When you apply for Social Security Disability, you are stating that you cannot do an 8 hour a day job 5 days a week. If you have posted your resume seeking work, some might conclude that you really think you can work. The old adage “you cannot have your cake and eat it too” comes to mind. Some will conclude that you really are not disabled and you are only using the Social Security Disability system to provide you a means of support while you are looking for work. After all, if you cannot work, why would you be posting your resume seeking work?

Perhaps you posted a resume on line shortly before you became disabled. Have you forgotten about it? Did you remember to remove it from the site when you became unable to work? Even if you did, can it still be retrieved from the web?

Much has also been made in the news media about potential employers looking at social media sites such as Facebook and MySpace to see what they can learn. If someone might research you, what might they learn about you at these sites? If you participate in an online chat group, how might your comments be misconstrued? Also, if you are posting all the time, what might that say about your computer skills and your ability to concentrate? Do not assume that the postings are private because it is a disease support group web site. Who knows, your ALJ may actually belong to the support group and be reading about you.

There used to be an ALJ in Indianapolis that would state that he got on the SSA system the day before the hearing and personally ran the earnings records to see what it showed. He would then ask the claimant pointed questions about the latest findings. You need to be prepared to answer the ALJ’s questions about what the internet reveals about you. You may hear the ALJ begin a question with “I see on the web that…..”

In January of 1968, in the second season of Star Trek, Captain James T. Kirk invites the mobster Jojo Krako to play a card game of Fizzbin. Krako, who plays a lot of card games, accepts even though he does not know the rules. Kirk deals the cards. Kirk and Spock then begin to turn over the cards of Krako’s hand. His hand reveals face cards (King, Queen, Jack). Krako is excited as he says he has a good hand. Kirk then tells him that in Fizzbin a King is bad, a Queen is bad, and a Jack is bad. In fact, Kirk says, Kirk’s hand of  low cards is the winner and Krako has lost. When I saw the program, it was obvious to me that Kirk was making up the rules as he went. There was no way that Krako could win because he did not know the rules. If you want to purchase the DVD so you can see the whole episode, click here Star Trek DVD

Many claimants go about their Social Security Disability claim in the same manner. They do not know the rules and believe anything that anyone at Social Security says. If someone from the Disability Determination Bureau says that you have to go to an examination by one of their doctors, how do you know any different?

Other times a claimant is like Jojo Krako because something in the process is so familiar that they do not question it–they do  not realize that under the rules of this game, a King is not a good thing to have. A good attorney who has had years of experience dealing with Social Security will be able to tell you the rules and warn you ahead of time about them so that you can make the best presentation of your case.

Do you know all the rules of Social Security Disability? How big of a gambler are you with your case?