Do you think standing should have been in here somewhere?

I’ve patiently waited for the reconsideration letter for SSI.  I know it was held up because they waited for records from my rheumatologist and the physical therapist. The mail came late today, but the letter I had been expecting arrived in the mail.  I prepared myself before I opened the envelope. The letter inside probably did not contain good news.  The first sentence of the letter confirmed the expected results. As before, I had received an ‘other work’ letter.   They were more specific about the types of work I could not do.  The letter said I can adjust to jobs that do not require no more than occasionally climbing ramps, stairs, ladders, ropes or scaffolds, balancing, stooping, kneeling, crouching or crawling while avoiding concentrated exposure to wetness, machinery, and heights.

All of these items seem to be carefully tailored to suggest that I could do my last job just fine as it required virtually none of these things, but it did require standing for long periods of time, which I also have difficulty doing. I wonder if this was carefully calculated to make me think I should feel guilty about being forced out of my last job.  It's hard for me to say, and I shouldn't attribute motives to an agency full of people who do not know me personally.

It’s not a surprise that the Social Security Administration would deny my SSI claim at this stage. The requirements for getting through on the first try are pretty specific, and I would not want to meet them. Making it hard to get is a good thing in a way, but it doesn’t make things easier for people who actually have lost the ability to work.  It’s a good thing I’ve got friends who can help me get through this, but they’re not exactly in the best shape financially, either.

I will just have to appeal the decision and go before an administrative law judge. In the meantime, I'm going to have to have a talk with the housemate about why it is inappropriate to extend shopping trips by fifteen to twenty-five minutes because she wants to buy glycerin to make her own body wash.