HUNTSVILLE DISABILITY GUIDE

Here are questions we often receive about Social Security disability for mental disorders: May I receive Social Security benefits for a mental condition?  Yes.  If the condition is severe enough to prevent full-time, consistent work, you may be approved for benefits.  You will need the same basic type of proof that would be required for a physical illness. Do I have to be in a hospital or institution to get disability benefits?    No. The requirement is that you are unable to perform consistent, full-time work because of your impairment.  You need not be hospitalized. Does getting disability benefits for a mental condition imply that I am "crazy" or "incompetent"? No, not at all.  The old stigmas about mental disease have pretty much been eliminated by medical science.  We now see these conditions as an illness.  However, they can be just as disabling as a physical illness. Will I be degraded, put down, or made to feel ashamed duri...

There has been a lot of news lately about problems in the Veterans Administration (VA) and how it is not adequately serving the needs of veterans, especially in the area of medical treatment. What many veterans do not know is that they don't have to depend solely on the VA for financial help.  Disabled veterans are also eligible to apply for Social Security disability benefits, which can pay up to $2,600 per month in cash benefits. Getting Social Security disability benefits will not reduce benefits from the VA.  Veterans who qualify can receive full VA benefits plus Social Security disability benefits. This is because veterans paid into the Social Security disability program during their years of active military service, and afterward.  They are covered by Social Security just as any other individual who paid into the program. In fact, starting in March 2014, Social Security provides an expedited decision making process for veterans with 100% permanent VA disabil...

Social Security does not provide for short term disability benefits.  There are two important regulations which prevent collecting disability benefits for short term impairments. First, there is the duration requirement.  This regulation requires that an impairment must last or be reasonably expected to last for a continuous period of 12 months or to end in death. CFR 404.1505 and CFR 404.1509.  Further:   Severe impairments lasting less than 12 months cannot be combined with successive, unrelated impairments to meet the duration requirement. For example, if an individual had two unrelated incapacitating impairments, one lasting for only 9 months and the other developing 6 months after onset of the first and lasting for only 7 months, the duration requirement is not met since neither impairment lasted at least 12 months even though the individual's inability to work lasted for a total of more than 12 months. Where only the second impairment is of requisite...

An individual is eligible to receive Social Security disability benefits when the person is unable to "engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or which has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months."  42 U.S.C.A.  Section 423(d)(1)(A). The claimant must "...not be able to do his previous work, and cannot, considering his age, education, and work experience, engage in any other kind of substantial gainful work which exists in the national economy regardless of whether such work exists in the immediate area in which he lives, or whether a specific job vacancy exists for him or whether he would be hired if he applied for work."  42 U.S.C.A.  Section 423(d)(2)(A). If your Social Security disability claim is denied and you appear before a US Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), the regulations stipulate...