Tony Mata, Dale Free, and Catherine Mulhall finally began receiving Social Security disability after being denied twice. They had each been waiting for years for a decision on their respective disability claims and finally, with the help of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), their wait is over.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution profiled them in an August 2008 article, with the hopes of bringing light to their struggles in an article about 21,000 people who were waiting for their disability benefits from the social security administration.

Atlanta is known as 'the social security disability backlog capital of the country' when it comes to Social Security disability claims, though offices nationwide are also heavily backlogged with aging claims. It is well known that Atlanta offices, one in North Atlanta and one in downtown, usually take nearly 800 days on average before making a decision on claims.

After the profile in AJC, the Social Security administration decided not to make the three claimants wait any longer and even nixed the step of appearing before a federal ALJ, or administrative law judge, at a disability hearing, because their cases were so undeniable. Mulhall had emptied her savings account and was living with a friend when she got the fortunate and very unexpected news. Mata had moved in with his retired parents two years prior, was dying from a diseased liver and in desperate need of a transplant. Free was unable to afford the medicine for the condition that was disabling him, rheumatoid arthritis, though a sister was taking on the bill of expenses for syringes and insulin to treat his diabetes.

While it is great news that these three individuals who were experiencing great difficulties finally got what they deserved, there are many, many people waiting for a decision on a social security disability claim while their lives - financially and physically - fall apart. Without an income and health benefits, those who are trying to get their benefits usually spend everything they have (and more) just trying to survive while they wait out the process.

Fortunately, since 2007 Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue has been working diligently to help reduce the backlog of SSD and SSI claims. For Atlanta in particular, he has added 10 employees to the North Atlanta office and seven new administrative law judges (commonly referred to as social security disability judges) to the downtown office. He is also asking for money to open a third office in the suburbs of Atlanta.

Hopefully, the situation will get better for many and the story of three single individuals finally getting their Social Security disability won't be such a newsworthy event. After all, that is why the money is deducted from our hard-earned money - for us, when we need it most.