How to apply for disability benefits

Applying is free, and you can do it yourself. Most of what determines the outcome happens before you submit anything — in what your medical records already say.

Before you apply: get your records in order

A claim is decided almost entirely on documents. The most valuable thing you can do is make sure the doctor treating you has written down not only your diagnosis but what it stops you doing.

• Ask your doctor to record specific limits: how long you can sit or stand, what you can lift, how often you would need to rest.
• Gather the names, addresses and dates for every doctor, clinic and hospital you have seen.
• List your medications and their side effects — drowsiness and cognitive fog matter to a work assessment.
• Put together your work history for the last several years, including what each job physically required.

Filing

You can apply online at ssa.gov, by phone, or in person at a local office. Applying is always free — nobody needs to be paid to submit a claim on your behalf, and you should be wary of anyone who asks for a fee simply to file.

What happens next

A state agency reviews the medical side of the claim. They will request your records, and if those do not answer their questions they may send you to a consultative examination with a doctor of their choosing. That examination is usually brief, and it carries less weight than records from someone who has treated you over time.

An initial decision commonly takes several months.

The mistakes that cost people most

• Reapplying after a denial instead of appealing — this discards your original filing date and the back pay attached to it.
• Gaps in treatment with nothing in the file to explain them; they are read as improvement.
• Describing a good day to a doctor who then records it as typical.
• Assuming any work at all disqualifies you, and never applying.