Anyone been thru a social security disability hearing?

[Guest guest]

i will be having my appeal hearing before the ALJ for my social

security disability application in a few weeks. i was wondering if

anyone who has been thru this might have any advice?

any advice would be very welcome since i have no clue what to expect.

especially things like: what kind of questions did they ask? did they

grill you or was it relatively relaxed? how long was it? anything i

can do to help my chances?

id like to hear both from those who got approved as well as who didnt.

thxs

cfsguy

[Guest guest]

cfsguy,

It's been awhile and I was going before the court with the diagnosis of

Fibromyalgia, but I do remember some of the things the attorney warned me

about and how it went.

The attorney told me not to get dressed up but to wear everyday nice clothes

not to wear nail polish (doubt that's an issue for you?) and to answer all

questions as if it were one of my " bad " days since I had and still have good

and bad days.

The judge asked me to explain how I feel and why it is I could no longer

work. He then asked me to clarify things I stated. Like why I could not get

up at 7AM and function.

Over the months I had written a paper of who I was before I got sick and how

I feel now. The things I had to give up because of this illness. I had given

it to my attorney and it was in the packet the judge read. He asked how I

was able to write this if I were so sick. I told him that it took me months

and I had many people read it over for me to make sure it made sense and

thank goodness for spell-check.

What I am able to do now - very tricky question!! I had to remember what

exactly what I could lift, carry, etc. I had to remember to explain how my

mind did not stay on task, and how much I had to rest to be able to function

He asked me what my daily routine was and questioned the amount of sleep I

said I slept in a day. He asked what would happen if I didn't get that sleep

I think you need to appear to be able to function as you can, but not overly

good as on a " good day. " . I told the judge that I drove to the courthouse an

slept for an hour in the car before I came in, so I would be functional. In

those days, I kept an alarm clock in the car so I could do that when I was

able. I had planned for a friend to drive me but she was ill, so that's what

I had to do to function. It is best to have someone drive you.

I hope this helps you some, I hope you have an attorney that will clue you

in on the judge and his/her attitudes about things. Mine told me what he

expected the judge to ask and he wasn't off by much.

Good luck to you - remember that they are there to keep out the cheaters and

since you are not one, you need to let them find that out.

Ann

-- [ ] Anyone been thru a social security disability hearing?

i will be having my appeal hearing before the ALJ for my social

security disability application in a few weeks. i was wondering if

anyone who has been thru this might have any advice?

any advice would be very welcome since i have no clue what to expect.

especially things like: what kind of questions did they ask? did they

grill you or was it relatively relaxed? how long was it? anything i

can do to help my chances?

id like to hear both from those who got approved as well as who didnt.

thxs

cfsguy

[Guest guest]

I went through it many years ago. And I had a friend who went through it before

that. It took him about 5 years of fighting them before he got results.

When I went in, they had an answer for everything I asked and basically didn't

believe anything I told them. So I just gave up, and of course that is exactly

what they want.

It can be done with enough perseverance, but do NOT expect it to go easy, unless

you are so bad you are in a wheelchair, or have a bad heart condition or

terminal cancer, or things like that. What are you going for?

Jim.

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