Filing for disability is a long and complicated process that can take months or even years. You can file online or in person but Social Security encourages people to file online.

• To file online, go to www.ssa.gov. After you answer some basic questions about yourself such as your medical conditions and treatment information, Social Security will schedule a phone interview to ask you some more questions and to doublecheck your answers on the forms.
• If you want to file in person, call the national Social Security toll-free number: 1-800-772-1213. They’ll set up the appointment for you and tell you where to go.
• You can also find your local Social Security office by entering your zip code in their “Office Locator.” Click here to open link in a new window. 
• Whichever way you file, you will have a lot of forms to fill out about your daily life, medical conditions, work history, and other things.
• If your application is denied, you can file a reconsideration, again, either online or in person. If you are denied at this stage, then you can ask for a hearing in front of a judge. From this point on, you’ll wait about a year for the hearing.
• If you have applied already or will apply on your own, give us a call anyway. We will be happy to give you a free consultation.

Social Security rules encourage younger people to work but also recognize that older individuals can have a harder time getting different jobs when they become disabled. Age is a factor in something called “Medical Vocational Guidelines,” which Social Security uses to decide if someone is disabled.

• For people between ages 18 and 49, it is very hard to qualify for disability based only on a physical condition. Your physical condition has to be so severe that you wouldn’t be able to do even a “sedentary” job – or a job where you can sit for eight hours per day.
• Even if you’re under age 50, if you feel your conditions make it hard to work full time, give us a call.
• Someone who is unable to read and write or to speak English can qualify for disability starting at age 45 if they can now do only sit-down types of jobs – and if their past jobs required a lot of standing.
• At age 50, Social Security rules make it easier to qualify for disability. If you are unable to do your past job that required a lot of standing or lifting, and would be limited to sit-down types of jobs, you might qualify for disability starting at age 50.
• At age 55, it can be a little easier to qualify for disability. For example, if you are no longer able to lift even 20 pounds occasionally and you can’t do your past job any more, you might qualify for disability.

Both children and adults can be found disabled under Social Security, but the rules are different. Adults have to show that they have a medical condition that prevents them from working full time for 12 months or more. The emphasis is on whether the person is able to work.

Since children are not expected to work, the focus is on the child’s functioning compared to other children of a similar age. A child can be found disabled because he or she has a condition that fits criteria in Social Security’s “Listings,” a list of common mental and physical conditions.

If they don’t meet criteria under the Listings, children can be found disabled because their medical condition causes problems in various areas of functioning:

• acquiring and using information
• attending and completing tasks
• interacting and relating with others
• moving about and manipulating objects
• caring for themselves
• health and physical well being

It is quite common for children who received disability payments to be cut off disability when they turn 18. From age 18 onward, a person has to show that the medical condition would prevent any full-time work on a regular basis. This is a very hard standard to prove, especially if the person has never worked or tried to work.

Social Security uses a five-step process to decide if you are disabled:

• Are you working? If you are working and your gross earnings are more than $1,350 per month, they generally will not find you to be disabled.
• Is your medical condition “severe”? Your medical condition must significantly limit your ability to do basic work activities such as walking, sitting, and remembering, for at least one year. If your medical condition is not severe, then Social Security will not give you disability.
• Does your medical condition meet criteria on Social Security’s List of Impairments? Social Security has a list of medical conditions and specific criteria for each condition. If you have one of these common conditions and you meet the special criteria in this Listing, then Social Security might find you disabled.
• Can you do the work you did before? If you don’t meet the specific criteria for a “Listing” for your medical condition, Social Security looks at how much your condition limits you. They look at whether your condition would prevent you from doing a current or past job. If you would be able to work full time at your current or previous job, then Social Security will not find you to be disabled.
• Can you do any other type of work? Even if you are unable to do past jobs, generally, if there is some other type of job you could do, then Social Security will not find you disabled. You might qualify under something called “Medical Vocational Guidelines.”

Social Security has two types of disability programs: Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). For both programs, you have to show that you have been unable to work for 12 months or more because of your physical or mental conditions. The medical criteria are identical for both programs.

SSI is for people who have little work history in the past five to ten years. The maximum benefit is $914 per month – but you might get less if your household has other income.

SSDI is for people who have worked in the past five to ten years. The amount of disability benefits you get depends on how much you earned over the years. Having other household  income does not affect the amount of monthly SSDI you get.

If you are eligible for SSDI and have children under age 18, your children might also be able to get what’s called “auxiliary benefits.” The total amount of auxiliary benefits to your children is calculated based on the amount of your monthly SSDI benefit.

People can apply for Social Security Disability on their own, but the rules are complicated.

Just living with your disability can be stressful. Trying to handle your own Social Security Disability benefit application, with all the paperwork, deadlines, and bureaucracy can easily be overwhelming.

Because the process can take so long, it’s a good idea to have someone experienced and knowledgeable to represent you. Any missed deadline or delay can easily delay benefit payments for many months and sometimes even years. We understand all the complicated rules and simplify the entire process for you.

We also try to help Social Security staff and judges make sense of your case. Social Security does the best they can, but they deal with thousands of cases at a time. It’s easy for any single case to get lost in the shuffle. Worse, you can be denied based on otherwise easily correctable misunderstandings.

You need to know that your case can involve hundreds of pages of medical records. We summarize all of this medical evidence for the judge. We write legal arguments known as “briefs”, to help the judges understand exactly why you deserve benefits under Social Security rules.

We are not a large “volume-based” disability benefit business. We know who our clients are. We are attorneys with many years of experience. We have done hundreds of successful Social Security hearings.