(REMASTERED) 12.4.2011 (Hiring a lawyer; SSA forms)

0:21 Good day everyone, Good day, and welcome to another edition of You and Day social Security Disability Today. I am your host, attorney Anthony Reeves. So let's go ahead and get to your question. All right. The first question that we have today has to deal with the forms that you've received in Social Security. A lot of times people get stressed because they worry that they can't fill out the information, and more importantly, they worry that Social Security is looking for specific information for them to fill out.

0:55 So of course the forms can seem overwhelmed, overwhelming. Let me just make it very clear. The forms are written and prepared for you on an eighth grade educational level, so the reality is as designed to be as user friendly as possible. If you don't feel comfortable doing them by yourself, I always encourage people for someone to get someone to help you with them, whether it be a family member or a friend. The forms are not designed to trick you. They're designed to give social Security information about the one thing they don't have you. They don't know what's going on in your life in a day to day basis, so these forms are designed for you to give them a good picture of what your situation is.

1:37 All you can do is fill them out to the best of your ability. Don't stress out because you think you have to write it a certain way. Maybe your writing's not really good, or maybe your ability to work with guards grammar and typos and things like that are very strong. Just answer the question honestly and to the best of your ability, and no one will expect any more than that. All right. Second question is one of my personal favorites. When should I hire an attorney? Now, this response is probably not going to be very popular amongst my peers, but I'm going to share it with you anyone. Here's one of the things that I tell people all the time. You don't necessarily need to have an attorney or representative to represent your in your social

2:22 Security case. The reality is is that the process was designed so that you could do it on your own. It's a very informal process. However, one of the reasons why you may hire a representative is that you have somebody one who's familiar with the system who can kind of help you go through it. Somebody too who can serve as a conduit to answer questions about your case. Three, someone who can identify the weaknesses in your case and help you strengthen them, and more importantly, four who can help you go through the appeals process and the hearing process.

2:54 In a nutshell, I tell people a representative is there to help you go through the process a lot easier, because, let's be real, you already got enough to do in terms of going and getting medical treatment, going and getting tacking your medications, going and trying to figure out how you want to keep your lights on, trying to figure out how you want to keep your car, trying to figure out how you want to keep a house sustaining.

3:14 You got all that going on. Last thing you want to do is worry about how you're going to deal with the federal government. Having a representative is helpful because, let's be real, there are going to be times when you contact the government and maybe you just they just are not providing you all the information that you need, not because they don't want to. Is that you just need a little bit more handholding. A representative can do that for you. And I always tell people that if you're at a point where you feel that you need a little bit more hands on, somebody to hold your hand and walk through the process, that's probably the best time to get a representative. All right. Third question is an awesome question because it actually focuses on a condition

4:00 call agoraphobia, which is really a fear of crowds, for lack of better words. In this particular instance, an individual apply for social security and they have panic attacks and anxiety, and of course they freak out around crowds, and so they rarely leave their house. Here's what I tell people all the time, because a lot of times people come and they say, they give me just one aspect of their condition, and I have to remind them you can't focus on just that one aspect of your condition. You have to go give the entire picture. What do I mean by the entire picture? Okay, let's pause and look at it from this context. Let's say, for instance, that you say that you have a fear of being around people and you rarely go out your house. Then you

4:39 have to first thing question you ask is that if you're living by yourself, how are you eating? At some point, somebody's going to say, well, I'll go grocery shopping. Does somebody go for you or you go by yourself? Well, I'll go by myself. When do you go? Well? I go? You know, maybe once a month, and I typically go in the middle of the day. So you go grocery shopping in the middle of the day when there's the most number of people there, and you only shop once a month. So the average person is going to think if you're shopping for once a month, you're probably trying to get a lot of food, which means you're probably going to be in there a while. And if you're going during the day, you're going to be around a

5:09 lot of people. So see how those things kind of job with each other. But then let's talk about from the treatment standpoint. Let's say you're saying, ohatment, my condition is off the chain, I can't deal with anybody. Are you getting any mental health treatment? No? So amen, you're saying you have a condition that prevents you from dealing with people, but you're not doing anything to treat that condition.

5:30 So security is going to look at it because there's a regulation that basically focuses on what are your reasons for failing to get medical treatment. Then you have to start asking yourself what kind of jobs have you done in the past. Let's say you had jobs where you were working with a lot of people. Well, how long have you had the panic attacks and anxiety. Well, if you've had it during the same time period when you were working with those people, they're going to look and say, well, wait a minute, what was going on. You had the condition when you were working with a lot of people, there wasn't a problem, but now it's the problem people.

5:58 I don't want anyone to think that I'm making light of their condition because I've represented a lot of people who have anxiety disorders panic at TAXI don't do well around people. But I always tell people, remember it's the totality of your medical situation. They're gonna look at what treatment you're taking, They're gonna look at your daily living, they're gonna look at the work you've done, and they look at it as a whole. Never, and I've said this in a bunch of videos before, never focus on one sole aspect of your case as being the sole purpose for why Social Security should approve you, because you believe that's the point that they should be looking at.

6:30 They're gonna look at the entire thing. Also, if you're getting denied a couple of times already and you're getting ready to go before a judge, a judge's not worried about the prior decisions that were made against you. They're gonna look at your situation now and when you're going for the judge, the judge's gonna ask those questions that I'm asking you and ask a little bit more detail because they want to know if your condition is that off the chain, how have you been able to function?

7:00 The last question of the day has to really focus on people who are concerned because they were on disability before God off it and now they find themselves in a position of having to go back on. And this question was very nice. It was straightforward. Is my life over if I months go back on soial security or as society. Here's a couple of things that I want to share with you, and this is just my own personal commentary. People may have a different opinion. Having a disability is not a stigma. The reality is is that there are a wealth of different programs out there that provide services to enable disabled individuals to reintegrate back into the workforce. Playing in stuffle and I've had opportunities to

7:38 work with a few. I remember I worked with a young lady who actually was disabled as a result of the fact she was dialysis I think she was having kidney failure and literally he came back to work and because she did not want to be on disability, there is not a stigma assigned to it. The problem is that we live in a society that encourages us to contribute meaning leads to society. And by contributing, you mean working.

8:02 So you worry that if you're not working and contributing, then you're not providing a meaningful part of society, and that is not true. The reality is is that life tends to happen, and when I say life tends to happen, that means sometimes certain things happen that prevents us from being able to operate at the level that maybe we're used to operating. Also, keep in mind this social security is not designed to be a lifelong thing. The reality is that social security, depending on your age, your education, and work background, they anticipate you're going to be able to reintegrate yourself back into the workforce. As a matter of fact, fact, they encourage you to do so. So if you find yourself in a position of having to

8:40 make the tough choice of having to reapply for disability after being off the system by all means, don't look at it as if you failed in your life. Just look at it as just another stepping stone and the reintegration of your life into this natural world process. Things happen like this to good people all the time, and don't look at it as there's something happening to you.

9:00 Just thinking of is the natural consequence of your revolution. You'll be okay and you will survive. All right, everyone, I want to thank you for joining me for a mission of Q and a social security disability. Today, just to let you know, I have an added feature that I've placed on my blog today which gives people the ability to chat with me live. So periodically throughout the week during normal business hours and sometimes after hours. I will come live on the blog which is legal Beat dot Anthony Reeves dot com. Give you the opportunity to ask me questions directly right there in person, no video, no reading of anything. You'll have the opportunity to talk to me live and in charge if you'd like to

9:39 do so. And you see me online and you see me there in a chat function, by all means, take full advantage. That's what I'm here for. Have a wonderful day. As always, keep those questions coming and this is your Q and DA Social Security disability today, PASSASASSA