
They're looking at only yourassets, or your young adults
assets, and no one else. It justmakes the process a little less
complex.
Patrick Cadigan (04:41):
They've gone to
the website, they've clicked on
the Benefits tab, and they'regoing to by type, they're going
to click on SupplementalSecurity Income, SSI, and then
there's a button there that theycan click on that says, "Learn
How To Apply."
Meghan Smallwood (04:57):
Yep, and
you're going to apply for an
adult age 18. And over, and theywill ask which SSI program you
want to apply for, and then youwill see that it will say
Supplemental Security Income fordisability. So they do use the
word disability in there, butyou want to make sure it's
Supplemental Security Income,SSI. That's the only benefit for
(05:20):
this purpose that you want toapply for. So do not select any
other box except for that one,and then you will click apply
online. Did it work? As youcheck me...
Patrick Cadigan (05:34):
I got to do
Supplemental Security Income for
Disability. And then no otherboxes and then Learn How To
Apply.
Meghan Smallwood (05:45):
Yep and
they'll have a check box saying
you understand and agree tothose statements. They're very
thorough.
Patrick Cadigan (05:52):
They're keeping
it direct.
Meghan Smallwood (05:53):
Yes.
Patrick Cadigan (05:53):
which is
good...
Meghan Smallwood (05:55):
...but it is a
little scary or intimidating, as
I was going through it, I'mlike, "Oh, I don't want to mess
this up at all, you know."
Patrick Cadigan (06:01):
Well and again,
like any typical bureaucratic
based website, there's otherthings to look at. And of
course, you're always probablythinking, Am I missing
something?
Meghan Smallwood (06:11):
Yes, exactly.
Patrick Cadigan (06:13):
Is it, you
know, am I on the right page?
Like I think I'm on the rightpage I was on the right page the
last time. But no, no, thisseems to be pretty
straightforward.
Meghan Smallwood (06:21):
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 newapplication. And I went back and
forth on how you select howyou're applying, because you can
opt to apply for yourself, youknow, as representing your young
adult, or you can selectapplying for someone else. And
(06:45):
when I went through it, itlooked like the easiest option
was to select, I am applying formyself.
Patrick Cadigan (06:52):
So the idea is
that you are essentially
becoming the placeholder foryour child. And so when you are
entering in that information,you are entering in that
information as if you were them.
Meghan Smallwood (07:02):
For them,
right. Because you're ultimately
going to make a Social Securityaccount for them, because then
it will ask if you already haveone set up, and if you don't,
that is the process where youwill go next to start making a
Social Security account. Andthen I kind of stopped there,
because that's where it requiresyou to create an account with
(07:24):
either login.gov, or id.me, andI figured, families can take it
from there.
Patrick Cadigan (07:32):
And the one
thing that I will throw out
there, and this is just being atech guy, when you create that
password, make sure that it issecure. There's ways to do it to
be safe, but definitely, andthis is a challenge that I run
into with my parents all thetime, just definitely make sure
you write it down. For somebodylike myself, like I have a
password manager, which is acomputer program that will
(07:55):
create passwords for me and thenessentially store them. But that
is not a typical practice. Sojust make sure that when you
create this account, that youare writing down those
passwords, and then you know howto get back to them.
Meghan Smallwood (08:07):
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 ofdocuments for her coordinator as
they're preparing for the waiverapplication, and it was noted on
there about Social Security, I'mlooking for the eligibility
letter, and I think that thecoordinator was trying to make
sure that they had SSI, and hadput something in there about the
(08:30):
SSI account. And the mother gotvery nervous and said, I'm not
giving anyone that information.
I said, No, no, no, do not giveout the account information to
your CCS or anybody else. Theyshould not need any of that. The
only thing they need is the wordletter from SSI stating that
they are eligible. So I justwanted to throw that out there
as well. No one will be goinginto this account, except for
you.
Patrick Cadigan (08:51):
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'vesubmitted all the documents that
they need. Once that applicationis completed, then you go back
to the website. What purposedoes the website serve at that
point?
Meghan Smallwood (09:08):
This was a
really cool feature that I
actually don't remember everseeing, and I'm not sure if they
updated or I just got toooverwhelmed and didn't go down,
you know, the right path. Butyou can actually check to the
status to see where you are inthe application process. And so
I think you just have to enteryour password, obviously, and go
into your account, but you cansee if there's been any progress
(09:30):
on there. Additionally, you canestimate how long it might take
to get a response from SSI, andthat you can do without even
going into your account. Itactually has on there where you
can put the month in the yearthat you applied, and it'll give
you an estimate for when youmight hear some determination
from them. So there's familiesthat I know are still waiting,
(09:51):
and you could always go backand, you know, back date it to
the month and year you put it inif you're still waiting on
there, just to see when itshould 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 thatit 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, whicheven 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 intomy 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'tknow if it was always an option,
or if it just, like I said, withcovid has become more of a
thing, and I know short staffed,and people aren't, you know, in
the office as much. And there'sjust, I know that they actually
(10:41):
one thing I know we mentionedwhen we talked previously about
SSI is that families might getletters from departments or
offices in Virginia, or, I thinkit was like West Virginia or
Kentucky, something crazy likethat, because they've had to
outsource and have other officeshelp with the eligibility. And
one thing I learned from aparent too is that the offices
don't always talk, so you mighthave an office in West Virginia
(11:03):
handling your your case, andthen you go to the office by
your house and give them yourrental agreement. Well, they're
not communicating. So it getsvery convoluted and confusing,
and I can understand what afrustrating 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 outcrazy, but it sounds like then
that this will be a nicesupplement to that discussion
that we had about SSI. So it wasglad that we could have that,
(11:40):
and there will be a link in theshow notes to the website for
the application. And I have asneaking suspicion that Meghan
is probably going to make hercheat 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 afantastic place to end this
conversation, because we'regoing 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 forjoining us.
Meghan Smallwood (12:12):
Thanks
everyone.
Patrick Cadigan (12:21):
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(12:44):
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