Let the People Know: Harnessing Public Attention to Make Systemic Change 

As claimants’ representatives, we are all tired of our representation forms going “missing” at SSA field offices, despite having sent them sometimes three, four or five times in a combination of different formats. We are tired of phone calls to field offices ending with the line going dead after being on hold for forty-five minutes or longer. We are tired of our clients’ applications mysteriously disappearing or not being properly forwarded to DDS for review.

We are also all capable of taking action. Here is what I have done, and I hope you will join me.

Unfortunately, we have some especially bad field offices here in Colorado. One office, in Lakewood, is particularly egregious. Applications filed through the Lakewood field office frequently take more than a year to be reviewed. Even after a claimant completes their application, it often takes the Lakewood office many months to begin processing the application so it can be forwarded to DDS. The Lakewood office is nearly impossible to reach by telephone, with wait times regularly measured in hours—and many calls are randomly disconnected after being on hold for significant periods of time.

I started working on a solution to the problem well over a year ago. I reached out to the Field Office Director and they agreed to a monthly call with my office to discuss procedures and protocols. Nothing changed. I elevated our issues to the Regional Communications Director for SSA based in Denver, and again no change. Finally, after seeing how nobody inside of the Agency seemed to care about the gross negligence taking place in Lakewood and the individuals being harmed as a result, I contacted our local news outlets which resulted in press coverage shedding light on the issue in June 2023.

This news piece caught the attention of Congresswoman Brittany Petterson, the U.S. Representative from Colorado’s 7th Congressional district. In July 2023, Congresswoman Petterson authored a letter to acting commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi demanding answers.

Will the Congressional letter result in change? I don’t know, but it is definitely a step in the right direction. If enough of you reading this take the small amount of time that I took to call out the bad actors at SSA and demand action, our chances of seeing progress will improve dramatically.

We are all capable of producing change. Please join me.