People who apply for disability benefits are approved or denied based on their ability to work. Claimants will not be awarded SSD or SSI unless they can prove that their impairment is severe enough to preclude them from performing their current job or any other type of work for which they may be suited.
Disability examiners at the state Disability Determination Services (DDS) agency are in charge of making all decisions on initial applications and reconsideration appeals for Social Security. When a claimant applies for disability, the examiner reviews the medical and work history to determine if the claimant could be expected to earn a living despite his or her impairment.
In reviewing medical records for social security disability and SSI disability claims, disability examiners try to determine what activities a claimant can and cannot perform, known as his residual functional capacity (RFC). Detailed physician notes, preferably from a doctor with a lot of experience treating the impairment in question, can help a lot when it comes to a disability RFC rating. Ideally a claimant’s medical records will include not only a diagnosis and prognosis (how the condition is expected to progress over time), but also specifics as to how the medical condition affects the claimant’s ability to perform routine tasks, such as bending, lifting, memory, concentration, etc.
Disability examiners take into consideration a claimant’s functional limitations before assigning a rating of heavy, medium, light, or sedentary exertional work. In most cases, disability examiners must take their decision to the doctor assigned to their unit for approval before it becomes final, although in some cases Social Security does allow disability examiners to act as single decision makers (SDMs).
Typically, those approved for heavy or medium exertional work have a harder time winning SSD/SSI than those who are approved for light exertional work (with the exception of those filing on the basis of a mental impairment). The medium RFC rating requires that one be capable of lifting 25 pounds frequently, and 50 pounds occasionally.
Article comments
1 - Clavos
There are law firms and other specialty firms in practically every city which will help an individual get approved.
When my wife became disabled, her employer's disability insurance carrier paid for the firm Allsup, which specializes in assisting people to get approved, to represent her.
Even with their help, it took almost two years and two rejections from Administrative Law judges before she was approved.
2 - Joanne Huspek
Sounds like a bummer to me but that's the government.
I remember fighting my way through the unemployment line. It's no fun. Believe me, I'd rather have had my job.
3 - Clavos
The insurance company continued to pay her during the process, and SS paid her retroactively from the date she first applied, which of course, had to be sent to the insurance co.
4 - Reading with interest
I'm a disability examiner. If people had any clue as to how utterly useless disability lawyers are 99% of the time, most of them would be out of work tomorrow. I've had claimants go out and hire a lawyer the day before their (approved) case was closed, thousands of their hard-earned dollars going to some suit that literally did *nothing* to help them.
The only time someone needs an attorney for their disability claim is when they're about to go before an ALJ. Other than that, save your money. I have never, not once, seen a lawyer do ANYTHING for any of my claimants, other than sign a contract with them. And I do indeed mean *nothing.* They're nothing but another name in the case file, that's all.
5 - Silas Kain
So true. Disability Law Firms are yet another example of how tort reform is in order. There was a time when attorneys did not advertise on television or in other media the way they do today. Disability lawyers remind me of Chinese manufactured products. The concept is solid, but the product quality is shoddy.