You Counted on Their Promise to Pay. Make Them Keep It.
We Have Been Making Them Keep Their Promises for 30 Years
In recognition of Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, the disability denial attorneys at Marc Whitehead & Associates would like to focus attention on this often misdiagnosed disease that claims the lives of over 14,000 women in the U.S. each year. According to the American Cancer Society, one in 78 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer …
When your nerve roots or spinal cord become damaged due to disease, you can lose some – or all – of your ability to move. In some cases, you may just feel numbness in certain areas of your body. More severe cases, though, can cause people to experience paralysis in their arms, legs, or even from the neck down.
Obviously, people who can’t move tend to have trouble finding work, so the Social Security Administration has chosen to recognize this as a potentially disabling condition. All you need to do to get Social Security disability benefits is qualify.
That means either matching a listing in the Listings of Impairments or proving that your issue is the equivalent of a condition included in the Listings.
Is your hearing going? Do you suffer from bouts of tinnitus? Have you had “attacks” where you have trouble keeping your balance in normal situations?
If all of these things seem to describe your condition, it is possible that you may be suffering from an impairment that the Social Security Administration classifies in its Listings of Impairments as Disturbance of Labryrinthine-Vestibular Function. This means that you have a recognized disability and may be able to qualify for Social Security Disability benefits.
How do you qualify? The SSA has offers two possible ways to do this:
Visual acuity relates to your ability to see things at a distance and see detail. Your visual field reflects how wide of an angle you can see at – vertical and horizontal. Visual efficiency combines both of these things. If you are experiencing a loss of visual efficiency, it means you can only see things within a narrow window, and that the clarity isn’t very good, even in that window.
Poor visual efficiency not only impacts your ability to hold a job but also to successfully engage in the activities of daily living, so it’s no surprise the Social Security Administration has included it in their Listings of Impairments. This compendium of disorders lists every single disability that Social Security recognizes and includes a definition and criteria to qualify for benefits for each one.
A normal person has a pretty wide visual field. They can see 60 degrees inward (toward their nose), 100 degrees outward (away from their nose), 75 degrees below the horizontal, and 60 degrees above it. If you’re having trouble imagining what those numbers really mean, think about how you can often see something “out of the corner of your eye.” This ability is related to the height and width of your visual field.
But for those whose visual field is contracting, this is an impossibility. Rather than the panorama that most of us are used to, seeing for them is more like looking through a tunnel. As you might imagine, this inability to see anything that isn’t right in front of you can make even simple tasks daunting. Those with a severe visual field contraction often have trouble finding and keeping a job.
When you are talking about visual acuity, you are dealing with the ability to effectively see detail. That means being about to do things like read or make out small objects when they are at a significant distance from you. Obviously, if you are unable to do this, it can pose a serious roadblock to your ability to perform at many different kinds of jobs or even live a normal life.
That is why the Social Security Administration includes a Loss of Visual Acuity as a disability that can qualify you for Social Security benefits. But you have to prove that you are eligible before you can start receiving those benefits. That means that you either need to:
People who are addicted to alcohol, drugs, or other substances that affect the central nervous system may be eligible to receive disability benefits through Social Security if they exhibit severe enough physical or behavioral changes.
These changes are laid down in the Social Security Administration’s Listings of Impairments, which is a large guide that compiles, defines, and lists severity requirements for every single disabling condition that they recognize. If you can show them that the issue you’re suffering from meets one of these listings, you will automatically qualify for benefits.
Generally speaking, that’s the approval route that people should try first. So how do you meet the listing for substance addiction disorders?
We all get anxious from time to time. It’s a normal part of life. But if the anxiety you feel is so severe that it prevents you from living normally, you may want to look into whether or not you qualify for disability through Social Security.
How can someone obtain disability benefits? The SSA offers two pathways to have your claim approved. You can attempt to prove that your condition is in their Listings of Impairments, or you can use their Five Step Sequential Process to show that, even if they haven’t defined your issue yet, it is serious enough to be considered the equivalent of one of the disabilities they have defined.
If you believe that you suffer from a paranoid, schizophrenic, or other psychotic disorder, it is possible you will qualify for disability benefits from Social Security. But even for someone dealing with such a serious condition, there are very specific medical requirements you need to meet.
These are described in the SSA’s Listings of Impairments, which is a compendium of different disabilities and their individual definitions and criteria. Meet the criteria for a specific disability, and you automatically qualify for benefits. Fail to meet the criteria, and you will have to go the alternate route of proving to the SSA that the issue you’re suffering from is equal to one of the conditions they have defined in their listings.
Oftentimes when people have a musculoskeletal disorder, doctors will recommend that they undergo therapy – or possibly even try surgery – to alleviate the condition. The difficult thing about getting this kind of potential help for these issues is that they take time, and there’s no medically definitive time table for individuals to reach the peak level of performance from these methods. All of this allows the SSA to continue holding off on your evaluation on the argument that you still might be getting better.
While it’s understandable that they wouldn’t want to incorrectly label someone as needing help when this need might evaporate in a few months, this policy puts claimants in the tough position of having to wait for benefits that they truly need. Luckily, the SSA guidelines realize this problem and include a compromise: maximum therapeutic benefit.
