The ultimate determination of whether or not a claimant will receive SSI disability benefits (after filing a claim, and perhaps filing multiple appeals) will rest on the claimant’s medical records. However, it’s not really as simply as that. A claimant’s records need to establish that the claimant has functional limitations (the reduced ability to engage in various activities of daily living) that basically make it impossible for the claimant to work and earn what social security refers to as substantial gainful activity, i.e. a substantial and gainful income.

This segment of Disability Audio describes briefly how a claim is initially worked on by a disability examiner at disability determination services. Of course, the very first task that the examiner will accomplish will be to request the claimant’s medical records. So, it becomes obvious at the outset that the information contained in those records are the core of a claimant’s case. And for that reason, claimants need to provide accurate lists of their various medical treatment sources. Because in far too many cases, claimants do leave off information about various sources of treatment and doing so can potentially disadvantage a claim by giving the disability examiner less information with which to work.

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Lupus and Social Security Disability Benefits