More videos: Who We Are, How the Judge Determines Disability, What Not to Do at Your Social Security Disability Hearing, How to Be Persuasive at Your Hearing, How to Best Describe Your Daily Activities, When You Physical Impairments and Mental Limitations, and Can You Work Part-Time?
New articles: The Order in Which Things Happen at the Hearing and How Does the SSA Define Disability?
Why many Ohio Social Security disability claims are wrongfully denied
Ohio Social Security lawyers often hear this question from disability applicants: “I’ve tried, but I just can’t work. Why did the Social Security Administration deny my application for disability benefits?”
The short answer is that a state agency adjudicator found that your application and medical records did not show that you meet the Social Security Administration’s definition of “disabled.”
The Social Security Administration’s definition of “disability”
The Social Security Act defines the term “disability” as an inability “to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or which has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months.”
More specifically, the Social Security Administration will find you to be “under a disability” only if your impairments are so severe that you cannot do your previous work or, taking into account your age, education and experience, “any other kind of substantial gainful work which exists in the national economy.” Work “exists in the national economy” if it “exists in significant numbers, either in the region where such individual lives or in several regions of the country.”
How age, education, and work experience affect Ohio disability determinations
Assessing whether you are “under a disability” is affected by the concept of vocational adaptability. Younger, better-educated people with work experience are more adaptable to job changes despite a medical impairment. The Social Security Administration requires:
- Claimants 55 or older. As a general rule, you have to prove that you cannot do “medium” work — frequently lifting 25 pounds, and occasionally lifting up to 50 pounds and standing or walking for most of the day. But you can be capable of doing light work and still be found disabled.
- Claimants 50 through 54. As a general rule, you have to prove that you cannot do “light” work — lifting up to 20 pounds and standing or walking most of the day. Even though you might still be able to do a sedentary job, you can still be found disabled.
- Claimants under 50. As a general rule, you have to prove that you can’t do an easy sit-down job or even a job where you’re allowed to alternate between sitting and standing during the workday.
Failure to consider real-world factors
The Social Security Administration’s disability determination is hypothetical. The real-world issues that concern you do not concern the Social Security Administration. For example, it is irrelevant to the Social Security Administration that:
- You are not able to get work
- There is no work to be had in your local area
- Employers would not hire you
- The industry in which you work has undergone technological changes
- The economy is in a down-cycle
- You do not want to work in a particular job
To the Social Security Administration, the question is not “Are you able to find work?” Rather, in determining your disability status, the Social Security Administration will ask, “Hypothetically speaking, is there a job you are capable of performing?”
Reasons why the Social Security Administration answers the question incorrectly for so many Ohio residents
The most common single reason for an erroneous denial at the state agency level is an over-estimation of your residual functional capacity. The state agency may, for example, have determined that you are capable of medium work when you are actually limited to light work.
Additional examples of erroneous reasons for denial are:
- The state agency did not gather evidence showing that your impairment meets the Listings
- Your impairment was determined to be “not severe”
- Your additional impairments were not considered
- Testing shows your educational level to be lower than your years of formal schooling
- Your allegations of pain were not properly evaluated
How an Ohio Social Security disability attorney can help
More than one-half of claimants who appeal the denials of their Ohio Social Security disability claims will ultimately be awarded benefits. But proving that your denial was erroneous requires (1) creation of effective theory of your case, (2) assembly of medical evidence consistent with that theory, and (3) persuasive testimony at a hearing before an administrative law judge.
We can help with all three tasks. We have decades of experience helping thousands of claimants win Social Security disability benefits, and we are ready to put our expertise work for you. If your application has been denied and you want our assistance, please
provide a brief description of your claim using the form to the right, and we will respond promptly. Or you may contact us at:
Lorain Ohio 440-985-1085
Mansfield Ohio 419-524-5333
Oberlin Ohio 440-774-7700
Toledo Ohio 419-242-1515
Wooster Ohio 330-263-5333
