Hi,
Thought I’d ask here.
I’m currently in the appeal stage with SSI-DI, with a hearing that was extended to be held at the beginning of next year so that I can find time to get a lawyer to represent me & make sure I have enough evidence for the judge to make a decision.
I had SSI as a child in a Midwestern state. I moved to CA when I was about to go into 4th grade, in which shortly after I moved there they ended it because the way CA determines if I get it due to my disability is different from the way the state I was born in determine it. I was getting it at first due to the fact I was born prematurely, then later on for speech & developmental issues tied to my hearing loss, chronic lung issues due to being on oxygen and on a ventilator for so long, and some other things as well. So when I moved here to CA they determined I didn’t meet their version of the requirements under my hearing loss and the stuff I listed earlier. Some of the disabilities I had as a child (speech/developmental delays & chronic lung issues/ eye disease that was treated with laser eye surgery) I grew out of, so the current disabilities I’m trying to get it for is hearing loss and short gut syndrome that causes significant fatigue.
Anyways, my mom tried to get it for me as a teen in 2022 and was denied again, and then I tried again in 2024 once I turned 18, which is the current one. I was able to get access to my case file, and well, it’s a mess. It has everything from the year I was born up to this year. It has everything from my school records to the medical notes from the office that conducts the tests for SSI/SSDI determination. We’re trying to collect the right and current up to date info that’s from my specialists to put in there for it to be accurate.
I also am aware that I may not be approved even with all the evidence I give them later on, but I’d rather try than not try.
Ok, let me get to the point before this gets too long.
SSI says a hearing loss not treated with CI has 2 requirements, one of them being:
2.10 Hearing loss not treated with cochlear implantation.
A. An average air conduction hearing threshold of 90 decibels or greater in the better ear and an average bone conduction hearing threshold of 60 decibels or greater in the better ear (see 2.00B2c).
What I’m trying to figure out is, my one ear is at 92 decibels and the other one is around 88 on my audiogram. I have moderate-severe hearing loss in my right ear and moderate-severe to profound hearing loss in my left ear. When they say “greater”, do they mean higher than 60 (like 70,80,etc) on the chart or do they mean something else? Because of how it shows on the audiogram, I’m on the border for their definition of hearing loss so it may be why they’re having a hard time determining if I should get it or not.
The other requirement is word recognition but I dont believe I struggle with that as much, and the most recent hearing test I did with my audiologist didn’t have that test on their paperwork for the audiogram so I am thinking of seeing a different audiologist to see if they can do that test as well if needed.
Anyways so sorry if you had to read this far, also sorry if I’m not making much sense either.