PROVING YOU HAVE A DISEASE VS. PROVING A DISABILITY

Proving that you have a disease or an impairment is different from proving that you are disabled.  poving that you have a disease or an injury will not qualify you for Social Security benefits, unless you meet one of the published Listings, you qualify for a compassionate allowance, or you have a terminal disease.  Otherwise, proving that you have a particular disease or injury may not be enough for disability.

For example, you may have X-rays, MRIs and CAT scans that prove you have arthritis or degenerative disc disease in your back.  However, this does not automatically qualify for any disability benefit.

You must go a step further and show that the arthritis or DDD is so severe that it prevents you from doing at least one of the basic activities required of full-time work.  Basic activities of work includes such things as sitting, standing, lifting, carrying, bending, kneeling, crouching, crawling, reaching, handling, concentrating, following simple instructions, etc.  It will not be assumed that you cannot do these things just because you have arthritis or degenerative disc disease.

Your age has a lot to do with the type of case you present.  If you are age 55 or over, it may only be necessary to prove that you cannot perform the activities of your past relevant work (the work you have performed in the past 15 years).

If you are under age 50, it will be necessary to prove that you cannot perform any full-time work, even sedentary unskilled work.  This is where most claims are lost.

Judges will often find (at Step 4) that you are unable to perform any past relevant work.  This is especially true if your past work was at a medium or heavy exertion level, such as construction, heavy equipment operator, or a job that involved a lot of standing, walking and lifting.  However, they will also likely find that you could still perform light or sedentary work, such as a silverware wrapper, document preparer, garment tagger, inspector or hand packager.  There goes the case.

How do you best prepare for this?  If you have not spent years learning about exertion levels, residual functional capacities, demands of various jobs, categories of jobs in the outdated Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), and other such occupational matters, it is best to use an advocate or attorney who has.  This won't guarantee a victory but it sure gives you a much better chance that you would have on your own.  Most claimants don't know the kind of technical side show they will be subjected to when it comes to testimony about the types of jobs they can perform.  Take someone with you who does!