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YOU CAN'T GET DISABILITY BECAUSE.....

YOU CANNOT GET SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY BECAUSE.....

  • you cannot perform your past work (if you can perform any other work).
  • you don't have a driver's license or can't drive.
  • you can't find any work that you can do.
  • there are no jobs available in the city you live in and you don't want to move.
  • you don't want to work in a particular field or type of work
  • there are no jobs open at this time.
  • the economy is horrible and nobody is hiring.
  • you are over-weight or obese.
  • you are alcohol or drug dependent (unless you have an additional, unrelated impairment).
  • you are a diabetic.
  • your doctor says you cannot work and should get on disability.
  • you need surgery that will prevent working for 6 to 8 months.
  • your family and friends will testify that you are not able to work.
Social Security requires that a claimant have a serious and medically determinable impairment, supported by medical evidence, that will prevent any gainful employment for a period of at least 12 months.  Just because you cannot do any of your past work, that doesn't necessarily mean that you are disabled.  If you can perform any other work that exists in the local, regional or national economy, you will be found "not disabled."  It doesn't matter that none of these jobs are open, just that that they exist and you could perform the work.  Let me give you an example.  I am qualified and able to teach American history.  There are 1,200 American history teachers in my state.  It doesn't matter that nobody has hired a history teacher in the past 45 years and nobody expects to hire one in the next 45 years. On top of that, all American history teachers are also football coaches, but I don't know a football from a turnip. That doesn't matter. The jobs exist and I could work at one of them - if I could get it (which I can't).

Illogical?  May be.  Irritating if you need disability and have to put up with that kind of "logic?"  Absolutely.  But that's the way Social Security law is written.    That's why a disability lawyer or advocate knows that he/she must prove (1) You are not working.  (2) You have a serious and medically determinable impairment that has lasted or is expected to last 12 months or more.  (3)  Your residual functional capacity is established.  (4) You cannot perform any of your past relevant work.  (5)  There is no other work being performed in significant numbers in the national, regional or local economy that you could do--based on your age, education, and residual functional capacity. That's also why you need help with your Social Security disability claim.

Charles W. Forsythe
The Forsythe Firm
7027 Old Madison Pike 
Huntsville, AL 35756
PH (256) 799-0297                              Visit us on the web for more information

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