Social Security Disability Aid

Social security disability (SSD) is a program everyone has heard of but not many people understand. Although Social Security has several programs under its administration, this article only discusses SSD.

It is extremely important to understand how Social Security defines disability and the parameters they use to determine one's eligibility for benefits. For example, Social Security does not pay for partial disability. If you know that upfront, you will know if you make a claim it will be refused and should you appeal the turn down, your appeal will also be turned down.

Social Security also doesn't pay for short term disability. Again, knowing this will save you time and energy and allow you to reach out to those programs that are set up for partial or short term disability help.
Social Security has a very strict definition of disability. The basis for their definition is  your inability to work. Notice the term is inability and not ability not to work. To Social Security this is an important distinction so it should be important to you.

The Social Security rules, as stated in their manual, say you are disabled if:

• You cannot do work that you did before;
• We decide that you cannot adjust to other work because of your medical condition(s); and
• Your disability has lasted or is expected to last for at least one year or to result in death.

Because their definition of disability is strict, you will need to enlist the aid of everyone working on your case to help you qualify. As we progress through this article you will learn tips and techniques to build a support team to help you get approved.

While Social Security doesn't publicly ballyhoo their thinking in the media, it is key to know they constructed their program around a large assumption. This assumption isn't true in every case but it is used in every case.
They assumed all working families have access to other resources to provide support during periods of short-term disabilities, including workers' compensation, insurance, savings and investments. Please note this statement is straight from the information page on their website.

If you re-read that statement you will see it is an invisible barrier between you and your benefits and is the biggest reason why so many claims are denied when first submitted. This means your chances of getting approved the first time you submit a social security disability claim are low.

You will be turned down and forced into the appeals process. The social security disability forms and appeals process will be touched on later in this article.