a few things, briefly

[carlyinrome]

I am back from my visit out west, and right now all I'm going to say is jetlag is real. It is real, y'all.

I have perfected my signup for Yuletide, adding in a link to my letter, filling in my optional details, and withdrawing one of my offers after looking through the letters with requests for that fandom and recognizing I just cannot write what they want. I also made a list of some prompts I might write treats for. I am offering a lot of new-to-me fandoms this year, and I have bookmarked several prompts from more new-to-me fandoms, so I'm feeling brave, I guess.

I have been invited to apply to an atelier program at my graduate alma mater. Basically I would be an artist in residence for three months, and SCAD would pay for every facet of my life while leaving me to work on a long form project. I have an idea--but no pages--for a novel, and a good friend of mine is applying, as well, and spending the spring writing with her is something I would very much enjoy, value, and benefit from, but at the same time, I'm worried about my health problems ruining everything, and I am also worried about the honorarium of unspecified size fucking up my disability stuff, and I am completely unsure how to understand the implications because any kind of research on or interaction with the SSA makes me want to cry, and apparently I have a case worker, but I leave message after message, and he never calls me back. I don't know. It's an amazing opportunity, and it would benefit me and I probably even deserve it, which likely means I can't have it.

I got my DNA results back from the depression study, and apparently I am the whitest man in America, and even geneticists are confused by my hair.

Comments

[book_lover]

About SSD and whether the honorarium will screw it up: You can make up to $1000 a month before you have to report it to the SSA. You can send (fax) your pay stubs/proof of payment to the local SSA office, to your case worker's attention, and he's required to provide it to the SSA. Your SSD will be reduced by the amount you make over $1000. So if you make $1050 in a month, your SSD will be reduced by $50.

However, there are a number of programs you can use to protect your earnings, including the PASS Plan (Plan to Achieve Self-Sufficiency), and ERWIE's (which is for impairment-related work expenses - any assistive devices, special assistance you require to do your job, job training or support you require to do your job, just as long as it's related to your disability).

You should be able to get information about these programs from either the SSA.gov website or at your local SSA office.

It depends on what your salary would be considered, also - as an educational grant, an honorarium, or regular salary. The rules might be different for honorariums and grants.

There's also the extended period of eligibility, which means you can work for 7 years without collecting SSD if you feel that you are able (should that day come). If during that 7 years, you find you cannot work full-time or even part-time, you can report it to the SSA and they'll turn on your SSD again, without you having to go through the rigmarole of applying for SSDI again.

Try to find out as much as you can on the SSA.gov website, and then if you have more questions since your caseworker isn't returning your calls, it looks like you're going to have to bite the bullet and go to the office. It's hard, but this is your livelihood you're talking about here. If you can get someone to go with you, that would be better.

Good luck, don't give up on yourself!