Obtaining Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) can be a time-consuming and stressful experience. Two out of every three applicants initially are denied. Dealing with two life-altering events at the same time—the birth of her son and rheumatoid arthritis—was more than enough for Jennifer Williams to handle. Read how Allsup took the burden of securing disability benefits off the shoulders of this new mom during a turbulent time.

 

 

 

 

Spring, Texas—New mothers know that life with a baby in the house is stressful enough. Jennifer Williams, 31, home for a few months after delivering her infant son, certainly never expected a second life-changing event so soon after her son’s birth.

 

“I had always been very healthy,” said Mrs. Williams, now 37. “My son was born in August 2004 and when he was a couple of months old, I started having pain in my knees. It was really hard to go up and down stairs. It was just so weird.”

 

She planned to go back to work in retail sales soon after her son was born, but the pain was excruciating. “It was hard to get up and walk anywhere,” she said. Taking care of her baby was extremely difficult. “It was so frustrating not to be able to do the things I wanted to do.”

 

It took two years of doctors’ visits and tests to uncover the cause—rheumatoid arthritis (RA). RA is a serious, chronic autoimmune disease, where the body begins attacking and breaking down its own joints and surrounding tissues. Permanent, disabling damage to the joints often is the result.

 

“It was just devastating,” Mrs. Williams said. “There’s inevitable disfigurement and you do what you can, but there’s no way to really treat it, and I was just 33 years old. It takes its toll on you. I was depressed just thinking about what I was going to do with the rest of my life.”

 

There are a variety of treatments for rheumatoid arthritis, but the disorder is incurable and the medications used to treat it often have undesirable side effects.

 

“Treatment has helped, but it hasn’t made me symptom free. It varies so much from day to day,” she said of her illness. “Some days are better than others. Some days I can do some of the things I want.”

 

Mrs. Williams also has Hashimoto’s disease, another autoimmune disorder, which attacks the thyroid gland and shuts it down. It is the most common cause of hypothyroidism, or underactive thyroid. She takes daily medication to replace the thyroid hormone her body no longer produces.

 

Mrs. Williams had not worked outside the home for five years when she first thought about applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. “I had never even considered it,” she said. “I was just so consumed trying to figure out what was wrong with me.”

 

But her husband had seen a pamphlet about Allsup when he was hospitalized and frequently suggested she contact them. When she researched the company, Mrs. Williams learned that in more than 25 years as a leader representing people for SSDI, Allsup has helped more than 170,000 people collect more than $14 billion in deserved benefits.

 

Mrs. Williams didn’t call Allsup immediately, partly because she was so young and it was hard to think of herself as a person with a permanent disabling illness. She wondered if she would qualify, even though she had paid FICA taxes during her working years.

 

“There’s a certain degree of pride,” she said. “You have been self-sufficient all your life. But then you get this disease and it changes everything. I had to accept that I might need the help.” Her family had counted on her income, and when it was gone, it was a severe hardship.

 

Once she contacted Allsup, Mrs. Williams was impressed at how quickly the company took charge. But even with Allsup driving the process, her first disability application was denied. That’s not unusual because the Social Security Administration denies about two-thirds of initial applications. When Allsup helped her appeal the decision, she was denied again.

 

Her case then went before an administrative law judge. Stacie Stoehner, her Allsup representative, accompanied her to the hearing, which would have been much more stressful without Ms. Stoehner being present.

 

“She was wonderful,” Mrs. Williams said. “I always felt like I was in good hands.” Within three weeks after the hearing, she received word that her SSDI benefits had been approved.

 

Mrs. Williams had an older sister who died at age 43 who fought for disability benefits on her own for three years. She was an extremely ill Type 1 diabetic with severe nerve damage. “What my sister went through is part of the reason I never considered doing it myself,” she said. “The process is just overwhelming and I knew I needed help.”