To give yourself the best chance to win an SSD or SSI claim it takes a great deal of effort and knowledge. If you are handling your disability claim without a lawyer, then what you must know and the effort you must put in is even greater. Even if you have a lawyer, you will want to know the basics of how a Social Security disability claim is decided and what you must prove to win your particular case. If you do not have the ability, time, or will to learn Social Security disability law and how it pertains to your case you will want a lawyer to help you. That being said, if you have a lawyer it does not mean you have no work to do if you want to give yourself the best chance to win. An experienced disability attorney knows the laws and what it will take to win your claim. However, sometimes your lawyer will need your help in getting all the information and evidence needed to put forth the best claim on your behalf. Many doctors are much more willing to fill out paperwork and produce medical records to their patients than they are to Social Security or your lawyer. Therefore, whether you have a lawyer or not, your case may require you to make an effort to get this information from your doctors personally. Lawyers can be very helpful in a disability claim but they still need the tools (evidence) to put together the best case to win. In some cases, the lawyer is able to get all the information he needs with very little help from you. In other cases, the client may have to help quite a bit to get all the evidence that is needed. No two cases are alike. You should check up on your case with your lawyer or Social Security (if you do not have a lawyer) every two or three months to make sure you are evidence is complete and up-to-date. If there is important evidence missing then you should take it upon yourself to help get the evidence. If you have a lawyer, ask your lawyer what you can do to help with your case. Remember, winning a Social Security disability claim is hard work with or without a lawyer, but if you do not do all you can to help your case then you're not giving yourself the best chance to win your SSD or SSI claim.

I have been on the road quite a bit, so I have not been able to post on this disability blog in a while. I plan to be adding some new pages to the website and posting here more frequently over the next couple weeks. If any of you have topics about SSD or SSI you would like to see covered please feel free to e-mail me and let me know. I am presently working on pages that address specific medical conditions and how they are handled in a Social Security Disability claim. I also hope to be redesigning my website soon to give it a more up-to-date look and make it more user-friendly. I know from the many positive responses I received by e-mail that many of you are finding the content on my website very helpful in your pursuit of disability. When I make the changes I will be sure to keep the website content that I have and will be also adding additional content. My other goal is to make it easier for you to find information you are looking for. So remember to bookmark my website and check back for more updates. Hopefully, within the next two months you will see a new and improved website design that I hope will mean a better user experience for all those looking for help with their claims. As always, I wish you luck in your pursuit of benefits and stand ready to answer any of your questions and also help any of you who have decided that you want me to help you as your lawyer.

I was going through my website recently and realized I had not updated my page on denial rates which shows the percentage of cases that win and lose at application and reconsideration for each state. You will also find on this page, that I have added the winning and losing percentages nationally for all stages of the process including application, reconsideration, hearing, Appeals Council, and US District Court. You will now find more up to date statistics on your chances to win for your individual state and nationally. I have also updated the information on my page about how long it takes to get a decision at the hearing level. On that page you'll find the average time it takes in days for your claim at the hearing stage to go from requesting a hearing to actually receiving a decision. This is all part of my quest to bring you the best and most up-to-date information on Social Security disability issues. I think you will find the new information that I provided to be interesting since I often get e-mails that ask me questions that are answered on these pages. People frequently ask me what their chances are of winning. Although my page that shows the statistics for winning and losing will not be able to address your particular claim and chance of success, it should give you a good idea of the big picture at each of the stages of the process. I am also frequently asked how long it will take to get a decision. This is most often asked by those who have been waiting a long time to get a hearing date. I hope my page that addresses how long it can take will prepare you for how long you may have to wait before you get a hearing in your particular state.