Don’t Say These Things at Your Disability Hearing

Your disability hearing will likely arrive sooner than you can imagine. It will be a time when you need to be as professional as possible. As with other hearings, there are a few details that you want to avoid mentioning unless you are instructed to do otherwise by your attorney.

“No One Is Hiring”

One of the details you want to leave out is that no one will hire you because of your disability. In most circumstances, businesses are willing to make adjustments for people with disabilities to work and earn a living if at all possible.

Remember that Social Security Disability is a program that is intended for those who have mental or physical disabilities that prevent them from working at all.

The only thing that the Social Security Administration (SSA) is concerned about is whether you can perform a job’s requirements instead of whether there are any available jobs for you. A skilled attorney can offer the necessary details to the SSA about your specific inability to work due to a disability by submitting the information provided by your doctor.

Here are a few details that you can mention when it comes to your odds of getting a job in the future:

• Mental or physical issues that would prevent you from fully performing a job
• How many jobs you have had and when you needed to stop working
• Feedback from HR departments after applying for a job.

Not Understanding Why You’re There

If you don’t know why you’ve been summoned to a place after applying for disability benefits, then you probably shouldn’t have completed the application in the first place. Sometimes, doctors try to get patients to apply for benefits even if they know they won’t be approved. They might talk to you about the money that you could receive from disability, making it seem like an easy way to support yourself instead of working.

Even if you don’t know why you’re at the hearing, you shouldn’t say it out loud. This could make it sound as though you’re trying to commit a fraudulent act instead of mistakenly applying for disability benefits at your treating doctor’s recommendation. If you feel like you can work at least a part-time job, then you might want to hold off on applying for benefits or at least talk to a disability attorney about what you think you might be able to do if you were offered a job.

Sometimes, you might feel pressured when you are at the hearing. This could result in you making statements about working and performing basic duties, which would then likely make you ineligible for benefits.

Let your attorney speak on your behalf so that all the questions are answered professionally and reasonably.

Relying on Others

Just because other people in your home do your chores, it doesn’t mean that you are unable to work. Sometimes, you might have people who help you because they want to be of assistance. You don’t want to let the court know that it’s the job of others to care for you so that you can sit and do nothing, as this could make it seem like you’re just lazy and don’t want to work.

Drugs and Alcohol

If you haven’t used illegal substances, then you could bring up that detail at the hearing. However, a clear substance abuse history isn’t a deciding factor as to whether or not you’ll receive disability benefits. If you have a history of using drugs on your criminal or medical record, then you want to stay quiet about this information unless you’re asked about it by the person conducting the hearing.

Conclusion

There are a handful of things that you should keep for yourself during a disability hearing. Being too sincere can harm your chances of securing disability benefits even if your condition is genuinely severe and prevents you from keeping a job. For most people, hiring a disability lawyer to do the talking for them is the best course of action, as a skilled professional who knows what he or she is doing can pay big dividends later on.