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Social Security Disability Application Process |
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Confused about applying for
Social Security Disability benefits? Even a
small mistake on the paperwork or one missed
deadline can cause your claim to be denied.
Don't take that risk. |
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Contact Social Security
Claims Specialists, in Tyler, Texas today. We
have helped hundreds of injured people apply for
and receive the Social Security Disability in
Texas. We'd like to help you, too. Getting your
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)
benefits started can be a real pain. |
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Helping You Do it Right the First Time |
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We can advise you about how
to describe your work, your medical condition,
and your education.
If the state agency that reviews applications
wants to send you to one of its physicians for
an exam, we may be able to help you get the
necessary information from your own doctor, who
knows you and understands your condition best.
With our legal counsel, your application will
have a greater chance of being accepted in the
initial disability determination process. You
are more likely to start receiving your benefits
without having to endure a lengthy appeals
process.
For experienced legal assistance, please call
our Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)
specialists today. We can start working on your
claim right now, without you even having to
leave home. |
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If you have concerns about
receiving Social Security Disability in Texas,
we can help. |
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The Process |
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Sequential Evaluation |
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As prescribed in the Social
Security Administration's (SSA) regulations,
disability in adults is evaluated under a
five-step "sequential evaluation process." The
steps are followed in order until a decision is
made. Listed below is an overview of the five
step evaluation process |
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The first step is to
determine whether the individual is engaging in
Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) or work.
Under current regulations, if the disabled
individual has earnings resulting in more than
$900 a month (2007), he or she will be
considered to be engaging in SGA and the
individual will be found not disabled at step
one. However, SSA does not necessarily count all
the person's earnings. For example, they deduct
impairment-related work expenses when we
determine the amount of earnings to count. Both
amounts are indexed annually to average wage
growth. |
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If it is determined that the
individual is engaging in SGA, a decision is
made at the first step that he or she is not
disabled without considering medical factors. If
an individual is found not to be engaging in SGA,
the existence, severity and duration of the
person's impairment are explored. At this step,
and throughout the remainder of the process, SSA
will consider all of a person's physical and
mental impairments, both singly and in
combination. |
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If the individual does not
have a medical impairment, or the impairment or
combined impairments are determined to be "not
severe" (i.e., they do not significantly limit
the individual's capacity to perform basic work
activities), the individual is found not
disabled at the second step. If the impairment
is "severe," SSA will proceed to the third step,
where a determination is made as to whether the
impairment "meets" or "equals" the criteria of
one of the medical listings published in
regulations by SSA. |
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Listing of Impairments
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The Listing of Impairments
describes, for each major function of the body,
impairments that are considered severe enough to
prevent a person from doing any gainful
activity, as opposed to any substantial gainful
activity. The Listings are not required by
statute, but SSA has been using them in one form
or another since it first started evaluating
disability claims, updating them as needed, to
screen the most obviously disabled applicants.
Most of the listed impairments are permanent or
expected to result in death, or a specific
statement of duration is made. For all others,
the evidence must show that the impairment has
lasted or is expected to last for a continuous
period of at least 12 months. |
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At this third step, the
presence of an impairment that meets the
criteria in the Listing of Impairments (or that
is of equal severity) is usually sufficient to
establish that an individual who is not working
is disabled, without the need to consider the
individual's age, education, or work experience.
However, the absence of a listing-level
impairment does not mean the individual is not
disabled. Rather, it merely requires the
adjudicator to move on to the next step of the
process. |
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Medical-Vocational
Decisions |
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If a "severe" impairment
neither "meets" nor "equals" a listing (which
would result in a finding of disability), SSA
assesses the individual's residual functional
capacity(RFC)--what an individual can still do
despite his or her impairment--and uses that
assessment in the last two steps of the process.
At step four, we consider whether the person has
the residual functional capacity to meet the
physical and mental demands of past relevant
work. If the impairment does not prevent the
individual from meeting the demands of past
relevant work, the person is found not disabled. |
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Finally, if the impairment
does prevent the individual from performing past
relevant work (or if the person did not have any
past relevant work) it must be determined
whether the impairment prevents the person
making an adjustment to other work at step five.
As the statutory definition states, the
individual must be "not only unable to do his
previous work but cannot, considering his age,
education, and work experience, engage in any
other kind of substantial gainful work which
exists in the national economy...." |
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The statutory standard is a
method of judging disability. For example, the
law specifies that the work the person can do
does not have to exist in the immediate area in
which he or she lives, and that a specific job
vacancy does not have to be available to him or
her. Work in the national economy is defined in
statute as work which exists in significant
numbers either in the region where such
individual lives or in several regions of the
country. |
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SSA has developed a
vocational "grid" designed to minimize
subjectivity and promote consistency in applying
the vocational factors. The grid regulations
relate age, education, and past work experience
to the individual's residual functional capacity
to perform work-related physical and mental
activities. If the applicant has a particular
level of exertion work capability--characterized
by the terms sedentary, light, and medium--an
automatic finding of "disabled" or "not
disabled" may be required when such capability
is applied to various combinations of age,
education, and work experience. Otherwise, we
use the rules as a framework for decision
making. |
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If you have additional
questions about Social Security’s process of
determining disability; please call our office
and we will be glad to answer general questions
you may have. |
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