Seven facts about complex partial seizures
Today’s guest article is contributed by Meredith Walker, who writes about the masters in public health. She welcomes your feedback at “MeredithWalker1983 at gmail.com” Enjoy the article and please make her feel welcome!
Complex partial seizures are epileptic seizures that affect one particular region of the brain. These seizures do not usually cause a tonic seizure more commonly associated with epilepsy, but instead affect thoughts and behavior.
Sufferers may go undiagnosed or misunderstood as this type of seizure is often not recognized as a physical disability and thought, instead, to be a mental disorder. Even when diagnosed, those with complex partial seizures may feel isolated as this invisible disability may …
Do you need an FCE in a Social Security case?
I was recently asked if you need a functional capacity evaluation (FCE) in a Social Security disability case. No, but it really helps if you can get one.
As I previously wrote, it is vital to get a statement from your doctor about your abilities and limitations in the workplace. This is sometimes called a medical source statement, medical opinion, or a statement of your residual functional capacity.
Normally, this medical opinion is just your doctor’s “best guess” of what you can and cannot do. I don’t want to put this down. A doctor who knows your condition, and who knows you, can make a very good guess about how the conditions affects you and how it would affect you in the workplace.
However, a functional capacity evaluation objectively tests what you can and cannot do. A typical FCE will take 4 to 6 hours to test what you can do. You will be tired and quite possibly sore after it is done. However, this is often the very best evidence of your abilities and limitations.
Social Security already sent me to a doctor who had me bend and stretch. Is that the same thing?
Service dog programs for autistic children
We have written about service dogs for children with autism and mentioned two groups which provide training: 4PawsforAbility and Guiding Eyes. The response has been amazing! A lot of people want to learn more about these programs.
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Many people have asked who is eligible for a service dog?
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.
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 …
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.
Which pays more? SSDI or SSI?
I was recently asked which pays more in benefits? Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI)?
If you are wondering about the difference between SSDI and SSI, read this post.
As for which pays more, the answer is “it depends.”
SSI benefits are based on the annual Federal Benefit Rate (FBR) which sets the maximum SSI benefits you can per month. For 2009, the FBR is $674 for individuals ($1,011 for couples). That mean the most an individual on SSI can receive is $674 per month. …
Are you limited to only 12 months of back Social Security benefits?
We have talked a lot about how far back can you get Social Security benefits.
I want to make sure there is no confusion: Social Security does NOT limit you to only 12 months of back benefits.
There is a limit in how far BEFORE your protected filing date (PFD) you can get benefits (12 months in a Social Security Title 2 Disability Insurance claim — SSDI or DIB).
However, this is only part of the total amount of back benefits most people are entitled to.
Do spouse’s and children’s benefits continue during incarceration?
If an individual is disabled and receives Title 2 Social Security Disability Insurance benefits (SSDI aka DIB), their spouse (husband or wife) and minor children can also receive benefits because of the spouse’s / parent’s disability. These are called auxiliary benefits.
I previously coved how Social Security benefits stop if a disabled person is goes to jail / prison.
So, what happens to the children’s or spouse’s benefits if the disabled individual is incarcerated: goes to jail or prison?
Do the wife or husband’s auxiliary benefits stop?
Do the children’s auxiliary benefits stop?
Need a Social Security attorney in Denver?
Looking for a Denver lawyer to help you get your Social Security disability benefits? Give William Dawson a call: (303) 455-0400.
Will has 10 years of experience with Social Security appeals, working within Social Security in the Office of the General Counsel. He is now putting his experience working inside of Social Security to work for people trying to get their Social Security disability benefits.
Tell him the Social Security Insider sent you!
My Ex is disabled, can I get Social Security benefits?
Did you know that you can get Social Security benefits based on your spouse’s earnings, even if you are divorced?
Click to read who is entitled to wife’s or husband’s benefits as a divorced spouse?
The subjective nature of pain and the disability case
Former disability examiner, Timothy Moore, writes about his experiences with lower back pain and the Social Security Disability Process:
About one week ago to the day, I injured my lower back. And though I am now fully on the road to recovery, I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to be saddled with nagging lumbar back pain indefinitely …
… light jobs would be difficult because handling any amount of weight, let alone, say, 20 pounds, would aggravate a back problem. I rediscovered this reality yesterday as I, in a limited fashion, tried to help my wife with groceries. The simple weight of a gallon jug of milk was enough to make me wince. How about a sedentary job? Well, the problem with sedentary jobs has to do with…being sedentary.
As many claimants with chronic lower back pain will attest, being in a seated position can become very uncomfortable even after a few minutes. But even “sedentary jobs” are not entirely sedentary. Most sedentary work still involves having to get up and down from a seated position dozens of times during the course of a day. And this can obviously present a problem for someone with lower lumbar pain. …
Disability examiners, their supervisors, and the medical consultants with whom disability examiners work all too often slap decisions on cases without allowing claimants reasonable consideration with respect to their pain.
Tim goes on to discuss why disability examiners do not give reasonable considerations to pain. Read the entire article here.
