by Michael Jankus
Disability attorney Andrew November will be hosting one of his Social Security Disability 101 workshops over Zoom on Wednesday, November 10 through the Tremont Brainery.
Andrew November is a litigator at Liner Legal LLC. in Old Brooklyn and a Tremont resident, along with his wife, Keri November, who happens to also be one of the people responsible for the Tremont Brainery.
The seminar is free and open to anyone of any age seeking information about or considering Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Insurance.
“I can talk about this stuff with my eyes closed, I give out my phone number all the time, I’m always happy to answer questions,” Andrew said. “I’ve been living in Tremont for six years and I’m like, ‘why have I never targeted something towards our community?’ So when I got this opportunity from my wife. . . I’m here in this community, I live and breathe this, so I want to provide this information.”
For the past 11 years as an attorney Andrew has been speaking at high schools, colleges, senior centers and medical practices with the crucial message not to wait until it’s too late.
“They’ve had a traumatic accident, or a progression of a condition they might have lived with and worked with for 20 years, or a sudden onset of an illness,” he said. “So they don’t get educated about an extremely complex system until they are forced to apply, or got a denial and can’t believe they’re denied because they think they’re disabled.”
“So I put myself out there for 11 years being a face in the community just to educate people, and do as simple as a Disability 101, just to plant the seed in peoples’ heads.”
Social Security’s field offices have remained closed since due to the pandemic. Those same field offices saw 19 million visitors in 2019, and those include many who can’t easily access those services online.
November says he will speak anywhere he is asked, tailoring the presentation to the audience from doctors to fellow lawyers, but he especially likes speaking at high schools because there is so much the education system doesn’t tell them about Social Security.
We are all “just one banana peel away from a disability claim,” as November put it, citing that most Americans only have enough money saved to be out of work for a few weeks. He recommended that everyone make a My Social Security account on SSA.gov as the first step in tracking your earnings.
The Social Security Disability 101 workshop will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on November 10 over Zoom, with registration taking place on the Tremont Brainery’s Facebook page, and Andrew invited anyone with any questions to reach him at anovember@linerlegal.com or call 216-282-1773.
