Disability application

aekirk

Hi! I'm new to the group, am a spouse caring for a loved one diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's (age 63). He is still working but it's getting harder. It seems like he should apply for disability, but I'm not sure where to start. I will need to help him a lot with this process, and I also work as the main wage earner, and parent our 9 y/o. I am juggling a lot, and trying to figure out the most efficient way to do this. Any suggestions or guidance appreciated. Thx much!!

Belle60

We went through the same thing. My DH continued to work despite needing to retire. We could not apply for disability until he actually retired. He could not be employed and file for SS disability but you can recieve regular social security while your disability application is being processed. We did not choose that option. His SS disability application took 5 months to process.

Depending on what kind of work he does it might be beneficial to look into reasonable accomodations so he can remain working, One of the hardest things to do is to retire on someone elses terms. He had a difficult time with it. So keeping him working as long as possible was important.

Dio

Not sure about all the rules, but in order to receive SSDI, he cannot be working. But if he qualifies to receive social security, he can apply for that while still working. The way the payment amount is calculated may be a tad tricky. One benefit of SSDI is that Medicare kicks in 24 mos. post SSDI. In your case, this may not necessarily be beneficial since your spouse is already 63.

Iris L.

He can take short term leave of absence aka sick leave, pending completion of his medical and neurological evaluations. This is because sick leave usually requires only a doctor's signature. During this time, you can be applying for SSDI, which requires a great deal of medical documentation. Inquires about Compassionate Allowance, which can fast-track his application. Don't tell the job that he has AD because they might find an excuse to fire him and he could lose all benefits.

Iris