Social Security Disability - Video

I'm here today to talk to you a little bit about Social Security Disability, or SSI Disability. The requirements for Social Security Disability and SSI are generally the same when you're looking at what's required for the medical part of it. What the Social Security regs say are that you must have a physical impairment or a mental impairment, which prevents you from engaging in substantial gainful employment. Now, let's just break that down a little bit and tell you what that really means. It means that you are disabled and you're unable to go to work. That's all it really means. It may be you're disabled because of a back injury, or maybe you've had cancer and you are unable to return to work. Or maybe you've had a horrible car accident, I hope that's not the case, and you're unable to go back to work. Or maybe you have a mental impairment such as schizophrenia, or bipolar, that prevents you from working. All those types of things are what Social Security is looking for to say, "This person is unable to work."

At the Sellers Law Firm, what we do is we go out and we gather up evidence to support those claims. We get your medical records. Maybe we're going to get occupational therapy records. We may even get some school records or counseling records. We're going to build a case to support the claim that you're unable to work. Now, there are some other considerations for Social Security, and I'm just going to touch on them for a second, and that is you have to have worked for so many years, and you have to become disabled within so many years of when you last worked. That gets pretty complicated, and we'll talk about that if you actually come in, and hopefully you will, to meet with me to talk about a Social Security case. But we're also going to talk about the fact that a Social Security case, I know, is very important to you. If you're unable to work, that means you likely have no income coming in. So every case that comes in here-- and we've represented thousands of people in 24 years, but every case is unique. Every person is unique. Their health, their financial status, it's all very unique, so we need to get to know you. A lot of times, that means we'll spend hours upon hours discussing your medical conditions, discussing what caused this disability. And we'll also discuss when did this disability start. That's why we need to get to know you, and you need to get to know us, and we got to spend some time together.

Now, Social Security law can be very complicated, I won't lie to you. So a lot of people will go apply for Social Security on their own, and I understand they don't want to have to pay a lawyer for their past back-due benefits to do something they think they can do on their own. But here's the problem with that, initial applications for people who file on their own are generally denied 85 to 90 percent of the time. So I tell people, "Come see me in the very beginning," because we're going to gather up all the information. We're going to get everything that Social Security needs, and we're going to get it to Social Security, because we have a better chance of getting you approved at the first level than you do on your own. And that's just a simple fact because I've been doing this for 24 years and represented thousands of folks. I've got a lot of experience in dealing with Social Security.

Now, a lot of times though you may get turned down on the first level. And if you do, we have already put that case into motion and started building that case so that we can go in front of an appeals judge and say, "Hey, this is why this person qualifies for Social Security." We've gathered these records and in that period of time, we've even gathered new records. A lot of people come to me and I know they're disabled and the problem is they don't have enough medical history to support the disability. They haven't been to the doctor enough. Well, my thing is I want to help you get treated too. It's not just about winning your Social Security case, it's helping you get into-- your medical condition, to help it get better, to help you get stabilized. We know doctors in Montgomery, we know doctors throughout Central Alabama that will take little or no money to get you in, and treat you, and help you. And that's part of what we do at the Sellers Law Firm. It really is all about helping you, and that's what we're trying to do.

So if you think you may have a Social Security case, if you're unable to work because of a mental or physical impairment, don't worry about all the whether you've worked long enough, or whether you've got enough quarters paid in. Just go ahead and call us. Come in, sit down, make an appointment, talk to us, and let's see what we can do for you. Because at the Sellers Law Firm, we really are here to help you. We have four offices in Central Alabama, and I'm betting one of them's near you. Montgomery, Selma, Greenville, and Troy. And here's the thing, all consultations are free. So it's not costing you anything to come in and meet with us. I don't care if you meet with us one time or four times, it's always going to be free. So give me a call, set up an appointment, come in, and let's discuss your disability case today. Thank you.