Benefits

The Social Security Administration carefully scrutinizes every aspect of your application for Social Security disability benefits. This includes the medical reports, clinical and laboratory test results, and the opinions of your treating doctor. In this article, Ocala disability lawyer CJ Henry explains that, contrary to what you may think, it’s not necessary for you to undergo a functional capacity evaluation, nor must your treating doctor have special expertise to give an opinion as to your capacity for performing work-related activities. You are never required to undergo a functional capacity evaluation. In fact, these tests hardly provide concrete indication of your ability to sustain work activities for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, and 50 weeks a year. Especially…Read More

The Social Security Administration’s determination of disability is based not just on objective medical evidence, but also on subjective symptoms that are often very hard to measure. This is because symptoms of pain aren’t readily quantifiable by clinical tests or laboratory diagnostic techniques. In this article, Ocala disability lawyer CJ Henry explains why the Social Security Administration may need to ask your treating doctor for a subjective opinion on your medical condition. The Social Security Administration may ask your treating doctor for an opinion as to the nature and severity of your symptoms. Social Security will also inquire as to what kinds of activities you’re still able to do in spite of your medical impairments and what your physical or…Read More

Applying for Social Security disability benefits can be a long and confusing process. In order to present the very best case for disability benefits before the Social Security Administration, you will need to know what to do and what to avoid. In this article, Ocala disability lawyer CJ Henry will provide some tips on how to proceed with your disability claim. Two huge mistakes you should avoid. First, if you’re initially denied benefits, do not give up. Failing to appeal is one of the biggest mistakes you can make, although it’s not uncommon: over half of disability claimants whose applications are denied fail to appeal for reconsideration, and many who are denied at the reconsideration phase fail to request a…Read More

Return to Step Four. If you do not meet or equal a listing in the Social Security Administration’s Listing of Impairments, but you satisfy Step 4 of the sequential evaluation process (that is, you’re not able to perform past relevant work), you will be found disabled if you are not able to perform other work. In this article, Ocala disability lawyer CJ Henry will explain that Step 5, the final step in the sequential evaluation process, examines your potential ability to perform prevalent work that you haven’t actually done before. Step 5: Are You Still Able to Perform Other Work? In this final step, the Social Security Administration will evaluate whether you are, despite your impairment, still able to adjust…Read More

Return to Step Three. If your impairment does not meet or equal a listing in Social Security’s Listing of Impairments, you may still be found disabled for Social Security disability purposes if you satisfy Steps 4 and 5 in the sequential evaluation process. In this article, Ocala disability lawyer CJ Henry will examine Step 4, which looks at your ability to perform past relevant work. Step 4: Are You Still Able to Perform Past Relevant Work? If the Social Security Administration finds that you’re still able to perform “past relevant work,” it will find you not disabled. Thus, in order to satisfy this step, you must establish that you cannot do any of the work that you performed in the…Read More

Return to Step Two. In this article, Ocala disability lawyer CJ Henry discusses what could be the last step of the sequential evaluation process for the determination of your disability, Step 3. Step 3: Does Your Impairment Meet or “Equal” an Impairment in the Listing of Impairments? Step 3 of the sequential evaluation process for Social Security disability benefits involves determining whether your medical symptoms and findings meet or “medically equal” one set of the medical symptoms and findings that are enumerated in the Social Security Administration’s Listing of Impairments. The Listing of Impairments describes the objective medical criteria for determining disability (that is, whether your impairment is severe enough to preclude you from performing substantial gainful activity). If your…Read More

Return to Step One. In this article, Ocala disability lawyer CJ Henry will explain the next step in the sequential evaluation process, the so-called severity step. Step 2: Do You Have a “Severe” Medically Determinable Impairment? If you’re not engaged in any substantially gainful activity, the Social Security Administration will then determine whether you suffer from a “severe” impairment. If your impairment is slight, then the Social Security Administration will consider it to be “non-severe,” and you will be determined not to be disabled. Almost any decrease in your residual functional capacity (which is the work that you can still do despite your impairment) will satisfy Step 2. The Social Security Administration will look at all evidence, even your subjective…Read More

Return to overview. Step 1: Are You Engaged in Substantial Gainful Activity? The first step in the sequential evaluation process is determining whether you’re engaging in substantial gainful activity. To fall into this category, the work must be both “substantial” and “gainful.” It entails doing “significant physical or mental activities.” Meaning of “substantial” Work you do is not considered to be substantial when: You do not have the capacity to perform “ordinary or simple tasks satisfactorily without more supervision or assistance than is usually given other people doing similar work”; or You are engaging in work that requires “minimal duties that make little or no demands” on you and is actually of “little or no use” to either your employer…Read More

General Overview of the Sequential Evaluation Process If you apply for Social Security disability benefits, the Social Security Administration will undergo a five-step sequential evaluation process in order to determine whether you’re disabled and thus qualified for disability benefits. If, at any step, the Social Security Administration determines that you’re either disabled or not disabled, then it stops the evaluation, and there’s no further proceeding to the next step. The five steps for determining disability are: You are not doing any “substantial gainful activity” (SGA); and You suffer from a “severe” medically determinable impairment; and This impairment meets or “equals” an impairment that is listed in Social Security’s “Listing of Impairments”; or Taking into account your “residual functional capacity” (RFC),…Read More

Before your Social Security disability hearing, your Ocala disability attorney will help you prepare by letting you know what to expect and how to answer questions in a way that gives the administrative law judge the information he or she needs to approve your benefits. Below are some practical tips for the day of the hearing. As this is an informal hearing and the Social Security Administration wants you to be comfortable, you do not need to dress up too much for it. Leave your cell phone in your car or make sure that it is completely turned off to avoid possible disruptions. While in the waiting room, hallway, elevator, or anywhere someone might hear you, you should not talk…Read More