Working Through Emotional Trauma
About Me
Working Through Emotional Trauma

I still remember my accident like it was yesterday. One minute I was driving my daughter to school and the next I was waking up in a hospital bed. It was frustrating to deal with the emotional trauma of forgetting an entire week of my life, in addition to stressing about my small child. Fortunately, we were both able to recover, but it wasn't easy walking dealing with the medical bills that accompanied the accident. I found myself struggling with things as simple as answering the phone, because I was nervous about dealing with another insurance adjuster. Fortunately, by working with a lawyer, I was able to make sense of my situation. I know that you can overcome difficult challenges too, which is why I shared my story on this website.

Working Through Emotional Trauma

What To Do If You Are Denied On Your Social Security Disability Claim

Debra Hawkins

When you apply for Social Security Disability, you should be aware that a good majority of initial claims get denied. In fact, as much as 65% of initial claims are denied the first time around. If you are denied, you don't want to give up. Many people find they are initially denied only to be approved after a little more effort. If you are denied the first time around, you want to be one of those people who ends up getting approved after. For this reason, you want to follow the tips offered below:

Immediately ask for reconsideration

If you are denied, you will be offered the chance to appeal the decision in most states. You always want to appeal if you are offered the opportunity to do so. In order to file an appeal, you will need to fill out a form within the timeframe stated on your denial letter. If you are denied in the appeal process, then request to have your claim go before a judge. If your claim is once again denied, then you want to ask for a review by the appeals council. If things still don't go your way, you can file for an appeal in Federal Court.

While this is a lot of steps to go through, you want to keep in mind that your original paperwork will be used for each process. You will have to fill out some extra paperwork for the different steps, but all your paper work with dates, doctors, therapy information, medication lists, employment information and other documentation will follow with each step. This simplifies the process a bit since you don't need to complete an entirely new file for each division you take your appeal to.

Continue documenting changes

While you are going through appeals and reconsiderations, you still want to be diligent with regards to keeping track of any changes to your condition, as well as changes in doctors, medications, therapies, etc. Showing your condition is not improving, or even getting worse, will only help to increase your chances of winning your claim at the next step.

Seriously consider getting an attorney

Hiring an attorney (such as one from the Law Offices Of Russell J. Goldsmith) to help you with your claim after a denial can take a lot of the burden off your shoulders. An attorney will also know exactly how to navigate the different steps where you may need to put a lot of time and effort into planning your net course of action.


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