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Recent Blog Posts
Does a Learning Disability Qualify Someone for Social Security Benefits?
Learning disabilities often impair a person to such a degree they may qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance. While disorders such as autism do not automatically entitle an applicant to disability benefits, Social Security officials must consider how such conditions limit a person's ability to function in a competitive workplace. This requires careful consideration of medical expert testimony regarding a particular applicant's challenges.
Social Security Failed to Fully Consider Applicant's Limitations
In a recent Illinois case, a federal magistrate ordered Social Security to reconsider the disability application of a 24-year-old man with a long history of learning difficulties. The applicant was first diagnosed with hearing and speech problems at the age of four, qualifying him for Supplemental Security Income benefits. These benefits automatically expired when the applicant reached age 18, requiring him to reapply for adult Social Security Disability Insurance.
Making Sure Social Security Does Not Wrongly Discredit a Disability Applicant's Testimony
Social Security Disability Insurance applicants often face an uphill battle with agency officials who are determined to reject a claim. Oftentimes, Social Security administrative law judges (ALJs)—the agency employees charged with conducting initial reviews of disability cases—will employ “boilerplate language” to avoid addressing specific evidence, a practice expressly forbidden in Illinois by the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. But even when ALJs offer more detailed explanations of their decision-making, they may still unfairly (and illegally) discount a disability applicant's testimony. In some cases, courts have ordered the Social Security Administration to reconsider a claim after misrepresenting an applicant's testimony.
ALJ's “Misstatement” Entitles Applicant to New Hearing
Drug Abuse Does Not Disqualify Someone from Disability Benefits
Drug abuse is often a sign a person suffers from a serious mental disorder. While mental disabilities may qualify a person for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, officials are often too quick to dismiss applicants based on a record of drug abuse. But as a federal magistrate in Illinois recently noted, “recognizing the sometimes subtle distinction between applicants whose mental disorder causes the applicants to abuse drugs compared to applicants whose drug abuse triggers mental disorders can be difficult to discern at times.” Nevertheless, there are legal guidelines in place for making such distinctions and Social Security officials cannot simply ignore them.
The Role of “Decompensation” in Assessing Mental Disorders
Indeed, the magistrate quoted above chided Social Security for failing to properly review the claim of a woman who suffered from “severe mental health issues.” According to records, the applicant has been struggling with depression since childhood. She attempted to kill herself on at least five occasions and was hospitalized several times for “major depressive disorder” and drug abuse. Not only was she hospitalized six times over a two-year period, she was admitted to the hospital on the day her initial hearing before Social Security was scheduled.
Mental Disorders May Entitle You to Social Security Disability Benefits
Many Americans suffer from personality disorders or other psychological impairments that may affect their ability to work. In some cases these disorders, combined with other factors, may be serious enough to justify a person receiving Social Security Disability insurance benefits. Unfortunately, Social Security officials often disregard evidence pertaining to mental disorders and deny benefit claims without just cause.
Social Security Fails to Consider Evidence of Social Impairment
For example, an Illinois magistrate judge recently ordered the Social Security Administration to reconsider the application of a disability applicant who presented evidence he suffered from severe social impairment due to mental disorders. Specifically, a 2010 psychiatric evaluation diagnosed the applicant with “paranoia, schizoaffective bipolar disorder, and opiate dependence.” Based on this, the evaluation concluded the applicant was “socially impaired” in a number of areas.
Assessing Disability Claims Made By "Persons of Advanced Age"
There are special rules that apply to Social Security Disability insurance applicants over the age of 55. Such “persons of advanced age” are presumed disabled if they are limited to “light or sedentary work” and have no skills that are transferable from prior work experience. This means a person who has spent most of their life working in one type of job cannot be denied disability benefits because they are unable to learn a new type of vocation later in life. Nor can Social Security officials hold prior work experience against a person of advanced age when assessing a claim for benefits.
Social Security Relies on Outdated Job Descriptions
Unfortunately, Social Security officials do not always follow their own rules. Here is a recent example involving an Illinois woman who was denied disability benefits. The applicant was 57-years-old at the time of her hearing before Social Security. She previously worked for more than 30 years as a pay phone collector, someone who collected 60-pound coin boxes. Her position was eliminated in 2005, and she was offered early retirement.
Social Security Disability Hearing Processing Time
As of July 2015 the average hearing office processing time has increased to 511 days. This figure is alarmingly close to the all-time high of 532 days on average that was recorded back in 2008. The average hearing office processing time has been increasing each month so far through the fiscal year 2015.
Congress has fallen short in its ability to deliver the necessary resources properly in order to process Social Security disability claims adequately. Unfortunately, Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) have been leaving or retiring, and funding has not yet been increased enough to hire enough judges. Further, Congress has capped the number of dispositions each ALJ can issue in one year, at 720. This was done in response to too many decisions being issued each year awarding benefits to disabled individuals (in the opinion of politicians).
How Obesity May Affect Your Disability Claim
More than one-third of adults in the United States suffer from obesity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Obesity often contributes to a person's inability to work and, therefore, to a potential claim for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits.
While obesity is generally not a disability in and of itself, the Social Security Administration's own policies note “the combined effects of obesity with other impairments can be greater than the effects of each of the impairments considered separately.”
Social Security's “Endemic” Failure to Properly Assess Obesity
Unfortunately, many Social Security officials do not take obesity seriously. Last year, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago lamented the “endemic” failure by Social Security administrative law judges “to consider the bearing of obesity, even when not itself disabling, on a claimant's ability to work.” Despite the appeals court's warning, many disability applicants continue to face problems when citing obesity as part of their claim.
Challenging Social Security Officials Who “Cherry Pick” Medical Evidence
Social Security Disability Insurance applicants often face an uphill battle against agency officials looking for any reason to deny benefits. In many cases, a Social Security administrative law judge (ALJ) will declare an applicant's testimony lacks credibility, even if evidence clearly supports their disability claim. Even worse, an ALJ may “cherry-pick” evidence to justify a decision to deny benefits, a practice forbidden by the federal courts.
Social Security Wrongly Ignores Evidence of Woman's Disability
In one recent example, an Illinois woman applied for Social Security Disability benefits, citing a number of medical problems including arthritis and an enlarged heart. A Social Security ALJ denied the woman's application, determining she could still perform “light work,” and that her complaints about her medical condition and physical limitations were “inconsistent with the record” presented.
Social Security May Not Ignore Disability Applicants' Pain
If you are disabled due to chronic and debilitating pain, Social Security officials may try to disregard your suffering and deny your claim for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits. That is not the law, however. Federal judges in Illinois have made it quite clear the Social Security Administration cannot simply ignore a claimant's testimony regarding pain. Indeed, in a number of recent cases, the courts have reversed Social Security denials attempted on such grounds.
In one case, Social Security denied the disability claim of an Iraq war veteran injured in a bomb attack while on duty. According to court records, the claimant required 18 surgeries on his knee and leg. Although he was able to find civilian work, he later re-injured the knee and required additional surgeries to address his complaints of chronic pain. Yet, the administrative law judge (ALJ) who reviewed the claimant's application disregarded his testimony, saying any complaints about his pain were not supported by “objective evidence.”
The Importance of "Credibility" in Disability Cases
In deciding a person's claim for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, officials must determine whether or not the applicant's testimony regarding his medical condition and work limitations is “credible.” A credibility assessment may turn on any number of factors, including a review of the applicant's medical records and work history. And while judges afford the Social Security Administration great leeway in making credibility assessments, they may still be overturned if their reasoning is seriously flawed.
Part-Time Work, Inability to Afford Medicine Does Not Defeat Disability Claim
That is exactly what happened in a recent Illinois case involving a man who was denied Social Security disability benefits. The applicant suffers from a number of HIV-related health complications. The applicant said due to his medical condition, he has been unable to work full time since 2008, although after he filed for disability in 2011, he began working a limited, part-time schedule.
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