When you attend your disability hearing, the administrative law judge will ask you questions to determine if you qualify for disability benefits. Being prepared with answers can help your case. Here are some quick answers to common questions asked at disability hearings:
Why Can’t You Work?
Explain how your medical condition prevents you from working. Focus on symptoms that interfere with your ability to perform job duties, concentrate, stay on task, interact with others, etc. Quantify your limitations (e.g. can’t lift more than 10 lbs, can’t stand for more than 10 minutes, etc.).
What Medical Treatments Have You Received?
List all medical treatments, surgeries, medications, physical therapy, etc. Emphasize treatment frequency and lack of improvement in your condition. Bring supporting medical records to the hearing.
How Has Your Condition Changed Over Time?
Explain how your symptoms have worsened over time and caused increased limitations. Provide specific examples. Mention if you’ve been hospitalized or had periods of crisis related to your condition. Give dates if possible.
How Do Your Impairments Affect Your Typical Day?
Paint a picture of your day-to-day life and how your medical condition impacts activities most people take for granted. Mention any assistance you need from others. Focus on how your impairments make simple tasks difficult or impossible.
What Restrictions Did Your Doctor Recommend?
List any functional limitations or work restrictions recommended by your medical providers, such as reduced hours, no heavy lifting, alternating sitting/standing, unscheduled breaks, time off for appointments, etc. Bring written documentation from your doctor if available.
More Specific Questions You May Be Asked
When Did Your Condition Start?
Provide the approximate date your impairment began and describe any related events or triggers at that time.
How Did You Injure Yourself?
For injuries/accidents, explain in detail how the injury occurred, even if seemingly trivial at the time. Mention any witnesses or reporting done after the incident.
Did You File Any Workers’ Comp Claims?
List any workers’ comp claims you filed related to your condition. Bring copies of the claims and related medical records to the hearing.
Did You Receive Short-Term Disability Benefits?
Note any short-term disability benefits you received from your employer or insurance company. These may help establish disability for your Social Security claim.
Who Are Your Medical Providers?
List all doctors, specialists, psychiatrists/therapists, chiropractors, etc. who have treated you for your condition. Include their locations and dates of treatment if possible.
What Medications Are You Taking?
List all medications, prescribed or over-the-counter, that you take to manage your symptoms. Mention medication side effects if any.
How Often Do You See Your Doctor?
Explain the frequency of doctor visits, therapy appointments, etc. Emphasize if your condition requires frequent care from medical professionals.
What Tests Have You Had Done?
List any tests, such as X-rays, MRI, CT scan, EMG, etc. Note any relevant results, such as herniations, fractures, nerve damage, etc.
Have You Been Hospitalized for Your Condition?
If you’ve been hospitalized due to your disability, provide the dates and reasons for hospitalization.
Do You Use Assistive Devices?
Mention any braces, splints, orthotics, wheelchairs, shower chairs, grab bars, or other assistive devices you use regularly.
How Far Can You Walk/Stand/Sit?
Explain any limitations on your ability to walk distances, stand for periods of time, sit comfortably, etc. Quantify these limitations as much as possible.
Do You Have Trouble Using Your Hands?
Note any issues with grasping, fine finger manipulation, gripping, lifting, handling objects, typing, writing, etc. Mention specifics like dropping items frequently.
Do You Have Vision/Hearing Problems?
List any visual impairments affecting acuity, field of vision, night vision, etc. Include hearing issues like partial/total deafness, ringing in the ears, sound sensitivity, etc.
Do You Have Speech/Language Issues?
Explain any speech impairments from your condition, like slurred/slow speech, stuttering, loss of voice, garbled sounds, etc. Mention language problems like lost vocabulary.
Do You Have Memory/Concentration Problems?
Note issues with short/long-term memory, remembering tasks, losing focus, being easily distracted, taking longer to learn new things, etc.
Do You Have Sleep Problems?
Describe any issues with insomnia, frequent waking, nightmares, inability to sleep in a bed, daytime drowsiness, etc. Mention use of sleep meds if applicable.
How Often Do Symptoms Flare Up?
Explain how often your condition flares up and causes acute episodes of severe symptoms. Mention if you have periods of crisis requiring ER visits or hospitalization.
What Triggers Your Symptoms?
Identify activities, environmental exposures, stressors, weather changes, foods, chemical smells, etc. that tend to worsen your symptoms. Keep a log if needed.
How Long Do Flare Ups Usually Last?
Specify how long your flare ups or episodes typically last before symptoms return closer to baseline. For example, 2 hours, 2 days, 1 week, etc.
What Relieves Your Symptoms?
Explain anything that helps alleviate your symptoms during a flare up, such as resting, hot/cold compresses, massage, prescription medications, etc. Mention how long relief lasts.
Can You Predict Flare Ups?
Mention if your flare ups occur randomly versus being predictable based on identifiable triggers. Note any early warning signs that allow you to take preventive measures.
What Makes Your Symptoms Better/Worse?
Identify specific factors that tend to amplify or dampen your symptoms. For example, increased activity worsens pain but swimmers therapy helps.
How Do You Manage Stress?
List healthy and unhealthy ways you cope with stress, which often exacerbates medical conditions. Mention therapeutic techniques like meditation, journaling, support groups, etc.
Do You Have Problems Getting Along with Others?
Note any relationship difficulties or antisocial tendencies related to your mental health issues. Provide examples and explain your coping strategies.
What Social Activities Do You Participate In?
Give examples of any clubs, religious groups, volunteer work, community events, hobbies, etc. you participate in regularly, if any. Explain limitations.
Who Helps Take Care of You?
List any family members, friends, or professional caregivers who provide assistance with self-care, household tasks, transportation, etc. due to your limitations.
What Typical Daily Activities Can You Not Do?
Explain important daily living activities you have difficulty with, like personal hygiene, cooking, cleaning, shopping, managing finances, childcare, etc. Provide examples.
Do You Still Drive?
Mention if pain medications, seizures, fainting episodes, etc. prevent you from safely operating a motor vehicle. Note any driving restrictions imposed by your doctor.
Questions About Your Work History
What Jobs Have You Held?
List your past jobs, employers, job duties performed, equipment/tools used, number of hours worked, etc. Include self-employment. Give approximate dates of employment.
When Did You Become Unable to Work?
Provide the last date you were able to maintain full-time employment due to medical problems. Explain the specific limitations that prevented you from continuing.
Did Your Employer Make Any Accommodations?
Mention if your employer attempted to accommodate your disability by modifying job duties, allowing leave, part-time hours, ergonomic equipment, etc.
Did You Receive Unemployment Benefits?
Note any unemployment benefits you received after leaving your last job. These help show you did not quit working voluntarily.
Have You Tried Going Back to Your Old Job?
Explain any unsuccessful attempts to return to previous work due to functional limitations. Mention approximate dates.
Did You Have Any Job-Related Injuries?
Provide details on any work accidents that caused or exacerbated your medical condition, even minor incidents. Approximate dates are helpful.
Questions Assessing Your Credibility
How Did You Complete This Paperwork/Forms?
Explain any assistance you received from family, social workers, etc. due to limited literacy, language barriers, learning disorders, brain fog, etc.
Have Any Doctors Opined You Are Exaggerating?
If any medical opinions imply you are magnifying symptoms, explain why other evidence outweighs these reports. Cite consistent treatment history.
Are There Inconsistencies in Your Medical Records?
If asked about discrepancies in your records, clarify timing issues, scrivener’s errors, inherent complexity of your case, mental status fluctuations, etc.
Why Haven’t You Had Back Surgery Recommended?
Explain why you have not proceeded with surgeries suggested by consultations, including fears of complications, inadequate pain relief, limited benefits, financial barriers, etc.
Are All These Medications Necessary?
Justify your need for each prescribed medication. Explain failed medication trials and why treating doctors opted for polypharmacy in your situation.
Why Did You See Multiple Doctors?
Clarify that you were referred to various specialists and sought second opinions to obtain a definitive diagnosis and effective treatment plan for your impairments.
Why Are There Gaps in Your Treatment History?
Explain lapses in care due to financial/insurance barriers, inability to find adequate providers, transportation issues, hospitalizations, feeling treatment was unhelpful, etc.
Have You Been Fired from a Job Related to Your Impairments?
If terminated due to performance issues, missed work, conflicts related to your disability, etc., emphasize it was not willful misconduct.
Questions About Your Ability to Function
How Do You Spend a Typical Day?
Paint a detailed picture of your average daily activities and routine. Focus on how your impairments necessitate a very slow pace with frequent rest breaks.
What Household Chores Can You Perform?
List any light housework you can manage, like washing a few dishes or folding laundry. Qualify any activity that increases your pain or other symptoms.
How Often Do You Need to Take Rest Breaks?
Explain that you require unscheduled breaks multiple times per hour lasting at least 10-15 minutes due to pain, fatigue, etc.
How Well Can You Follow Instructions?
Describe any issues following multi-step directions, learning new tasks, remembering/carrying out instructions, and staying focused due to concentration deficits.
How Well Do You Handle Stress/Changes in Routine?
Note that stress, changes in schedule, and unexpected disruptions exacerbate your symptoms due to anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, etc.
Can You Use Public Transportation?
Explain issues using public transit independently, like anxiety navigating systems, inability to stand waiting at bus stops, problems judging distances crossing streets, etc.
Vocational Expert Questions
Could You Perform Your Past Work?
State clearly that you cannot perform any previous jobs due to specific functional limitations that prevent completing required tasks.
How Often Would You Be Absent from Work?
Explain that flare ups in your condition require unscheduled absences at least 2 days most months. Quantify if possible based on past jobs.
Could You Maintain a Full-Time Schedule?
Emphasize that even a reduced schedule of 6 hours daily would result in excessive absences and off-task time needing unscheduled breaks for symptoms.
Could You Perform a Sit/Stand Option?
Note that alternating between sitting and standing helps briefly but does not eliminate need for regular unscheduled breaks of 15-20 minutes every 1-2 hours.
Are There Any Other Jobs You Could Perform?
State firmly that the severity of your functional limitations precludes you from sustaining any type of full-time competitive work on an ongoing basis.
Conclusion
Preparing thorough responses to questions commonly asked at disability hearings can help demonstrate you meet the Social Security Administration’s criteria for disability benefits. Be sure to focus your testimony on explaining how your impairments preclude work activity based on medical evidence and real-world examples. With the right preparation and documentation, you can prove your case and get the benefits you deserve.