What Makes You Eligible For Social Security Disability or SSI?

What Makes You Eligible For Social Security Disability or SSI? Image

You could be denied or awarded Social Security Disability (SSD) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits depending on the evidence that you provide. Your eligibility will depend on three types of evidence, that you provide to the Social Security Office.

Medical proof

Medical evidence plays a vital role in helping you prove your disability.  Your medical records will be obtained by the Social Security Administration and may include admission and discharge summaries, reports of bloodwork, imaging (CT scans, X-rays, PET scans, and MRI scans), and the notes made by your specific doctors, particularly the doctor who would be considered your treating physician. If your claim at the social security office in OKC, stems from a mental disorder, your psychiatrist would be considered your treating physician. Though medical evidence works at the disability application and reconsideration appeal levels, it may not be enough at the social security hearing level, where it usually includes a statement from the treating physician on something known as a residual functional capacity form or a medical source statement.

Work History or Academic Performance

The second area that comes under scrutiny in a disability claim is the claimant’s work history. The disability examiner will examine the kind of jobs the claimant has performed in the last fifteen years, to see if his/her disability would prevent those jobs or if he/she is qualified for other jobs. In the case of children where work history is irrelevant, the disability examiner will find out how the child’s performance has been affected, whether he can engage in age-appropriate activities, on account of the incapacity by trying to obtain school records, reports of academic achievement testing and IQ testing, and even questionnaires completed by the child’s teachers.

Daily living

The Social Security Office in Tulsa, OKwould also seek information about the claimant’s daily activities to find out if he is capable of working, or if it is a child, is the behavior of the child, appropriate for his/her age. For example, if a person has a degenerative disc disease, it is expected that he/she wouldn’t be able to stand or sit for long hours, or bend or crouch or lift objects above a certain weight. If his/her prior job was of this nature, then he/she would be incapable of returning to the job or doing any other similar job.

The question is how will the social security administration in the Social Security Office in Tulsa OK know if an individual has a certain type of limitation or set of limitations?  Even though a diagnosis of an impairment and medical records provide the major part of the evidence, in many cases recorded physician statements do not talk about the physical or mental limitations. This leaves examiners with no option but to contact a claimant and ask them about their normal daily activities. They may also contact an individual who knows the claimant-called a third-party contact person and inquires into their knowledge of the applicant’s daily activities.

Applying for Social Security

You can apply for Social Security disability benefits online or in person at your local social security office in OKC or elsewhere, or on the phone at 1-800-772-1213 or 1-800-325-0778 (hearing impaired). Take the assistance of an experienced attorney from an established firm like Burton Law Group, P.C., which accepts social security disability cases in Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Walters and essentially all areas of Oklahoma. If you have applied for Social Security Disability benefits and been denied, you will have a greater chance of obtaining benefits on appeal with the assistance of an attorney.