Allsup Walks Maryland Mom Through SSDI Process

Obtaining Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) can be a time-consuming and stressful experience. Two out of every three applicants initially are denied. Theresa Edwards had reached an impasse in her life. After years of hard work and sacrifice, the single mother of three found herself jobless and struggling with diabetes, heart disease and finances. Misinformed by a worker at her local Social Security Administration (SSA) office, Ms. Edwards gave up on receiving her disability insurance benefits. Two years later she did her own research and found Allsup on the Internet. Read how Allsup successfully walked Ms. Edwards through the SSDI process.

 

 

 

Odenton, Maryland—Theresa Edwards’ story speaks of self-sacrifice. The single mother spent most of her teens and 20s raising three young children. She wanted a college degree, but the rigors of academia didn’t mesh with demands at home.

 

She ultimately chose a life of hard work and juggling multiple jobs. At 33, she was working 16-hour days, racing from her day job pulling and packing orders at a warehouse to a second job at an ice cream factory. She barely had enough time to change clothes between the two.

 

She dropped the night job after six months of little sleep and mounting childcare costs. But one income stream still wasn’t enough. She worked a handful of second jobs over the course of the next few years. After a fast-food stint came work as an inventory specialist. She traveled to Pennsylvania, Delaware and across Maryland checking inventories through the night.

 

Mrs. Edwards would arrive home just in time to get ready for her day job at the warehouse, which remained one of the few constants in her life. Exhaustion was another. “I didn’t get any sleep whatsoever,” she said. “I wasn’t taking care of myself. I think that’s when my health started to deteriorate.”

 

In the mid-1990s, she moved out of the warehouse and into a data entry position. Later, she was promoted to the customer service department.

 

And that’s when her health started to spiral downward.

 

On a day off, she began to feel out of sorts during a drive to visit her son in northwestern Maryland. Her arms felt heavy. Her head pounded. She craved sleep. A trip that normally took her 45 minutes lasted three hours.

 

She collapsed into her bed upon arriving home. Chest pains soon followed.

 

Her family drove her to the hospital. After a battery of tests, doctors told her she had experienced multiple heart attacks. Surgeons inserted a stent in her heart.

 

Mrs. Edwards, who had a family history of diabetes and heart disease, was in recovery and out of work for six months.

 

Upon her return, she was constantly exhausted. She experienced persistent dizziness. The array of medications made her forgetful, even semi-lucid at times. She fell asleep in the middle of customer service calls.

 

Her superiors responded by lightening her work load and limiting her responsibilities. She settled into a new routine over the next few years. But her health continued to decline, in part because she simply couldn’t afford to slow down.

 

She developed diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure to go along with the coronary artery disease that triggered her heart attack.

 

In March 2005, she was fired from the steady day job she had held for years.

 

She was jobless for the first time in decades. Given her health, she was certain that trying to land another was all but impossible. One of her daughters agreed to provide for her, but that lasted only a short while before economic troubles blanketed the household.

 

At that point, Mrs. Edwards decided to pursue Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), a federal insurance program funded by employer and worker payroll taxes and overseen by the Social Security Administration (SSA). SSDI provides monthly benefits to people under full retirement age (65-67) and who can no longer work because of a severe or permanent disability.

 

Mrs. Edwards contacted her local SSA office, where a representative told her she would not be a good candidate. She didn’t even bother applying.

 

A couple difficult years passed. She and her daughter struggled to keep up.

 

Finally, Mrs. Edwards decided to give SSDI another shot. This time, she went online and did some research. She came upon an advertisement for Allsup, the nation’s leading SSDI representation company. Founded in 1984, the Illinois-based firm has helped more than 150,000 people across the country receive the Social Security disability benefits they paid for throughout their working lives.

 

Mrs. Edwards filled out a form and was soon contacted by an Allsup representative. Believing she was a good SSDI candidate, the company took her case in April 2008. An Allsup claims expert called and helped her decipher and fill out forms and secure medical records.

 

Her interaction with Allsup couldn’t have been more different from her abrupt experience with the SSA.

 

Frustrated and confused by some of the government paperwork, Mrs. Edwards found comfort from interacting with her claims representative, who took the time to explain each document.

 

“That helped a lot,” she said. “If I had to do it myself, I know I would have messed something up.” Her first application was denied. This wasn’t unusual, because SSA denies two-thirds of all initial SSDI applications. Mrs. Edwards’ representative appealed that decision, but once again the claim was denied.

 

Undeterred, her Allsup representative submitted a comprehensive appeal to an administrative law judge. After reviewing the documentation, the judge awarded her disability benefits “on the record,” meaning she didn’t have to appear at a formal hearing.

 

Nearly penniless, Mrs. Edwards and her daughter were trying to determine if they had enough money in the bank to buy a loaf of bread when she learned of her benefits approval.

 

A quick telephone check of her bank balance nearly sent her into shock. “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” she said. “I kept hitting the button to hear it again.”

 

Her official award letter came in that evening’s mail.

 

“I wouldn’t have been able to do it by myself,” Mrs. Edwards, now 55, said. “Allsup walked me through it.”