You can go to your local Social Security office and apply for Disability Insurance benefits, which is based on how much $$ you earned in the past. If your current income and assets are below a certain $$ amount, you may also be eligible for Supplemental Security Income. I work for Disability Determination Services, which is where the SS office will send your application after you have filed it. We will look at your medical records to determine whether or not your physical and/or mental impairment is severe enough to qualify for benefits. Make sure you list all of your impairments on your application, and that you list all of the doctors, hospitals, clinics, counselors, etc. that you have seen for your condition, as we will be contacting these sources to gather info on your condition. Let me warn you that sometimes it takes quite a while to have your application processed, depending on how long it takes for the sources to respond and how cooperative you are in helping us gather this information. There are different levels of "adjudication". The first level is called the "initial" level. If you are denied at the initial level, you can file for a "reconsideration". If you are denied at the reconsideration level, you can file for a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge. We only handle the initial and reconsideration levels. The ALJ level will be done in court. Therefore, you DO NOT need a lawyer to help you with the initial or reconsideration levels, as we process all claims exactly the same, whether there is attorney involvement or not, but you may want to have a lawyer if you have to go to the ALJ level. Hope this info helps you.
You can also do searches on the web for more info. Look for "Social Security Disability" and "Supplemental Security Income".
Good Luck!!