How Social Security Disability Decides if You Could Do Any Other Work
To figure out whether it’s realistic for you to do a different kind of work from what you’ve done before, Social Security looks at these factors:
- Your age
- Your education
- Skills you’ve picked up through work
- Your everyday capabilities (residual functional capacity, RFC)
- For age, Social Security recognizes that it’s harder to adjust to new jobs as you get older.
That means it’s easier to be approved for disability benefits when you’re over 50. Easier, but not easy. You still must prove you can’t work.
Your education and skills show Social Security what other jobs you possibly could, or couldn’t, do.
Residual functional capacity (RFC) is a measure of the day-to-day physical and mental limitations of your health impairments.
What’s tough is that none of this takes into account whether you actually can get hired for another job Social Security says you could do. It’s only about whether you could do the job if you got hired.
And they don’t consider whether your new possible job pays less than you made in your past jobs. It’s only about whether you could handle any existing job.
Find out more about how the rules apply in your situation by having a conversation with the Tulsa Social Security Disability lawyers at Troutman & Troutman.
We’re happy to answer your questions to get started, free of charge.
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How Does “Residual Functional Capacity” Factor into Social Security Disability?
A key to deciding whether there’s any job in the economy you could perform, even one you haven’t done before, is looking at what fundamental tasks you can still do.
This is called residual functional capacity (RFC). Here’s some of what goes into your RFC report:
- The amount of weight that you can lift or carry
- The length of time you can stand continuously
- The length of time you can sit continuously
- Your mental limitations in working with bosses, co-workers or the public
- Your ability to handle environmental conditions such as heat, cold, noise, dust and fumes
Your doctors can provide their assessment of these points. Your disability lawyer can work with your health care providers to get the right information in the right format for Social Security.
You can see how you need to describe your past job duties, and your health problems and symptoms, in highly precise ways to meet the standards of Social Security Disability.
But when you’re working with a skilled disability attorney, you don’t have to worry about getting it all just right. An attorney who knows this system inside and out can get it right for you—and possibly increase your chances of winning benefits.
Benefits allow you to move forward when life doesn’t go as planned because of major health problems. Get the Troutman & Troutman disability lawyers in Oklahoma to help.
Contact Us Today! »Wherever You Are in the Disability Benefits Process, We Can Help
You may be trying to determine whether Social Security Disability benefits are right for you. You may be facing a long, complicated benefits application. Or maybe you’ve applied and been denied. Now what? The Troutman & Troutman Oklahoma disability attorneys can help.
Disability Attorneys Answer Your Questions about Social Security
Your life has been disrupted by health problems. You’ve had to leave work. You’re worried about money. Social Security Disability benefits can provide relief, but they’re complicated. You’ve got a lot of questions. The Troutman & Troutman Tulsa disability lawyers have answers.
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