Guide dogs excel in helping children with autism
I recently twittered about the surprising uses of service dogs. We are all familiar with service dogs used by individuals with blindness or other visual impairments. However, there are other ways these wonderful dogs help people with disabilities.
One of my clients uses a service dog to help identify seizures before they occur and to provide protection during a seizure.
Service dogs can also help children with disabilities such as autism. The Journal News recently covered this topic:
The dogs purpose is to provide safety and therapeutic companionship to children with autism, a …
Tips for seizure and epilepsy Social Security disability cases
Attorney Anthony Reeves writes about what to do and not to do when applying for Social Security disability benefits for a seizure disorder (whether due to epilepsy or pseudo-seizures).
Most people think that epilepsy is so traumatic that an individual should be approved fairly easily. Due to its unpredictability, the symptoms can affect you in a variety of different ways. Despite the severity of this condition, it is difficult to demonstrate that the condition can prevent from performing work on a full time basis.
Anthony provides a list of 5 things you should do to improve your chances of winning:
Track how often you have seizures.
Take your medications.
Track your after-effects.
Track your restrictions.
Don’t minimize or exaggerate …
How do I prove my disability case when I look fine?
This is one of the most difficult issues in a Social Security disability case. You might look “normal,” but you know that there is no way that you can work.
If you tell someone that you are applying for Social Security, they may raise their eyebrows in surprise, or even tell you, “you don’t look disabled.”
When you applied for Social Security, the technician may even have given you a hard time because you seemed fine.
Second National Hearing Center opens with more on the way
Social Security has opened a National Hearing Center (NHC) in Albuquerque New Mexico. This is Social Security’s second NHC — a hearing office which only handles video hearings.
Albuquerque initially will hear disability cases for Kansas City and Portland, Oregon — two of the most backlogged offices in the US. Social Security’s first NHC, located in Falls Church, Virginia, opened in December 2007 and has contributed to improve processing times in Atlanta, Georgia, Cleveland, Ohio and Flint, Michigan.
Read Social Security’s press release here.
The April 2009 NOSSCR Social Security Forum notes that two additional NHC offices are planned for …
Can you garnish Social Security disability benefits for child support
A quickie article answering a common question: can you garnish Social Security disability benefits for child support?
Title 2 Disability Insurance (aka SSDI or DIB) benefits can be garnished for child support.
However, Title 16 Supplemental Security Income (aka SSI) benefits cannot be garnished.
This is general information only and not legal advice. Contact a lawyer for advice on your specific circumstances.
You have to be disabled for 12 months – the Durational Requirement
Have you ever seen this in a Social Security denial?
While your condition may prevent you from working at the present, we do not feel that your condition will remain disabling for 12 months.
First, Social Security says that you are disabled. Then, they deny the claim. What is going on?
What to do for a person having a seizure (video)
One of my favorite shows on the web, GeekBrief.tv, now GeekBrief with Cali Lewis, interviewed actor Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman on “Heroes”). Greg’s son, Jake, has epilepsy and Greg talks about what to do for someone during a seizure and what not to do (don’t put something into the person’s mouth!).
It’s a great video! Greg talks about seizures starting at 3:50.
Maximum attorney fees in Social Security disability cases
What is the most a lawyer can charge in a Social Security case?
We have talked about the typical fee agreement when you are applying for Social Security disability benefits before. But I am often asked what is maximum someone can charge?
Social Security regulations set a cap for attorneys fees. Originally, the fee cap was $4,000, then $5,300, and as of June 2009, the cap is $6,000.
Unless the representative is charging fees under a fee petition, the most the lawyer can charge is 6,000. Or, if you are reading this before June 2009, $5,300.
For …
What is a fee petition?
A “fee petition” is a way your lawyer asks Social Security for fees for his services.
I though attorneys were paid a percentage of what I get?
Percentage-based contingency fee agreements are the most common way attorneys get paid in Slocial Security cases. However there are two ways an attorney might get paid.
Fee agreements based on a percentage of back benefits:
If you win, the attorney gets 25% of your back benefits up to a $6,000 cap (this is an increase from the $5,300 cap in effect before June 2009). The 25% or $6,000 is …
Twittering with your mind
We previously talked about brain control interfaces. Here is a new device that lets you twitter with your thoughts.
A new device developed by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison allows users to tell a computer what to do simply by concentrating on a letter or action on the screen.
via Twittering For Those Who Can’t Talk Or Type – Disability Scoop.
Lawyers’ secret gold-mine
Meet the most expensive “associate” in most law firms. More expensive than a regular lawyer. More expensive than the named partner. It’s … the photocopier.
I was recently reviewing the charges for a one of my clients who was previously represented by a national law firm. Do you know how much they were charging for copies? .35 cents a page!
That’s not all! Here is their price sheet:
Seniors may have to give back $250 stimulus payment
Everyone is waiting for the one-time $250 economic stimulus payment from Social Security. However, some seniors may have to give the money back!
Social Security beneficiaries received notices last month that they soon will be getting a $250 check courtesy of President Obama’s economic recovery package, but the administration did not say that some recipients may have to give part of it back.
The problem: Seniors who also work and qualify for Mr. Obama’s $400 Making Work Pay middle-class tax cuts may find themselves forced to give back some or all of the Social Security bonus come tax-filing time in 2010.
….
The one-time payments that will be …
15 pages decides your Social Security disability case?
San Francisco disability attorney Geri Kahn wrote about her experiences with providing records to Social Security:
Before filing a new initial claim I always order the records and then submit them directly to the Social Security field office immediately after I have filed the claim electronically. I recently was at an interview in one of the field offices in San Francisco and the claims representative told me that he could not accept the records I was submitting because he was only permitted to fax 15 pages to the state agency disability examiner.
Since you need to prove that you are unable to …
Don’t go to your Social Security disability hearing with out-of-date medical records!
It surprises my clients to learn that, most of the time, Social Security does not update medical records after the initial denial.
With wait times of a year or more, this can mean that by the time your case gets in front of a judge, the records in your file may be a year (or more) old, and your recent treatment may not be in the file at all.
This is not the way the system is supposed to work.
