WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO WIN SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is a a federal program with very explicit, very strict rules you must meet to qualify for a benefit.  The 2 most important factors to get qualified are:

Being able to prove your case with acceptable evidence, both medical and vocational.

Being able to prove disability on the basis of the rules, regulations, and requirements outlined by the Social Security Administration in the 20 Code of Federal Regulations and the Social Security Act.

Proof requires a lot more than "telling your story."  Every claimant feels that they are disabled and should get Social Security benefits.  Yet, Social Security will agree in only about 25 percent of cases.  The other 75 percent will have to wade through difficult appeals and hearings.

The most important proof is medical proof.  Medical proof consists of 2 kinds of evidence:

(1) Objective medical findings obtained from examinations, laboratory studies, X-rays, MRI or CT scans or other studies.

(2) Subjective evidence in the form of medical opinions of your treating doctors concerning how your medical conditions restrict your ability to perform on the job.  The legal term for this is Residual Functional Capacity (RFC).

Unless you are highly skilled in the use of Residual Functional Capacity evaluations and how to relate them of employment in a wide range of exertion levels and skill levels, you won't have a lot of success with proving your case.

The other proof you must provide is occupational proof.  Most claimants will have to prove that

1) They cannot perform any of their Past Relevant Work (PRW).  You will need to analyze your past jobs to determine if they were unskilled, semi-skilled or skilled.  Also, were they performed at sedentary, light, medium or heavy exertion level.  Why can't you still perform one or more of these jobs?

2)  If you are under age 55, you will need to prove that you cannot perform any work which exists in the United States Economy.  This is the toughest definition of "disability" on earth.

If your past work was at the Medium exertion level, and you are under 55, you will need to prove (not claim, but prove) that you cannot perform either sedentary or light unskilled work.

The vocational witness in your hearing will testify that there are hundreds of thousands of unskilled jobs, requiring no special training or experience, that can be performed at the light level of exertion.  Some of these jobs will include such as.....

• Ticket taker
• inspector
• hand packager
• Sales associate
• Cashier
• Worm Catcher (not a joke)
• Parking garage attendant
• Marker, etc.

I once had a client who was a pharmacist with 8 years of college, earning over $100,000 per year in the past.  She became unable to her work because of a medical condition that it difficult to perform the difficult mental demands of that job.  At the hearing, Social Security agreed that she could no longer perform the work of a pharmacist, which is highly skilled, light exertion work.  But, they found that she could still perform unskilled jobs at the same exertion level, such as:  cashier II, food and beverage order clerk and copier collator.  These are jobs that usually start at minimum wage.  However, because she was deemed capable of performing these unskilled jobs, she was denied SSDI benefits.

So, if you have a disability claim with Social Security--you must focus on PROVING you case with hard, fast evidence.  Nothing else will prevail.

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