Discussing Disability Law
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December 18, 2014 - 12:12 pm
In law school, I did internships in disability law and public benefits including SSDI and SSI.
In the internships, I went with a few clients to hearings.
Afterward, I practiced a different area of law, so my experience with benefits comes from working with clients who had mixed issues including disability and from helping friends with SSDI claims.
A friend asked me to help him with his disability claim, so I read the whole DSM-IV on mental illness and physical illness as it related to my friend and then I read through the whole sections of the Code of Federal Regulations as they apply to SSDI/SSI applications, proof of impairment, how to "meet or exceed a listing" or use plural listings, and how to appeal a case.
I read about how to prove that an illness is so extreme that it severely impairs an applicant
in one OR MORE major areas of life.
Perhaps most importantly, I learned that proof of meeting two or more listings substantially increases an applicant's likelihood of obtaining disability benefits. This was essential in the cases of three people whom I guided in winning their cases.
After having been denied benefits, my friends followed the advice I gave them and then won benefits on appeal.
A friend who was disabled by an accident and who initially ignored my advice (to see a psychiatrist and get proof of diagnosis and treatment) was initially denied benefits. One listing based on physical disability wasn't enough, but they won on appeal by adding the psychiatric evidence.
Sometimes, I think of returning to the practice of law to help people with disability claims, but...Oh, well, I'm sure readers can imagine what follows...
Persistence
In the internships, I went with a few clients to hearings.
Afterward, I practiced a different area of law, so my experience with benefits comes from working with clients who had mixed issues including disability and from helping friends with SSDI claims.
A friend asked me to help him with his disability claim, so I read the whole DSM-IV on mental illness and physical illness as it related to my friend and then I read through the whole sections of the Code of Federal Regulations as they apply to SSDI/SSI applications, proof of impairment, how to "meet or exceed a listing" or use plural listings, and how to appeal a case.
I read about how to prove that an illness is so extreme that it severely impairs an applicant
in one OR MORE major areas of life.
Perhaps most importantly, I learned that proof of meeting two or more listings substantially increases an applicant's likelihood of obtaining disability benefits. This was essential in the cases of three people whom I guided in winning their cases.
After having been denied benefits, my friends followed the advice I gave them and then won benefits on appeal.
A friend who was disabled by an accident and who initially ignored my advice (to see a psychiatrist and get proof of diagnosis and treatment) was initially denied benefits. One listing based on physical disability wasn't enough, but they won on appeal by adding the psychiatric evidence.
Sometimes, I think of returning to the practice of law to help people with disability claims, but...Oh, well, I'm sure readers can imagine what follows...
Persistence
I'd rather have a frontal lobotomy than a bottle in front of me.
In law school, I did internships in disability law and public benefits including SSDI and SSI.
In the internships, I went with a few clients to hearings.
Afterward, I practiced a different area of law, so my experience with benefits comes from working with clients who had mixed issues including disability and from helping friends with SSDI claims.
A friend asked me to help him with his disability claim, so I read the whole DSM-IV on mental illness and physical illness as it related to my friend and then I read through the whole sections of the Code of Federal Regulations as they apply to SSDI/SSI applications, proof of impairment, how to "meet or exceed a listing" or use plural listings, and how to appeal a case.
I read about how to prove that an illness is so extreme that it severely impairs an applicant
in one OR MORE major areas of life.
Perhaps most importantly, I learned that proof of meeting two or more listings substantially increases an applicant's likelihood of obtaining disability benefits. This was essential in the cases of three people whom I guided in winning their cases.
After having been denied benefits, my friends followed the advice I gave them and then won benefits on appeal.
A friend who was disabled by an accident and who initially ignored my advice (to see a psychiatrist and get proof of diagnosis and treatment) was initially denied benefits. One listing based on physical disability wasn't enough, but they won on appeal by adding the psychiatric evidence.
Sometimes, I think of returning to the practice of law to help people with disability claims, but...Oh, well, I'm sure readers can imagine what follows...
Persistence
In the internships, I went with a few clients to hearings.
Afterward, I practiced a different area of law, so my experience with benefits comes from working with clients who had mixed issues including disability and from helping friends with SSDI claims.
A friend asked me to help him with his disability claim, so I read the whole DSM-IV on mental illness and physical illness as it related to my friend and then I read through the whole sections of the Code of Federal Regulations as they apply to SSDI/SSI applications, proof of impairment, how to "meet or exceed a listing" or use plural listings, and how to appeal a case.
I read about how to prove that an illness is so extreme that it severely impairs an applicant
in one OR MORE major areas of life.
Perhaps most importantly, I learned that proof of meeting two or more listings substantially increases an applicant's likelihood of obtaining disability benefits. This was essential in the cases of three people whom I guided in winning their cases.
After having been denied benefits, my friends followed the advice I gave them and then won benefits on appeal.
A friend who was disabled by an accident and who initially ignored my advice (to see a psychiatrist and get proof of diagnosis and treatment) was initially denied benefits. One listing based on physical disability wasn't enough, but they won on appeal by adding the psychiatric evidence.
Sometimes, I think of returning to the practice of law to help people with disability claims, but...Oh, well, I'm sure readers can imagine what follows...
Persistence
I'd rather have a frontal lobotomy than a bottle in front of me.
Joined: 08-11-2012