I’m really scared that even if I stay below $900/ month, they’ll kick me off disability. I can’t afford my own insurance even if I work, based on what I’d get paid at a job I can handle.
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Is there not an official website where you can double check the official maximum salary you can make on your disability?
I am doing something similar in Autumn, working to bit below maximum amount I can do whilst on benefits.
Congrats on the interview :))
Thanks. Anything above $910 counts toward your 9 months of being allowed to make substantial gainful income. So you need to make less if you want to keep your disability. However, when your review comes up, they can say well if you can work this many hours then you can work full time and you’re no longer disabled.
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Yeah, I have similar fears. I’ve only been on disability six months or so. I’ve thought about getting a job but am afraid to be removed from disability…then losing the job or something and them saying “oh, youve proved you can work”. It’s scary to think of not having disability to fall back on. and IDK if I could handle a job now for the long term. I wish they would just let you try out work and get off disability/get partial payments, but then get back on if you lose that job. It took years to get disability. I’m not sure its a risk id be willing to take.
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I feel like they keep us poor. You can’t even have 2001 in savings.
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Oh so you can work like that for 9 months but then they expect you to come off disability? That’s not really fair. In uk it’s roughly £500 per month and as far as I’m aware they don’t suddenly expect you to work full time, but now that you mentioned this, perhaps they do, as I’ve never done 9 months part time before on benefits.
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oh…and congrats on your job interview. 
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Thanks @Bowens!
Well, then maybe your doctor would write a letter saying you’re so disabled still that you can not work a full time job. After all, schizophrenia does not just go away. Even if you work, the disease is still there and it’s possible that Social Security might think it’s great that you can even work part-time. Social Security has strict rules but it ain’t our enemy.
The judges and workers there have dealt with other people with disabling schizophrenia and they may not understand it or know a lot about it but they probably understand enough to know that most people with schizophrenia are not able to work and that even working part-time with it is extremely difficult.
I’ve been on it since about 1983. I’ve worked almost steadily since 1984. I’ve worked full-time sometimes but mostly part-time. I’ve been through all those work trial periods and all the reviews. They have always understood that I can not work enough to support myself. I’ve had full time jobs before and I’ve tried going of disability a few times to make it on my own but it always ended up badly, so i got back on it and here I am, still on it.
Social Security has my all employment records since I got my first job at age 17, they’ve seen my medical chart with my medical history, they have a record of every cent I’ve ever received from them. By their rules at my last review, the worker told me I can earn up to about a $1000 a month and still collect SSDI for the rest of my life. I’m not cheating or scamming them or trying to get away with something. Like I said, they have all my records and I qualify by their rules. If your doctor can back you up that working full time would not be possible for you then Social Security should accept that.
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And good luck on your job interview if you still go!!
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I’m on SSI, not SSDI. I think the rules are different. You paid into SS by working. I did not.
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Thanks @77nick77. That was very helpful. If I get the job, I’m going to take it.
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I have the same fears, @LilyoftheValley. I could work a job making what I make in disability but I’d lose my medicare if I lost my disability, so I need to be careful. It was easy when I was making cash under the table by buying furniture at auction and selling it on craigslist, but doing it officially through an employer makes me nervous. Keep us updated! 
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