You start to file a Social Security claim online. There are approximately 98 questions on Part I of the basic application. Then, you come to Part II, the Disability Report. This is a 7-page form which will ask you a couple of hundred additional questions. By now you are fatigued and probably confused. You press "Submit" and think you are done with the application. You are not done. You are just getting started.
In about 14 days, you will receive by mail a large brown envelope from the Disability Determination Service (DDS). This envelope will contain additional forms, questionnaires and documents to fill out and return. Failure to complete these forms, or to complete them fully, will get you denied. There are always 2 forms from the DDS:
1) THE WORK HISTORY REPORT - which asks you to list the name, address and phone number of every employer you have worked for during the past 15 years. Then, you will be asked to provide a detailed description of each job. If you had 5 jobs, there will be 6 pages of forms to complete in the Work History Report. They will ask you to estimate how much sitting, standing, walking, reaching, bending, stooping,crouching, crawling,lifting, squatting, kneeling, handing, writing, etc. you did for each job. It may take hours to properly complete this report. About 90 percent of these forms that I see are not prepared correctly when an attorney or representative was not involved. The Work History Report will help DDS to classify your past jobs with regard to exertion level (sedentary, light, medium, heavy or very heavy) and skill level (skilled, semi-skilled or unskilled). This will be used at Step 4 of the sequential decision making process. A skimpy, incomplete Work History Report will hurt you now, and it will hurt you again at your hearing when you face a Vocational Expert.
2) THE FUNCTION REPORT - This is an 8-page form with an estimated 200 questions that must be completed in great detail. They will ask you to explain your daily activities in detail: shopping, driving, bathing, dressing, cooking, cleaning, lawn work, socializing, hobbies, etc. Your answers to these questions give DDS a "snapshot" of how active you are, or how limited you are in the ability to perform activities of daily living. 90 percent of claimants probably skimp on these forms --and that ranges from returning entirely blank forms to returning forms that give one word answers or "NA" instead of full explanations to the questions. This, also, will hurt you claim--guaranteed.
DDS may send you additional questionnaires. For example, if you complain of severe headaches, they may send you a "Headache Questionnaire" to complete. If you complain of chronic pain, you will get a "Pain Questionnaire." If you have seizures, you will get a "Seizure Questionnaire." Skip these forms or go skimpy on your answers at your own peril.
If they are still not certain that they have sufficient information about you to make a decision, DDS may request that you go for a consultative examination with one of the doctors they have under contract. Nothing favorable usually comes from one of these exams, yet you must attend or risk being denied for being "uncooperative."
It's no wonder that most people find the Social Security disability process intimidating, overwhelming and confusing. I think that explains why so many claimants seek professional help in getting through the maze of interviews, forms and examinations--not to mention the probability of an appeal hearing. Most people simply want and need their backs covered by a professional who understands the system and has been there before (many times before).
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