It can be difficult to communicate with Social Security. This is especially true in the past few months, as Social Security has laid off a lot of staff.

If you live in Washington or Oregon, local field office numbers are not available online. This document has a list of local field office numbers organized by county.

Social Security Field Office Numbers.docx

Here are some tips to communicate more effectively:

• Be prepared! Opportunities to communicate may be limited, so be ready for them when they come. Have your documentation on hand and a list of questions you need answered.
• Document! Keep notes about your interactions with Social Security. What did they tell you to do? What were the timelines they shared? What information or documentation did you share
• Make and keep copies! Before submitting any documents to Social Security, make and keep copies and note the date you submitted. Documents are often lost and you will save yourself a lot of time and frustration if you have the copies to re-submit.
• Be polite but persistent! You may need strong self-advocacy skills in your interactions with Social Security. You may need to ask for the same thing repeatedly and often. You may need to document that you’ve submitted the same thing multiple times. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and you may need to squeak quite a bit.

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