You’ve travelled down the arduous paper trial in filing for Social Security disability benefits. You prepared everything carefully and submitted your Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) claim for approval. You’ve waited almost six months to get an answer, only to be told no. What do you do now?

According to statistics, it’s common for most applicants to be denied the first go around. You’ll receive a letter of denial that includes instructions how to appeal the denial. Appealing the first denial is called reconsideration. This may be submitted, in most cases, online, but you must do it within 60 days of receiving your denial letter. This process can take another three to five months. Unfortunately, national averages show that only 10 to 15 percent of denials are reversed at this level.

If your reconsideration is denied, you have the right, again within 60 days, to appeal by filing a Request for Hearing by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) and an Appeal Disability Report. This is the stage you’ll need good legal support for, because you are entering the world of legal bureaucracy and proceedings. Depending on your local court’s backlog, you may have to wait as long as a year to appear before an ALJ. The good news is, though, at this level your chances of approval dramatically improve. National statistics show that as many as 75 percent of claimants are approved for disability.

Every ALJ hearing is different, but there are some things you can reasonably expect. In the courtroom will be the ALJ, a person for recording all details about the proceedings called the clerk, you and your lawyer and possibly a doctor for reading and interpreting your medical records for the court. This doctor will offer his opinion about your level of disability as it relates to your claim. Also present may be a psychologist or psychiatrist to rule on mental health-centered claims. There will probably also be a vocational specialist that can give opinions about jobs you could do, even with your disability. You’ll have the opportunity to plea your case to the ALJ, and after the hearing, you’ll be informed in writing what the decision is.

The ALJ may write their own decision, or it may get passed along to a decision writer that works for the judge. There are backlogs of cases, and depending upon how big that backup is, you could wait from 30 days to six months to receive your ALJ decision.  This is providing all information required to close your administrative record is available. It is essential to have all documents, medical records and other pertinent paperwork filed before your hearing begins.

Glaucoma is a medical term that actually describes a group of eye conditions that affect one’s sight. It often affects both eyes, and if left untreated, can result in total blindness.

It is caused by a buildup of pressure inside the eye, called interocular pressure, resulting in a blockage that prevents the fluid inside the eyeball (aqueous humor) from properly draining. This buildup of pressure inside the eye can damage the optic nerve, which connects the eye to the brain, and the nerve fibers of the retina, the light sensitive  lining at the back of the eye. It’s the second leading cause of blindness worldwide, thought to affect one out of ten people over age 80, and one of 200 people 50 years old or younger.

Loss of vision dramatically affects your ability to work, and you may qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) if you are diagnosed with glaucoma, providing you meet certain Social Security Administration (SSA) requirements, or listings:

1. Listing 2.02–Impairment of Visual Acuity

This means your vision in your better eye, after correction, can be measured at    20/200 or less. This applies whether glaucoma is present in one or both eyes.

1. Listing 2.03–Contractions of Peripheral Visual Fields in Better Eye

This is a measurement of your peripheral vision, determined by a peripheral field test. This test determines how much your glaucoma is affecting your ability to see things to the side, or your “side vision.” Criteria include inability to see things 10 degrees from looking straight ahead and vision limited to 20 percent of the total visual field (ahead and peripherally).

1. Listing 2.04–Loss of Visual Efficiency This measurement shows your better eye is only 20 percent better than your bad eye
2. Listing 2.06–Total Bilateral Opthamoplegia This condition causes the loss of muscle function in both eyes, making you unable to look around from side to side or up and down.

Even if your vision does not meet the above definitions of blindness, you may still be eligible for SSI or SSDI if you can prove the condition of your eyesight is so severe it prevents you from working in your current job, any job you’ve had in the past 15 years, or from being retrained in a new job because of your age, past work history, education or “residual functional capacity” to work. “Residual” means what is left over; “functional” refers to your ability to perform work or in a work-like environment; and “capacity” refers to your ability to perform in a competitive work environment. If your residual functional ability, or what you are limited to do by your disability, is less than sedentary, for example, it means you are not able to even perform a simple, sit down, unskilled job eight hours a day and five days a week.

If you can prove your glaucoma prevents you from even performing the simplest of jobs, you can qualify for coverage. For example, if you are unable to perform secretarial or accounting work because you can’t see the computer screen in front of you or items around you, you could qualify.

The first step toward a successful SSI or SSDI claim is contacting a qualified attorney or an advocate specializing in Social Security Disability coverage. Working alongside legal and medical professionals helps you build a strong case, and can go a long way towards approval, and speed your way to getting the benefits you need and deserve.

If you are disabled and receiving Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, you still may be able to get a ticket to work.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has provisions that allow disabled workers to test their ability to work for up to nine months, called a “trial work period,” and still get a monthly check. As long as you report your work to the SSA, and you continue to suffer from a disabling condition, you remain eligible — no matter how much you are earning.

Rules for 2012 define a trial work month as any where you earn at least $720. You may be self-employed, but you have to put in a minimum of 80 hours that month working in your own business. The trial work period is limited to nine months over a five year period.

When your trial work period is over, you have 36 months of work eligibility, as long as your earnings are not “substantial.” That is defined as income over $1,010 for the non-blind in 2012, or $1,680 if you are blind.

If you have the desire to get back into work while on disability, Social Security can help. The “Ticket to Work” programs just might be the answer. This program applies to both SSI and SSDI, but the programs have some differences in requirements. Under these programs, you may get vocational rehabilitation, job training, job referrals and other free employment services, and you won’t have to submit to medical reviews of your disability status. You are required, however, to demonstrate you’re “making timely progress pursuing your back-to-work plan,” meaning full time work is your ultimate goal.

There is a program called “Work Incentives Planning and Assistance” (WIPA), through which you can get help from community-based organizations. These groups provide information and planning assistance for people under the SSI or SSDI benefits. These WIPA programs can help you sort through the government’s requirements.

When your earnings become “substantial” and your benefits end, you have five years to apply to have your benefits immediately resume if your condition worsens and you’re again unable yo work. This is referred to as “expedited reinstatement.” Under this rule, you won’t have to reapply for benefits and start a new benefits application. Also, there will be no delay in the resumption of benefits while the SSA reviews your disability status.

If your earnings cancel your SSI benefits but you are still disabled, your Medicare Part A coverage will continue for at least 93 months after the none month trial work period ends. This coverage is free. After the 93 month period, you may pay a monthly premium to buy Medicare Part A coverage. If you’re on Medicare Part B coverage, however, you must continue paying the premium. A request to end Part B coverage must be submitted to the SSA in writing.

For more information on the Ticket to Work program, visit www.socialsecurity.gov/work, or call 1-866-968-7842 (TTY 1-866-833-2967). Ask them to send you booklet number 05-10061, “Your Ticket to Work.”

For more information on WIPA, and to find your local WIPA project, call 1-866-968-7842 (TTY 1-866-833-2967). You may also find a state-by-state list of WIPA service providers at this web address: https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/oesp/providers.nsf/bystate

Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, is a benefit of Social Security that can help certain people make ends meet. It makes monthly payments to people 65 years old and over who have a low income and live on a tight budget, and who are also either blind or disabled and don’t have the physical ability for steady work. Children may also qualify for SSI if they are under 18 and meet certain government standards, proving they are in fact, disabled.

According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), a child must meet ALL of the following criteria to be considered disabled:

1. He or she can’t be working in a job that pays more than $1,000 a month. The SSA will not consider the child “disabled” if they are able to earn that much salary.
2. The child must have “a physical or mental condition, or a combination of conditions” that causes them to suffer “marked and severe functional limitations.”
3. The child’s condition or “combination of conditions” has to have lasted for at least 12 months, or be considered “life threatening.”

So what exactly does that mean for a child diagnosed with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) or ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder)? How can these conditions be proven to cause “marked and severe functional limitations”?

The SSA will require you to submit detailed information about your child’s medical condition, and how it affects their daily life. You may also be required to give the SSA permission to gather information from doctors, teachers, therapists, psychologists and others that have direct contact with your child. Once you’ve submitted a claim and the information has been gathered, the Disability Determination Services office in your state will conduct a review. It can take from three to five months for this agency to rule on your claim, but there is a possibility they could choose to pay you SSI for up to six months while your review is underway.

ADHD is the most common psychiatric disorder found in children, but there are stringent guidelines for its diagnosis, set up by the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Symptoms of ADHD must appear before the child turns seven years old, continue for at least six months, and must affect at least two parts of the child’s life. These include at school or in the classroom, on the playground, at home with family, in public, and in different social settings. A child may have trouble in just one of these areas, but not the rest, which would rule out a diagnosis of ADHD.

The SSA uses a set of guidelines called the “Listing of Impairments” manual when it rules on whether to pay SSI benefits. This rulebook mandates that two sets of requirements — List A and List B — are met. List A requires medical proof that the child suffers from “marked inattention, impulsiveness and hyperactivity.” List B, which is specifically for children between 3 and 17, requires medical proof the child has two of three “marked impairment conditions” which include “age-appropriate cognitive and communication functioning, social functioning and personal functioning.”

According to parents who have successfully filed a claim for SSI benefits for their ADHD child, being thorough is the key. Make sure all forms and questionnaires are completely filled out. Make sure all information from doctors, teachers and therapists is submitted. Follow up on everything. Find out who at the SSA is reviewing your claim and keep in touch with them. Offer to help in any way. Keep in close contact with everyone that is involved in submitting information for your claim to ensure they are doing their part. it’s a  big team effort and you are the quarterback.

For more information, visit the Social Security Administration’s website at www.ssa.gov, or call 1-800-772-1213 toll-free Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.