BEST WAY GO GET DISABILITY BENEFITS

What's the best way to get Social Security Disability (SSDI) benefits?

If you are approaching advanced age (50 to 54) or in the Advanced Age category (55 or above), the best way is to meet one of the Medical-Vocational Guidelines or grid rules (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/cfr20/404/404-app-p02.htm).

Younger individuals have a more difficult time. If you are under age 50, you must take the long, difficult path of proving that you are so severely disabled that you cannot perform any unskilled sedentary (sit down) job that exists in the US. You must have severe functional limitations that materially restrict your ability to function in any workplace environment. Getting your doctor on board with this by explaining your functional limitations is critical. (How long can you sit, stand/walk? How many pounds can you lift and how often? Will you be off task or absent from work due to your conditions or treatment)?

Social Security rules predicate that persons under age 50 can adapt to new jobs--even those with which they have no experience or training. So, even if an individual cannot perform any past work, Social Security may deny the claim if it feels the claimant can be a toll booth ticket taker, parking garage attendant, or call center worker, as examples. The agency will call a vocational witness to testify about how many unskilled sedentary jobs exist in the national economy.

As I so often say, most claims are denied at the initial (first) level. The best chance of approval lies in the appeal process, particularly at the hearing level (where you appear before a US Administrative Law Judge). It takes persistence and patience to get up to this level. It takes skill and expertise to prevail at the hearing. Statistics actually show that the odds of winning a disability claim if you have representation is about 60 percent, compared to 31 percent if you don't.