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DANGER - DO NOT EXPERIMENT ON YOURSELF

May I represent myself at a Social Security Disability Hearing?

Rephrased:  May I Experiment on My First Disability Hearing, Using Myself as the Guinea Pig? 

Beware:  Social Security will have a "vocational expert" at your hearing.  This "expert" testimony can cause you to lose your claim.

The Judge will ask the vocational witness to find jobs that you supposedly can still do.  If the "expert" finds jobs you can still perform (and they will), you will lose your case.  


Below are 2 examples of case-losing jobs, actually used by vocational witnesses to get claims denied:

JOB # 1    Surveillance System Monitor - DOT No. (Dictionary of Occupational Titles) 379.367-010.  The expert will testify that there are about 89,000 such jobs in the US economy and about 1,500 in the regional economy.  This job is Sedentary exertion level (performed mostly from a seated position) - and has an SVP of 2 (can be learned in only a few hours).

JOB # 2:  Machine Tender -DOT Code No. 692.685-026.  The expert will testify that there are about 174,000 jobs in the United States and about 2,400 in the Region.  This job is light exertion level (no lifting over 20 pounds) - and has an SVP of 2 (can be learned with a few hours of training).

These jobs will be used to deny your claim.  What's wrong with these jobs?  Here is what you won't know if you are representing yourself:
  • The first job (Security Surveillance System Monitor) is actually listed in the DOT as Surveillance System Monitor - Government Service."  It refers to monitoring security cameras at airports and similar transportation terminals.  After the terrorist attacks on 9/11, those jobs were transferred to Homeland Security or the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA).  You have to be a federal employee to get one of those jobs now.  Further, they are not jobs with an SVP of 2 (quickly learned) any longer.  The real SVP is 4, making them semi-skilled jobs.  The VE will try to say that these jobs still exist at department stores, parking garages, etc.  However, testimony in your hearing must be confined to jobs in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, and the DOT says nothing about parking garages or department stores in regard to this job.  (Would you know that if you were representing yourself)?
  • The second job (Machine Tender) is actually listed in the DOT as "Brassiere Slide Making Machine Tender - Automatic." This job was last updated in the DOT in 1977.   As far as I can determine, that job no longer exists in the United States.  Bra manufacturing is almost exclusively done today in China, Thiland, Cambodia or Vietnam, not in the United States.  One company, Top Form, produces bras for nearly all the top US sellers.  But they are manufactured overseas, as I mentioned.  (If you were representing yourself, would you know that)?
What you don't know in a Social Security disability hearing can be fatal to your case.  I think I have proven my point.  Get professional representation.  "Good representation isn't expensive.  It's priceless."

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