Disability question for any researchers/scientists/authors out there??

Hi, Nasalady,
Wow - you really ARE a "nasa" lady! What you do sounds so exciting, although I'm gathering it doesn't feel as exciting doing these things when you're not feeling well.

I'm sure not the expert on disability here. I'm stumbling around in that labrynth myself. Straydog is kind of our resident "expert", since she worked in that area for many years, and I'm sure she'll be along soon.

Since I've got some academic background, I can understand where you're coming from - especially the desire to want to continue contributing to your profession. I would think, though, that working full time versus contributing occasionally to papers might be different, although I know I've heard straydog say it can be "risky" to continue working after you receive SSD. Maybe it's also going to relate to whether you are just involved in analyzing data and writing activities, or whether you'd be going off on those trips to Hawaii. And what the basis for your disability is - inability to do physical activities or things like difficulty thinking clearly (which would make it difficult to author papers, etc.). I really feel for you, as participating in our profession can be part of what's brought meaning to our lives.

Hopefully straydog will be along to comment on this.

PaLady

Hello,

I'm on SSD,SSi and am able to work part-time up to a certian amount per month before they start to deduct from my income. they drop the ssi payment, but keep the SSD. If you call or write SSA they will talk to you about it. Not sure if this helps you or not but thought I would try. I live in N.Y. but I'm sure it applies to the other states.

PAlady said...
Hi, Nasalady,
I'm sure not the expert on disability here. I'm stumbling around in that labrynth myself. Straydog is kind of our resident "expert", since she worked in that area for many years, and I'm sure she'll be along soon.

Since I've got some academic background, I can understand where you're coming from - especially the desire to want to continue contributing to your profession. I would think, though, that working full time versus contributing occasionally to papers might be different, although I know I've heard straydog say it can be "risky" to continue working after you receive SSD. Maybe it's also going to relate to whether you are just involved in analyzing data and writing activities, or whether you'd be going off on those trips to Hawaii. And what the basis for your disability is - inability to do physical activities or things like difficulty thinking clearly (which would make it difficult to author papers, etc.). I really feel for you, as participating in our profession can be part of what's brought meaning to our lives.

Thanks so much for your reply, PALady! I'm very glad that someone understands where I'm coming from!

My illnesses affect both my abilities to do physical activities and mental activities. And I haven't been on an observing run in a very long time. I haven't been to a scientific meeting for quite some time either. I probably will never be able to do any of those activities again....

I figured that it might be risky (if I'm on SSDI) to be involved in a paper....it might be misunderstood, exactly the way that bsjaguar apparently misunderstood my post.

I want everyone who reads this thread to understand that if I am able to do any work on a paper, it is EXTREMELY difficult for me!! I have severe brain fog and memory loss at times, I'm also frequently in excruciating pain; I have vertigo and nausea and headaches and my back, neck, rib cage, feet, hands, etc. etc HURT very badly. Not simultaneously thank goodness, and not all of the time....my various body parts usually take turns giving me grief.

Of course, this is why I'm posting on this forum.

If I do work on a paper on any given day I am fully aware that I will probably pay for it by feeling worse the next day. This is the nature of fibromyalgia....and of the other autoimmune diseases that I suffer from. I know many of you understand how this works. But it is important to me to try to do this.

Yes, it does give meaning to my life; it's part of my identity as a person. I would HATE to give it up completely.

Now slow down there Nasalady. I think you took my comment way to seriously. I was only looking at it like SS would. They wouldn't know that you took breaks often or that you had to skip days before your pain levels were too high. All they would see was that you were able to complete complex documents.

I am still able to function also but not for 40 hrs per week. I was considering volunteering at the senior center a few hours per week just to get out of the house and feel like I was accomplishing something besides housework but decided against it while I am in the process of filing for SSDI. As far as I know when you are in the process of filing you cannot be employed at all. After you start receiving SSDI you can work part time and earn up to a certain amount.

NasaLady we have had several discussions here and you can do a search to pull up info on SSD. Also, SSA.gov is the official website to get great info on whether a person is eligible for SSD. It can be a very long battle for most. The key is to not give up and keep moving forward if you decide to take that direction. Also, you need your drs behind you 500% saying you are disabled.

SS offers a work for program for people that are on SSD and feel after they have been on it a while they may be physically capable of doing some kind of work. It would be your best interest to go to the website and read the particulars on working and drawing SSD at the same time. There are limits on many things including how much money you can make before SS penalizes you.

Nasalady,
I can't answer your question for you as I'm not yet on SSDI, but I will be looking for any one who can. But my hunch - and it's just that, a hunch - is that no one will be able to give you a definitive answer. You mentioned above (sort of jokingly, I think) that would SSD think you could write prof. papers if you were able to post on a forum like this. Honestly, I think that's even possible. I think I also read somewhere about being careful to not even volunteer anywhere, because they could look at any activities and take that into account. I wanted to sign up to volunteer at a local animal shelter, and won't do that in any formal way until I'm way on the other side of this SSD stuff - and even then, may not (course, I may not be able to do it, as I can't do a lot of what they need with the animals).

Like you, I hope to somehow, someway still be able to keep my hand in my profession, even if I can't work. Maybe via a little writing, teaching a CE workshop now and then, or something along those lines. I'm 60 years old, and it's probably going to take me awhile to get SSD, but after that I have to find some way of doing meaningful activity in my life. I don't know what that will be, and it likely will be for little or no money, but if I find something that makes me feel like I'm able to use all I've learned and experienced, I'll fight my buns off to do it!

Let me know if you learn anything more on this issue, ok?

Thanks!

PaLady

My situation is very similar to yours. Research & publishing for years, and then...

I was advised by both my Social Security attorney AND my private Long Term Disability attorney that continuing to publish, however minimally, could indicate that I was able to mentally (and to some extent physically) operate at a level consistent with my pre-disability work... a no-no.

I know for a fact that the LTD people observe me from time to time, AND do internet searches to determine what I've been up to. I have seen their files, they had to open them to me for a suit I had to file. They *will* find your name on any research papers out there. I haven't, to this point, had them try & use that against me, but they did try to use the fact that my business still has an operational website.

I have to agree that continuing to be part of such a high-level work product is not a great idea while going through the process of obtaining SS disability. However, I also know through experiance that SS does not put the effort into researching what you've been doing that a private LTD company does. Neither SS nor LTD noticed that during the initial disability period I was claiming (while progressively losing cognitive abilities) I was involved as 2ond or 3rd author on about 5 papers (actual work mostly done before disability.).

SS just isn't designed to handle academics! (I guess we don't get sick often enough? lol) SS focuses more on asking what you've been doing and getting documentation from your doctors, often substantiated by inspection from their doctors.

That said, being first author and feeling a responsibility to the lessor authors would definitly prompt me to go the extra mile and at least finish the almost-competed paper you describe.

For me, my initial disability progressed and cognitive function decreased for about 4 years (to *really* bad), so continued research/publishing just wasn't a possibility. Finally a treatment managed to stop and somewhat reverse my brain damage. (At one point I was tested and they told me I'd lost 20 IQ points. lol) Now about 3 years later I recently had the urge to find & read a few papers in my field. I don't know if I'll ever get back to that or not, as understanding & absorbing these papers certainly wasn't what it used to be.

In my field, research moves so rapidly that working a few hours here and there just isn't sufficient to keep up, and none of my papers would have been accepted anywhere if I'd tried to continue - they just would have been behind the times. I don't know if that's true for you or not.

I don't know if I've answered your question or not -- my experienced opinion is:
Can you publish while seeking SS disability? - yeah, if you keep it to work/data collection done before disability, I think you'd be safe.
Can you publish after being awarded disability? You could, and probably not be questioned by SS, but if you are questioned you'd better have drs & documentation showing how slowly you worked...and have the energy to pursue the argument. You will almost definitely be questioned/challenged about it by LTD. So far I've chosen not to risk it -- mostly because I *was* questioned by LTD (due to improved blood results) and it wasn't fun.

Cheers,

Lynnwood said...

I don't know if I've answered your question or not -- my experienced opinion is:
Can you publish while seeking SS disability? - yeah, if you keep it to work/data collection done before disability, I think you'd be safe.
Can you publish after being awarded disability? You could, and probably not be questioned by SS, but if you are questioned you'd better have drs & documentation showing how slowly you worked...and have the energy to pursue the argument. You will almost definitely be questioned/challenged about it by LTD. So far I've chosen not to risk it -- mostly because I *was* questioned by LTD (due to improved blood results) and it wasn't fun.

Lynnwood, thank you so much! This is exactly the type of information I was looking for! And I didn't even think about the LTD company....which I should have, because I do have LTD through work and they would definitely be involved in any disability claim I made.

Yes, I too am having serious cognitive issues at times....I just had to turn down the contract to teach my regular spring semester college math class because, not only have I just been too ill physically to make it to all of the class sessions, but sometimes I can't even do simple arithmetic in my head anymore.

It will be a challenge to finish this one paper I'm working on right now because of that; fortunately, as first author I can delegate various tasks to the others (at least ask if they have time to do them) and so will get some help with any complicated mathematical calculations required. Fortunately, much of that work was done before, and so now I will simply tie together the bits and pieces and create a cohesive whole......hopefully! Loss of vocabulary is a BIG problem too. Thank goodness for the online thesaurus! :)

Thank you again for sharing your experiences!
JoAnn