Quote: "I will accept the blame and will inform social security the truth and will repay unemployment if deemed necessary
or have my former employer pay back half of it since it was their idea.
Well, this will never happen. There's no way the system would ask the employer to pay back the money you received. You were the individual who asked for it each week and got it, and it was coming straight from your employer's tax account.
If you were deemed eligible for unemployment, were able to certify for weeks until last August, made enough of the requisite job searches to continue receiving benefits while it was happening, then there is nobody you need to tell, and no way you are going to have to repay unemployment anything. You certified, you made job searches, you didn't get hired, for whatever reasons.
And you do not have to "fess up" to the social security system about whether or not you were able to draw unemployment, (they'll know this) or whether you SHOULD have been drawing unemployment, or whether you were really able to work or not. The two systems do not connect, do not exchange information, and have very little to do with each other. If you got into SSI, the territory would be covered based on income and you'd not qualify for SSI until there was no more unemployment income. If you are approved for SSDI, you'd have to stop receiving unemployment benefits, because your approval was based on the decision that you are not able to work. But since you've drawn out all your benefits anyway, STOP WORRYING ABOUT UNEMPLOYMENT. It has passed.
You're right, sometimes employers who truly do not want to stir up a hornet's nest with a mentally ill employee will give them a lack of work lay off just to get them off the payroll, and out the door without a fight, and that's what they've given you. Now, stop worrying about it and listen to the advice you've been given to get going on Social Security Disability now.