Winning my social security disability case

General
1

AS I READ AND LEARN ABOUT YOU, MY FELLOW CHIARIANS I CAN SEE THERE'S A WIDE RANGE OF SYMPTOMS AND LEVELS FOR EACH PERSON AS I AM SURE EACH DISABILITY CASE WOULD BE, BUT I AM MORE THAN WILLING TO SHARE WHAT I KNOW AND HAVE EXPERIENCED AND HEY IF IT HELPS THEN BRAVO!!!

IT TOOK ME FOUR YEARS, SO BE PREPARED!

IT BREAKS DOWN LIKE THIS:

APPLY ON PAPER NOT THE COMPUTER (IF YOU CAN USE A COMPUTER THEY DAMN YOU FOR IT)

THEY WILL DENY YOU

APPEAL!

THEY WILL PROBABLY DENY YOU AGAIN!

HIRE A LAWYER, MINE ONLY GOT PAID IF WE WON.

AND WORK WITH THEM TO REQUEST A HEARING IN FRONT OF AN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE

MY JUDGE SENT ME TO A SHRINK AND A QUACK DR WHO WORKS FOR THEM (SOCIAL SECURITY)

AT THE HEARING THE JUDGE TREATED ME LIKE A CRIMINAL AND SEEMED TO NOT BELIEVE A WORD I SAID, HE EVEN ASKED ME WHY I WASN'T USING A CANE OR WHEELCHAIR...

HE DENIED ME 2 WKS LATER AND IN HIS LETTER TO ME HE STATED THAT HE DIDN'T WITNESS ME FALLING OUT OF MY CHAIR! AND ALSO THAT THERE WAS LACK OF MEDICAL EVIDENCE... SEE, I HAD TRIED TWICE TO DO AN MRI AND FAILED DUE TO PANIC.

MY LAWYER TOLD ME TO DO THE MRI SO WE HAD THE MEDICAL PROOF OF WHAT WAS MAKING ME FEEL LIKE THIS, AT THIS TIME I DIDN'T KNOW I HAD CHIARI MALFORMATION...SO I WENT TO AN OPEN MRI WHICH BTW IS NOT OPEN! GOT THE DIAGNOSES AND FROM THERE MY LAWYER WAS ABLE TO REQUEST A REMAND TO THE APPEALS COUNCIL.

THE APPEALS COUNCIL AGREED AND OVERTURNED THE JUDGES DECISION AND RESET FOR A NEW HEARING.

OF COURSE THE JUDGE HAD ME RETURN TO HIS QUACK DR. BUT THIS VISIT WAS DIFFERENT, I WAS TREATED WITH RESPECT, UNDERSTOOD AND HE SHOWED COMPASSION...HUH?!

WENT TO THE HEARING...THE JUDGE WAS UNDERSTANDABLY NOT HAPPY TO SEE ME AGAIN, HA!

THE HEARING WAS QUICK AND PAINLESS AND THE OUTCOME WAS A WIN FOR ME! THEY COULDN'T GIVE IT TO ME STRICTLY BASED ON CHAIRI, BUT THEY COULD ON THE SYMPTOMS OF MIGRAINES, DIZZYNESS, RINGING EARS AND IN MY CASE MY WEIGHT.

SO TO SUM IT UP, GET ALL THE MEDICAL PROOF YOU CAN, KEEP COPIES OF ALL YOUR RECORDS AND HIRE A LAWYER THAT KNOWS HOW TO HANDLE SOCIAL SECURITY CLAIMS, WITH OUT MINE I WOULD HAVE MOST LIKELY GIVEN UP! DON'T GIVE UP, AFTER MY FOUR YR BATTLE THE WIN WAS AWESOME AND NOW I CAN ACTUALLY HELP SUPPORT MY FAMILY :)

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I am sorry you had such a hard time with Social Security Disability. I have heard lots of people have a difficult time getting their claim approved & am so glad you finally got yours approved. You are absoleutly correct when you said for everyone to get all their medical records together & an Attorney that just handles Disability cases helps. Thanks for the Great Post,

Tracy Z.

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thanks. This gives me hope. I have been in the process for 2 years now. Glad to hear you won

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Great advice! Thank you for sharing these helpful tips:)

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I worked as a Medical Records Clerk for a Social Security claimant's advocate for 2.5 years. I've read a LOT of MRI reports, and a great deal of other medical paperwork, as the attorney I worked for preferred to request ALL the medical records, rather than only partial records. We also requested from every doctor named by the client, and all the doctors mentioned in the other medical records. Medical information is CRUCIAL to most SSI/SSD claims. And using the online application versus the paper application never made a difference in any of the cases I worked on.

As for the wait, we had a client once that waited 3.5 years for a hearing. Then lost because the ALJ was a jerk. We appealed, and the appeals court approved benefits themselves, with out sending our client back for a new hearing.

I would encourage anyone needing to file a SS claim to file first, wait for the first denial letter (which is almost inevitable), then call an attorney. Most Social Security attorneys work on contingency basis, and I'd encourage anyone looking for an attorney to look for a smaller firm, rather than the big guys you see on TV. They will tend to be more willing/able to handle federal appeals and you'll be treated like a person, not a case number. <end rant>

Good luck to all of you needing to file. It's an ugly process, and can take a very long time, but is definitely well worth it.

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Ok..I've been trying to avoid even thinking about this. What is likelyhood of needing this for us?