Tatiana(white woman with honey-brown hair) smiling while holding her rose breasted cockatoo. The picture is cropped at chest-height.

How-tos and Questions About Filing for Disability

I am honored that Alison invited me to write a post about filing for disability from an attorney’s perspective. I hope to answer some of the most common questions claimants ask in regards to filing for disability. But first, let me introduce myself. My name is Tatiana Froes. I am a disability attorney practicing disability…

me, sitting and looking at a pond
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Can you get disability if you have FND?

Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) is a relatively common (though rarely properly diagnosed) condition. I was diagnosed in 2003 when it was still being called Conversion Disorder (and labeled as a mental illness rather than a neurological condition). I want to be really clear about this: the condition you have (your diagnosis) is less impactful on…

red sign in front of a set of tree trunks. the sign reads: Eat, drink, and be married, with hearts at the beginning and end of the sign, and arrows pointing to the right.
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Can you get married on disability? The reasons I won’t

While I’ve talked about this a bit previously, I want to dig a bit more into the idea of getting or staying married while on disability coverage. The first and most basic thing that I want to emphasize is that this is a choice and that there’s no automatically right or wrong answer. What there…

woman(Alison) leaning against a tree
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Being your own boss on disability: mastering your destiny

As I’ve mentioned on previous posts, you can work while on SSI or SSDI. There are programs, like Ticket to Work and Vocational Rehab programs that can help with the process. However, the reality is that while they can give you information about working, they often are only prepared to help you with calculations related…

shrub maze, on the path looking at the center of the maze
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Navigating the Charity Care Labyrinth

As of July 27, 2020, I am elated to announce that I am no longer in debt to my local hospitals. I’m also very angry that it’s taken as long as it has. To give you some background: I have Functional Neurological Disorder(FND), which is a relatively common (but rarely properly diagnosed) neurological condition that…

How to take care of yourself while applying for government support
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How to take care of yourself while applying for government support

I’ve written about why shame is often attached to utilizing social welfare programs. This post digs more deeply into truths we can recognize and mindsets we can embrace to help protect ourselves from that shame while we use these programs designed to help us. We all use Social welfare programs It’s interesting that we often…

woman in black sleeveless dress sitting on a white surface. She has blue hair with a pink streak on the right side, and her left arm is prosthetic.
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What does it mean to “go on disability”?

The honest answer is that there are a lot of possible meanings. The most typical at this point is to receive Social Security Disability Insurance benefits(SSDI) or Supplemental Security Insurance(SSI), but there really are a lot of additional types of “disability” benefits, each of which has its own set of rules, regulations, and durations. This…