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The SSDI Process Has Sucked the Life Outta Me

AuDHD and 2 Years of Bureaucratic Hoops🫥

Meg Hartley
Invisible Illness
Published in
5 min readNov 15, 2024

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Photo by Melanie Wasser on Unsplash

If you’ve followed me since I started this account in 2020, you’ve probably noticed changes in not just the frequency of my writing, but the writing itself. I used to be able to pour out my heart and combine it with in-depth research done by my hyper-focused mind, and I used to be able to do it pretty regularly.

Oooooh I freakin’ loved it. And I miss it. I miss it BAD.

But, alas, my mind and heart have been squarely focused on getting through the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) process with a stability-creating outcome for the last two years, so now I’m lucky to squeeze out the occasional listicle or mind-dump blog. I was in autistic burnout when I started here, but that occasional burst of hyperfocus and insatiable drive (and ability) for learning would still pop out once in a glorious while. It was like coming home to myself…then I’d fade again. But there’s precious little energy for special interests in the pursuit of SSDI.

Before I got into the SSDI process, I knew basically nothing about it. I knew SSDI is meant to be a safety net for US workers, we pay into it via taxes from every paycheck, and if we become unable to work due to disability we can apply to receive financial aid. I’d also gleaned from…

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Meg Hartley
Meg Hartley

Written by Meg Hartley

♾ AuDHD writer figuring out how to thrive. Growth junkie. Kindness advocate. ❤️ Say hey via ig/tw @thrivingautist 👋 https://linktr.ee/thrivingautist

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