It took me 2 years and a good lawyer to fight for my disability.
I am legally deaf without aids, and those dont help all that much.
I have a torn rotator cup in my left arm, a ripped muscle in my right arm, 2 spinal fusion surgeries (2009 and 2011) in which I couldnt drive for 6 months after and still loss 20% movement in my neck, couldnt lift over 3 pounds and still have pain to this day, I have 5 vertibreas messed up in my back along with degenerative disk desease, a bad knee. loss of balance, loss of strength.
Had to hire a lawyer because I was denied and I was still recovering, was terminated from my 15 year career with the government just weeks after surgery (wrongful termination) when I had 1-1/2 years for recovery from the first surgery because it was high risk, then again with the second surgery.
My lawyer said, because alot of people couldnt find work or just didnt want to work, the courst system hired over 300 new judges to weed out the fraud cases. People though, Oh I broke my finger, Ill just get disability... well, thats the reason it is so hard to win the case. My case lasted several hours and you would not believe the people there to fight the case.
A judge, A disability rep, Several doctors and specialists, and so many more...The have stacks and piles of books, They will throw tons of jobs at you with percentages and ratios worldwide from Janitorial to Management and so much higher, the docs will say what you can and cant do per the job discriptions, but they will try to screw you out of disability since they dont want to pay you if they can avoid it. Luckily because of my injuries, lack of experiences and my continuos work history, as well as my medical records showing my injuries/surgeries from childhood on and I kept working, they seen I wasnt there for a handout, that I really was disabled.
Believe me, they will dig deep into your past and pull things that you completely forgot about.
