Indiana Social Security Disability Attorney

I previously discussed Medical Impairments and Social Security Disability. Sometimes claimants forget that Social Security only pays disability benefits if you can prove that it is your medical impairment(s) that prevent you from working. SSA does not pay for bad attitudes (unless it is a diagnosed personality disorder that is rather severe), the factory closing, or ‘I just for some unknown reason can not work’. You have to prove that it is your medical impairment that prevents you from working.

When you are proving that it is your medical impairment that is keeping you from working, SSA will want to know how your medical impairment prevents you from being able to work. SSA will look to see if the medical impairment you have could produce the problems you describe. If the medical community generally does not believe that you could have the problems you describe as a result of the medical impairment you identify, then SSA will find that your medical impairment does not prevent you from working. For example, if you identify that you have a hang nail, that would not explain why you have back pain that prevents you from working. Social Security would ignore that you have back pain because you have not proved that your impairment, a hang nail, causes the back pain that prevents you from working.

There is a big difference between what you know and what you can prove. You will not be able to win your disability claim based only on your testimony about how your medical impairment affects you. Even though your immediate family knows you the best and they are most likely to know what you could do before you were disabled and what you can now do, SSA is suspicious of this testimony because SSA thinks your family is likely to say anything to help you get the disability money. SSA will be looking to your medical records to decide how severe your medical impairment really is. From your medical records SSA will be deciding how long you can sit, stand, and walk in an eight hour competitive work day. SSA will also decide from your medical records how much you can lift and carry and how often you could do this, your ability to reach, handle, and finger and many other physical tasks. Any limitations in your abilities must be due to your medical impairments. And the best source of evidence is usually your medical records.

Behind every question that Social Security asks is the real question: how does your medical impairment keep you from working and how does what we are now talking about show how your medical impairment keeps you from working?<–>