How We Help Our Claimants Tell Their Disability Story to SSA
How good are you at telling your story about how your disability impacts your life? This is what you must do when you apply for Social Security disability benefits. It doesn’t matter if you believe your medical condition qualifies you. What does matter is if SSA believes you.
Our job as trained disability advocates is to help our claimants tell their story to SSA. We ask you lots of questions and very often we must probe deeper into getting past a yes or no answer so that we can piece together how your disability affects daily living and the ability to work. Your story shouldn’t be understated or exaggerated, but it must be convincing.
We begin with an in depth interview. Through our questioning we find out everything we can to build a case around the five-step process SSA strictly follows to approve a disability case for benefits:
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Are you working?
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Do you have a severe medical condition?
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Is your condition on SSA’s list of qualifying impairments?
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Can you go back to doing your previous work?
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Can you do a different type of work?
From the details we gather from you we piece together a compare-and-contrast story about how you functioned before your disability, and how you live now. We translate all this information into a series of forms and reports that we submit to SSA as the initial application package.
As we work to build a strong application, oftentimes we find that the claimant is not necessarily the best at describing their ability to manage daily tasks, and yet the functionality component of a disability case is critical.
Here’s an example. The Advocate asks the claimant if they can stand and cook a meal. The claimant may say yes because they are able to pop a pre-made meal into the microwave, push the button and wait for the meal to heat up. This is not the same effort as pulling out pots and pans from the kitchen cupboard, cutting up vegetables, peeling potatoes, frying chicken and actually cooking a meal. Our experienced disability advocates work with claimants to get deeper into how able they really are at performing daily activities, such as preparing a meal.
If you were the claimant in the above example and were applying on your own, you could unintentionally minimize your functionality and risk a denial of your case in spite of your medical diagnosis. Though there’s more to your story, if it’s not clear to SSA how your disability impacts your daily life, SSA may conclude that you can function well enough to work at a job. Denied.
The reality of the situation is that we are up against a very strict disability evaluation process. Nationally, SSA denies nearly 65 percent of applications submitted the first time because the SSA decision makers are largely held to the “letter of the law” of the disability step-by-step approval system and must be absolutely certain of your ability to work.
This is why at Freedom Disability we take great care in positioning your story in the very best possible light from day one. And even if your initial application should be denied, we encourage you to appeal so that we can continue to build upon your story until the case is won.
Dear Sirs & Madams,
I am new to the disability processes. I was born premature in 1953, have a cleft palate(which has been patched several times by several doctors), my spine bends to the right(skoliosis?spelled wrong) and Fibromylgaia runs in the female sides of both my parents. I wear glasses as I am blind without them. I also have sleep apnea; weight problems from health issues; had my gallbladder removed due to gall stones; my right elbow was cracked from a fall off the wooded steps at the mobile home I lived in; Both my ankles have been broken above the ankle joint; I hurt my right side of body down to the right hip-right middle of spine to tailbone when I slipped on the wet floor at work cleaning the dining area of the nursing home I worked at. The wet sign was not up so the nursing home only paid for my medical bills and medicine. I did get unemployment but nothing else. I was fired due to this injury. The pain has never disappeared but has intensified over the years. I was able to work at a call center for 5 years some odd days when they closed down then they recalled me back to work. I worked for them again for 4 years 4 months and some odd days when they fired me for having severe acute laryngitis. I got sick with this at work & I had it for 9 to 13 weeks. Had 2 doctors notes to not talk till it cleared up but did not work out that way. My voice was barely above a squeaky whisper & is considered ruined as it cracks every time I talk so I could not pass the test required to work there at the call center so they decided to fire me. I cannot see any doctors due to I have no funds, no job that allows me money to pay for an exam. I do apologize for requesting information but this is my first time & the judge said I need a lawyer. I saw your company’s ad on tv. Any information you could send me would be greatly appreciated.
Yours truly,
Shirley Autry
Shirley,
We will try to contact you by e-mail but you can also call us at 866-347-2910 or contact us through our online form on this page.
I am on a Pension, disablity from L&I.I pay one quarter of my pension to have health insurance. Can I apply for SSD and then just get the insurance part of it?
Tim,
SSD is Social Security disability insurance. If you are approved for it, it will be a benefit based on your earnings, just the same as if it were your retirement benefits. At the end of the first 24 months of receiving this beneift you become eligible for Medicare. You can learn more about SSDI in the Disability Benefits section of this Web site.
Mty 37 year old daughter can’t work due to having Psoiatic Arthritis. It affects several fingers, toes, ankles, and other joints. She is on Humira , and was on Methotrxate, however, they took her off Methotrexate when she became pregnant. Last June she was diagnosed with Colin Cancer, and had to have a foot of her colin removed along with 40 + lymph nodes. She has a lawyer, but she was told nothing could be done until this Fall. She needs the money NOW. Is there anything you can do to help her before this Fall? Her husband is a union painter, and gets layed off usually in November. He usally doesn’t get called back to work until March or April. In the winter they live on his unemployment. The stress of her health and money problems has put a lot of stress on her and the baby. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you.
Becky Burlingham
Becky,
Sorry about your daughter’s health problems. Unfortunately there really isn’t anything that can be done to rush the Social Security disability approval process unless your daughter’s condition is so severe that it clearly meets SSA’s definition of disability. Basically, she would be unable to work at any job for 12 months or longer to earn substantial gainful activity ($1,000 a month). Your daughter’s condition is serious, without a doubt, but it doesn’t sound like she meets the criteria for Compassionate Allowance. Her work history, age and functionality are also factors. The process for getting disability benefits is very strict, and it can take a long time. It sounds like her lawyer won’t take her case until she is initially denied which would be when the appeal process can start. After that it could take a year or longer to reach a hearing. Perhaps there are local support services that can help your family. We hope everything works out for them.