DISABILITY SURVIVAL GUIDE: NORTH ALABAMA EDITION

Social Security disability is a very complicated, tedious affair.  One small mistake can delay your claim by months or even years.  A small omission or using the wrong wording can get your claim denied. That's why it's better to get someone to help who knows the rules and has a lot of experience dealing with the Social Security Administration. Here are a FEW examples of how a mistake on your application or appeal can cost you dearly:   Wrong Onset Date.  You will be asked to provide an alleged onset date. Your claim can potentially pay back to this date.  Use the wrong date and you may lose thousands of dollars in pay. Income After Your Alleged Onset Date (AOD):   If you have non-earned (non-job related) income after your AOD, Social Security may mistakenly use that to deny your claim.  It is important to identify such income and explain it to Social Security in the beginning. Insufficient Work Credits.   I recently represented a person who had ...

  SOCIAL SECURITY & OUTDATED JOB DATA Before approving your disability claim, Social Security must decide whether there are any jobs in America that you might still be able to perform. To get job information, Social Security relies on The Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) and other sources. At the final decision-making step, Social Security must decide whether the claimant can perform even unskilled sedentary or "sit-down" type of work.  If so, they must deny the claim. This is where it gets really frustrating.  There are several  sedentary (sit-down) jobs in the DOT that no longer exist. The DOT was written in the 1930s during the Great Depression.  It was last updated around 1990.  So, at best, it is almost more than 30 years out of date. Here is an example of a job in the DOT that no longer exists: Telegraph-service rater, DOT Code 214.587-010.  It's a real job according to the DOT. However, the last telegraph ...

As a practicing Social Security disability advocate in Alabama for 20-plus years, I can say this for certain:  Every disability case has its own strengths and weaknesses.  Here I'm going to list some things that help make a good (strong) Social Security Disability case .  Caution:  Seldom will one claimant have all these things going for him/her.  1.     AGE.  While younger claimants can be approved, an individual age 50 or over has an advantage because of the grid rules . 2.      MEDICAL RECORDS .  Claimants with good medical treatment and the availability of medical records may be good candidates.  Social Security depends on objective medical evidence to approve claims.  (We can help you obtain your medical records as long as you've had the treatment). 3.  Long, Steady Employment History .  I prefer to work with a claimant who has worked for a long time with one or two employers vs. one who has mov...