My mom applied about many, many moons ago. She was first denied, then got a lawyer. Granted, in order to get SSDI, she had to move and then go before a federal judge to receive it. North Carolina would not give it to her because according to them she could work, the federal judge wanted to know what NC was doing by denying it the first time.

She got it, but it took almost 2+ years. You also can not work why you are waiting for a reply and if you decided to fight that, then you also can not work. They make you go into poverty in order to get it. The amount is not all that great, My mom who worked factory and service jobs during the 80s and 90s gets about 680 dollars a month, she also receives death benefits of about 200 dollars a month, because my dad died and she gets part of his retirement. So yea, living off of less than 1k a month is not easy. Others do get more as it depends on work credits, and well my mom had 3 kids, so there were periods of time where she did not work because she was pregnant or raising her children. So hers may be less than yours.

It does take time if you need SSDI just be ready to ride it out and then file against the government.