There have been several people asking me how I went about getting my claim approved. I will describe it the best I can. First and foremost, I am in no way an expert on SSDI or SSI. This is just my personal experience in my recent battle with SSDI. I have several posts in this forum about my claim for disability. I will start with what you should do to file a claim.

The first thing to always remember is, SSA does not get in a hurry. The reason for this is because they have a very large backlog of claims. If you have become disabled and can no longer do ANY kind of work, then you should file a claim. You must first qualify with the correct amount of work credits meaning how much or how long you have worked and paid in social security tax. Now, just because you say that you can’t work doesn’t amount to a hill of beans to SSA. You have got to back up your claim with medical records from your doctor and or hospital.

SSA will tell you when you file that they will request the records they need, DON"T BELIEVE THIS . Get any and all medical records from your doctor yourself and make copies, keep one copy for yourself and give one copy to SSA when you file. The reason I was denied the first time is because SSA only got 195 pages of medical records out of about 2700 pages. I eventually found this out from my lawyer. Use the SSA Blue Book and research your disability to make sure you qualify. Also, an RFC form will help tremendously in your claim. Just download the form and get your doctor to complete the form in as much detail as possible.
Go here to download a RESIDUAL FUNCTIONAL CAPACITY FORM.

Remember that most all claims are denied the first time around. The reason for this is because about 80% of the claims denied do not get appealed, the claimant just drops it all together. Some states allow you to file a SSA-561-U2 form. Download it here . This is a request for reconsideration, Alabama doesn’t allow this form; if you get denied the first time, you have to appeal and wait for a hearing. Your initial claim is sent to a Disability Determination Service office. These are contractors hired by the state to decide SSDI claims. Research these offices in your state, I found out that these DDS offices in Alabama had been under investigation by the Office of the Inspector General in Washington for several discrepancies. If you have a legitimate claim according to the SSA Blue Book and you have medical records to prove it, you shouldn’t be denied the first time if DDS does their job (this doesn’t always happen).

Hiring an attorney is debatable, some times it helps and then sometimes it’s useless. In my case, I hired a lawyer AFTER I filed an appeal. My problem is that I did all the leg work, I got all my medical records from the VA myself and hand delivered them to the lawyer. All he did was forward them to SSA. The lady working my claim at the Adjudication and Appeals office said I could send these records to them just as easy as the lawyer did. In other words, I have to pay him 25% of my backpay for doing something that I could have done myself. I guess the decision to hire a lawyer would be based on the individual claim itself. If you do decide to hire a lawyer, check out his reputation first. My lawyer sat there for 5 months after I hired him and didn’t even call me to tell me what I should do. Remember that a lawyer probably will not take your claim unless he thinks he can win it. The problem is that a lawyer knows the longer your case is delayed, the more money he makes while in the meantime, your starving to death or can’t possibly pay your bills. This is not the case with all lawyers, but I will say most anyway.

Another thing to remember is: You Have Rights. You can call any level of SSA office where your claim is and ask questions about your claim. This is one thing that got my claim decided without a hearing with a judge. Let them know from start that they are not dealing with someone that is going to go away. If you know that you have a legitimate claim and DDS didn’t make a fair decision, let them know that you know this. It will speed up the process or it did in my case. I cannot and will not guaranty any of this will work for anyone else as it did for me. Just don’t be intimidated by SSA, this is your money you are filing for and you have the right to make sure that SSA follows their own rules in deciding your claim.

I am going to stop this now because it’s getting long. If I can be of any help to anyone, please contact me through a PM on this forum.

An excellent post Rickey.

I'm hoping a mod will come along and sticky this