SSDI and SSI guides: eligibility, applications, appeals, hearings, medical conditions, and benefits.
By Ned Melanson, partner at Melanson Law Group. Updated October 2026. Social Security can move your disability hearing ahead of other cases if you’re in a “critical” situation, like dire …
By Ned Melanson, partner at Melanson Law Group. Updated October 2026. You qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) if you’ve worked long enough to earn the required work credits …
How long a decision takes after an SSDI or SSI hearing, what fully favorable, partially favorable and unfavorable decisions mean, and what to do next.
What the vocational expert does at an SSDI hearing, how the judge’s hypothetical questions work, which limits rule out all jobs, and how to prepare.
We won full SSDI and SSI benefits for a client in his late thirties with CRPS whose claims had been denied several times over two applications.
Denied at reconsideration? You have 60 days to request a hearing. The forms to file, how the deadline works, what to do while you wait, and why starting over is usually a mistake.
The questions a judge asks at an SSDI hearing about your work, health, treatment and daily life, why each one matters, and how to answer them honestly and clearly.
What happens at an SSDI hearing, who will be there, how phone, video and in-person hearings work, the deadlines before your date, and when you get a decision.
What medical evidence does SSDI require? The records, sources and doctor opinions Social Security relies on, how far back it looks, and how to fix gaps.
We won full disability benefits for a claimant Social Security had denied twice, after the agency approved his claim and then withdrew the approval.
Multiple sclerosis disability benefits are decided less by the diagnosis than by medical records proving sustained limits on work functions. For claimants ages 50 to 64, age can change the …
You're sitting at the kitchen table in Buffalo with a denial letter from the Social Security Administration, a stack of orthopedic records, and no clear idea whether the next move …
The best way to find a good disability attorney near you is to check how they work, not where they rank in a search. Look for a lawyer whose main …
SSDI is a federal insurance program funded through payroll taxes that pays monthly cash benefits to insured workers who can no longer perform substantial gainful activity because of a long-term …
Psoriatic arthritis can be disabling for SSDI purposes when it prevents sustained full-time work. Historical reviews found unemployment rates of 20% to 50% and work-disability rates of 16% to 39% …