I just finished skimming the 500+ friends’ page entries I’d missed in the last few days. Damn!
I should have been finishing the enormous packet of forms I received in the mail yesterday. They were from the state Department of Labor, regarding my disability claim. This was something of a surprise to me—why would they be involved in a Social Security matter? But apparently, they are. And they want every detail of every job I’ve had in the last 15 years. No, they don’t provide enough pages to give them the information they’re asking for.
One of the forms is seven pages of questions about “daily life activities.” Things like dressing, bathing, cooking, shopping, socializing, etc.
They provide absolutely no way to note that SOMETIMES I need help with all of the above—everything is “yes or no.”
They also have questions about cognitive deficits. They want me to give specific examples of how my memory has been affected. I have a feeling they won’t find an answer of “I can’t remember” acceptable.
There is a bit at the end with a tiny little space for telling them about any effects that hadn’t been mentioned yet. I told them that my sex life just isn’t the same. I think it’s ridiculous that they’d leave that out in the first place.
I’m still not comfortable with “disabled” as a label. I’m trying not to think too much about it.
