Application
Assassination!
The five most common
mistakes made by disability applicants that will literally assassinate your chances of receiving
disability benefits
1) Depending upon
the good will of the Social Security administration regarding the development and
evaluation of a claim.
Social Security will not seek out
additional information that might help your claim unless they are specifically made aware
it. If you allege only one impairment, SSA will evaluate only that
impairment. This is true even if you suffer from multiple impairments that
collectively could prevent all forms of work. SSA will not go out of its way to find
additional impairments that may help your case. Therefore, it is the responsibility
of the applicant or his representative to make sure that SSA is aware of all serious
impairments that collectively may result in an allowance determination.
2) Spilling your
guts to Social Security!
Social Security will ask and should
be told all pertinent information concerning your case. However, this does not mean
that you are obligated to supply information that would damage your chances of receiving
benefits. For example, during my years at Social Security, we would interview a
claimant by asking questions concerning his usual daily activities. You would be
amazed at how many applicants would foolishly admit to levels of activity that clearly
showed that they were indeed capable of work. We would then use the applicant's
statements as a means of denying the case.
3) Not collecting
all pertinent evidence prior to application.
Collecting all pertinent evidence
prior to application can favor the applicant in a number of ways. First, it allows
the applicant or his representative to develop a presentation strategy before submitting
evidence to SSA. It also eliminates SSA's need to request medical evidence of
record. Removing SSA from the case development loop can cut months off the
time it takes to complete a standard disability case.
4) Giving up after
the first denial decision!
This is extremely common and for
good reason. An applicant who traverses the disability process and is found
not disabled will be frustrated and intimidated by the system. As a result, the
applicant will give up, feeling that there is absolutely nothing he can do to reverse the
decision. Nothing could be further from the truth!
5) Not seeking
representation at the first application level!
Look! No one is forced to hire
a representative when applying for Social Security disability benefits! However,
given the complexities involved in this process, it makes no sense not to seek help as
soon as possible. Early use of a properly trained disability advocate will help an
applicant avoid those common mistakes that often result in a denial of benefits.
This means that an applicant with representation may get their benefits sooner and without
facing the usual lengthy appeals process.
