Herboreal is an artist I discovered and met recently through Twitter. Her work calls like an ancient spell of witchcraft old, drawing influence from the occult and intertwining it with plants and nature to truly evoke The Green Witch. She is a passionate witch herself with an interest in herbalism and I can tell her work is deeply personal and created with a lot of love.

Among my favorites are her digital pieces which achieve a stunning sense of lighting and atmosphere. With a palette of earthy tones and muted -, they almost give off a nostalgic feeling - like looking into a magical world, beyond a thin veil and just out of reach.

Alongside her illustrations, she also creates intricately designed pins and patches in her shop (which I have just bought from!) each with beautiful and aesthetically pleasing designs. As well as an all manner of plants and creatures, she also has a whole collection focusing on disability and chronic illness pride.

herboreal @herboreal

(ACK!  I’M SO SORRY! I have a cat sleeping right next to me so I am typing in cramped conditions.  And my keyboard hit my mouse and sent this to you privately.  Thank goodness it was stored to my outbox! Admin J)

Sure thing!  I have SSDI and my personal advice is:

1. If you are applying for SSDI (which is what you would do if you have a work history) GET. A. LAWYER.  Do not screw around with this.  They know exactly what to do and how to go about appeals and will represent you if this goes to court.  The cost will be 25% up to $6,000 of your backpay.

(Backpay is payment of what you would have received had you been approved the first day they received your application.  You can receive payment from before that date if a judge deems it applicable, but that is very unusual.)  This seems like a lot of money, but you have a better chance of approval, which means a future income, and you have to do very little work yourself, so it is worth it in the long run.  

3.  If you are applying for SSI, you will probably be unable to hire a lawyer.  However, there are hundreds of disability lawyer websites with huge amounts of information.  Many of them keep blogs to help people with the process.  Use those websites.  

They are free and the information is accurate, compared to personal examples which will be skewed to individual experiences.  (Not that they are always wrong, but in my experience, most of us forget about the process after approval.  I don’t know if it’s stress or just not wanting to think about it, but we tend to be hazy on the details.)

3.  I don’t know if you mean this is your 1st appeal or 2nd application.  If it is a 1st appeal, meaning they have have already denied your claim once, be prepared for another denial.  The 1st appeal process is called reconsideration.  And it consists of them handing off your file to another person to look over.  

They don’t take in new evidence or input from you and my understanding is that 1st appeal approvals are somewhere around 10%.  The 2nd appeal is where they collect any new evidence and you go before a judge to appeal your case.

4.  KEEP APPEALING.  The process is set up in hopes that people will give up before they are approved.  I believe the majority of cases are approved after going before a judge.  They hope that you will give up after being denied twice and a lot of people, especially people with invisible illnesses, only receive serious consideration when going before a judge.

5. Collect copies of all your doctor records for your own personal files. Request a copy of your file from each doctor’s office so you have a record of your previous visit.  And then make them give you copies of your notes, test results, etc, after every visit.  

Talk to your doctor or their office manager to find out what the best way to do it ever time is and follow through.  You need to see what your doctor is writing down because this is what the disability office will be looking at.  And if there are issues that need to be addressed, then you will know. 

(They will not want to do this, but they are required by law to give you a copy.  And they are also limited to what they can charge you, which is usually a set rate of cost per page copied.)

If our followers have any suggestions, additions or corrections, please reblog with comment, reply, or send in an ask if you with to give anon advice (we don’t have anon on, but we will not publish your answer.)

Best of luck to you!  And feel free to write back in if any of this is unclear.

Admin j

Edited to Add I was in such a hurry to correct the publishing error, I forgot the most important.

6.  ALWAYS DESCRIBE YOUR ABILITIES AS IF IT WAS ON YOUR WORST DAY. This is important because THIS is why you need disability.  And they will determine your case based on what you say.  And if you tell them you can do something on some days, they WILL assume that is what you can do everyday.  If you say that you can sometimes lift 25 pounds they will determine that is what you can do every day. 

My beautiful stickers from Herboreal arrived and they’re going to look perfect in my sketchbook! 🌿 ✨ 

@herboreal

You are very welcome!  I added an additional comment after I posted it and before you replied. But if you have a lawyer, they have probably already told you that.

Not kidding I literally did this. No one can corroborate it as I was the only one on the landing at the time, but it’s a true story! I mean!! Just look at this stuff!!

I already had one of the charms, but I got a second because how could I not??? They’re just so… charming.

I’ll see myself out.

But no for real Herboreal has the best stuff in her shop!! Tw: Bones, Spiders (just in case!) she’s got this incredible line of disability related stickers/pins and they’re so gorgeous??

I’m high key eyeing my next round of purchases, esp that floral inhaler sticker, and frankly all of the pins?? Heck

And as someone who can never put stickers on anything ever, I really appreciate that they’re not super flimsy and I could reposition the charm bottles so they weren’t wildly skewed!

Still a little skewed? Yes. But I accept that I’m too shaky to ever do it perfectly.

Also here’s my previous purchase!