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Some of you asked me for the name & number of the advocacy firm I mentioned. Its Allsup, Inc. 300 Allsup Place Belleville, IL 62223-8626 800 854 1418 Barbara Mallut's problem notwithstanding, I still recommend them (although based on second-hand information). It doesn't sound like much has changed with that agency since Money magazine did that expose last fall. They concluded then it was a badly mismanaged operation, calling it, I seem to recall, worse than the IRS. They were particularly harsh on the employees at some of the local offices. They also said the local offices can and do make up their own rules and standards. Money did not pick SSDI to test, it was the computation of retirement benefits, I think. I was surprised to hear about the demand for a $2,500 up-front fee from her former attorney. I understood that law firms can, by law, charge more than advocacy firms, but I thought they were also only allowed take any fee on a contingency basis AND only from BACK benefits they get for the claimant. Must be different rules for the second time around. There indeed must be a lesson here! So much to look forward to - wheelchairs, suicide, social security hassles, disability parking plates, feeding tubes, depression, bowel impacting. Somehow we have to find that cure. God know we have plenty of incentives.