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Seeking Social Security disability benefits in Dundalk, Maryland, requires strict compliance with challenging federal rules and detailed documentation that most applicants find overwhelming. Many people who apply without legal guidance are denied because of avoidable paperwork errors, limited medical evidence, or misunderstandings of SSA’s exacting disability standards.
At Gordon, Wolf & Carney, our Dundalk Social Security disability lawyers can guide you through every step of the Social Security disability process, helping you reinforce your application and improve your chances of approval.
The Purpose of Social Security Disability Benefits
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is a federal safety net that provides financial support to individuals whose payroll taxes have contributed to the Social Security system, but can no longer work due to qualifying medical conditions. The program recognizes that some individuals face impairments so severe that they cannot engage in any substantial work activity, leaving them without the means to support themselves and their families.
By providing monthly cash payments to eligible disabled workers, SSDI helps prevent financial devastation and ensures that people who paid into the system during their working years can access benefits when disability strikes. The SSDI program operates on the principle of earned entitlement, meaning you must have worked and paid Social Security taxes for a sufficient period to qualify for benefits.
Social Security Administration (SSA) Definition of Disability
The Social Security Administration’s disability determination rests on three fundamental requirements that every applicant must satisfy to qualify for benefits:
- You cannot work at the substantial gainful activity (SGA) level because of your medical condition.
- You cannot do the work you did previously or adjust to other work because of your medical condition.
- Your condition has lasted or is expected to last for at least 1 year (12 consecutive months) or to result in death.
The definition reflects the SSA’s expectation that working families maintain access to other resources for short-term financial support, including workers’ compensation, private disability insurance, savings, and family assistance.
Our Dundalk Social Security Disability attorneys handle the process of gathering and organizing evidence to show that your condition meets all three prongs of the SSA’s disability definition and complies with their strict evaluation standards.
Eligibility Requirements for Social Security Disability Benefits
Before the SSA evaluates the medical aspects of your disability claim, you must meet specific threshold requirements related to your work history and tax contributions. Satisfying these baseline requirements qualifies you to have your claim evaluated under the SSA’s five-step sequential evaluation process:
- Have worked in jobs covered by Social Security.
- Have a medical condition that meets Social Security’s strict definition of disability.
Our attorneys verify that you have accumulated sufficient work credits and that your medical condition meets the program’s definition of disability before filing your application, preventing wasted time and effort on claims that cannot succeed.
Documentation You Will Need When Applying for Social Security Disability
Assembling comprehensive documentation before beginning your SSDI application streamlines the process and strengthens your claim. Documentation needed for your application includes:
- Social Security number and birth certificate.
- Proof of citizenship or lawful immigration status.
- Military discharge papers if you served in the armed forces.
- Complete contact information for all treating physicians, hospitals, and medical facilities.
- Medical records documenting diagnosis, treatment history, and test results.
- List of all medications with dosages and prescribing physicians.
- Detailed work history for the past 15 years, including job titles, duties, and earnings.
- Information about any other disability benefits you receive or have applied for.
- Bank account information for direct deposit of benefits, if approved.
Having these materials organized and readily available can expedite the application process and show the SSA that your claim is being handled with care and precision. Our SSDI lawyers take the lead in obtaining any missing documentation and ensure that your case includes the specific medical and financial evidence the SSA requires for evaluation under 20 CFR § 404.1512.
How the SSA Determines if You Have a Qualifying Disability
The Social Security Administration employs a step-by-step process involving five questions to determine whether you have a qualifying disability under federal law. At each step, the agency evaluates different aspects of your work activity, medical condition, and functional capacity, and an unfavorable finding at any step may result in the denial of your claim.
1. Are You Working?
The SSA begins by determining whether you are currently engaged in substantial gainful activity, which refers to work performed for pay or profit that involves significant physical or mental effort. If your earnings exceed the monthly SGA threshold, $1,690 for non-blind individuals in 2026, the SSA will deny your claim at this initial step without evaluating your medical condition, based on the reasoning that anyone earning above that amount demonstrates capacity for substantial work.
The agency does not count certain types of income when calculating SGA, including subsidized wages, impairment-related work expenses, and income from unsuccessful work attempts, which our attorneys identify and document to keep your countable earnings below the disqualifying level.
2. Is Your Condition Severe?
If you are not performing substantial gainful activity, the SSA proceeds to evaluate whether your medical impairment significantly limits your ability to perform basic work activities such as walking, standing, sitting, lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling, reaching, handling, seeing, hearing, speaking, understanding, remembering, and interacting appropriately with others.
The agency considers an impairment severe only if it more than minimally restricts your capacity to perform these fundamental job tasks for at least 12 consecutive months. Medical conditions that cause only slight abnormalities or mild symptoms that do not substantially interfere with work-related functioning fail to satisfy the severity requirement, resulting in denial at this early stage of evaluation.
3. Is Your Condition Found in the List of Disabling Conditions?
When the SSA determines your impairment is severe, the agency compares your medical evidence to the detailed criteria in the Listing of Impairments, which organizes hundreds of medical conditions into categories such as:
- Musculoskeletal disorders
- Cardiovascular conditions
- Respiratory illnesses
- Mental disorders
- Neurological impairments
If your condition meets all the specific requirements of a listed impairment, including diagnostic findings, laboratory results, clinical observations, and functional limitations, the SSA approves your claim without further analysis.
Even if your condition does not precisely match a listing, you may still qualify if your impairment equals the severity of a listed condition or if your combination of multiple impairments produces limitations equivalent to a listing.
4. Can You Do the Work You Did Previously?
If your condition does not meet or equal a listing, the SSA assesses whether you retain the residual functional capacity (RFC) to perform work you have done during the past 15 years. The agency evaluates the physical demands, mental requirements, and skill levels of your previous jobs to determine if they constitute past relevant work, then compares your current functional abilities to the demands of those positions.
If your RFC allows you to perform your past work either as you actually performed it or as it is generally performed in the national economy, the SSA denies your claim without considering whether you can do other types of work.
5. Can You Do Any Other Type of Work?
When the SSA concludes that you cannot return to your past work, the final step is to evaluate whether other jobs exist in significant numbers that you can perform given your RFC, age, education level, and work experience. The agency considers whether you possess transferable skills from your previous employment that apply to other occupations and whether you can reasonably adapt to different types of work.
Vocational experts may testify about what jobs, if any, exist for someone with your specific limitations and vocational profile. If the SSA identifies appropriate work that exists in the national economy, the agency denies your claim; if no suitable work exists, the SSA approves your disability application.
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Free ConsultationSocial Security Disability and Other Benefits
Approval for SSDI benefits often opens doors to additional assistance programs that can significantly improve your financial situation. Our disability attorneys advise you on applying for supplemental programs. Additional benefits are as follows:
- Medicare health insurance coverage after 24 months of receiving SSDI.
- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for food purchases.
- Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) for utility costs.
- Housing assistance through Section 8 vouchers or public housing programs.
- State and local assistance programs for individuals with disabilities.
- Family benefits for your dependent children and spouse.
Recovering SSDI Benefits Retroactively
When the SSA approves your disability claim, you receive not only ongoing monthly payments but also backpay covering the period between your established onset date and your approval date. SSDI backpay can include retroactive benefits for up to 12 months before your application date, provided you can prove your disability existed during that earlier period, plus past-due benefits for all months from your application date through your approval date.
The SSA requires a five-month waiting period before SSDI benefits start, so you do not receive payments for the first five full months after your disability onset date. However, when a claim takes months or even years to resolve through appeals, the resulting back pay can reach tens of thousands of dollars, offering significant financial relief once approval finally comes through.
Reasons Why Social Security Disability Claims May Be Denied
The SSA denies claims for numerous reasons, both medical and non-medical. We know the common denial reasons, which allow us to address potential problems before they derail your claim:
- Insufficient medical evidence documenting the severity of your condition.
- Failure to follow prescribed treatment without a good reason.
- Earnings above the substantial gainful activity threshold.
- Medical condition not expected to last 12 consecutive months.
- Lack of sufficient work credits.
- Missing application deadlines or procedural requirements.
- Failure to attend consultative examinations.
- Not responding to SSA requests for information.
- Conflicting statements about your limitations.
- Previous denials without a significant worsening of the condition.
Options for Appealing a Denied SSDI Claim
When the SSA denies your initial application, you have the right to appeal through multiple levels of administrative review, each offering an opportunity to overturn the unfavorable decision. The appeals process provides four distinct stages, with substantially higher approval rates at later levels, particularly at the hearing stage before an Administrative Law Judge.
Reconsideration
Reconsideration represents the first appeal level, during which a different disability examiner who was not involved in your initial determination reviews your entire case file, along with any new evidence you submit. You must file your reconsideration request within 60 days of receiving your denial notice, and the process typically takes two to five months to complete.
While reconsideration approval rates remain relatively low, this level of appeal is mandatory in most states before you can proceed to request a hearing, making it an unavoidable step in the process.
Hearing
If the SSA denies your reconsideration appeal, you can request a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge who conducts an independent review of your claim and issues a new decision. ALJ hearings offer the best chance to overturn a denial, as you can testify about your limitations, your attorney can present legal arguments and question expert witnesses, and the judge can clarify issues that led to earlier denials. Hearings typically occur 12 to 18 months after you file your request, though wait times vary by hearing office location and caseload.
Hearing Review
When an ALJ issues an unfavorable decision, you can request review by the Appeals Council, which examines whether the judge made legal errors, failed to follow SSA regulations, or reached conclusions unsupported by substantial evidence.
The Appeals Council may grant review and issue its own decision, remand your case back to an ALJ for additional proceedings, or deny review and let the ALJ’s decision stand. Appeals Council proceedings typically take 12 to 24 months, representing one of the lengthiest stages of the appeals process.
Federal District Court Action
If the Appeals Council denies review or issues an unfavorable ruling, you may file a civil lawsuit in federal district court to seek review of the SSA’s final decision. A federal judge examines whether substantial evidence supports the agency’s findings and whether the SSA correctly applied the law to your case.
Although federal court proceedings can take one to three years and involve complicated procedures, this step remains your final opportunity to challenge the decision and pursue the benefits you deserve.
How Our Dundalk Social Security Disability Lawyers Can Help
The SSDI attorneys at Gordon, Wolf & Carney provide quality legal representation to ensure a smooth claims process. Our comprehensive services include:
- Evaluating your eligibility before filing to prevent wasted effort on non-viable claims.
- Gathering complete medical records from all treating physicians and facilities.
- Obtaining detailed physician statements about your functional limitations.
- Completing application forms accurately and thoroughly.
- Developing persuasive arguments explaining why you meet disability standards.
- Filing reconsideration appeals with new supporting evidence.
- Preparing you for ALJ hearings through mock testimony sessions.
- Cross-examining vocational experts who testify about available jobs.
- Submitting post-hearing briefs addressing issues raised during testimony.
- Requesting Appeals Council review when appropriate.
- Representing you in federal district court litigation.
Working with experienced legal counsel dramatically increases your chances of approval at every level of the process. Our Dundalk Social Security Disability attorneys bring more than 100 years of combined experience and thousands of successful cases to your claim, providing the knowledge and advocacy you need to secure benefits.
Contact Our Dundalk Social Security Disability Lawyers Today
The denial rate for initial Social Security disability applications stands at 67 percent. Do not risk becoming part of that statistic when experienced legal representation is just a phone call away. Gordon, Wolf & Carney works on a contingency-fee basis with no upfront costs, so you assume no financial risk by seeking our guidance. Contact us to schedule a free consultation and discuss your Social Security disability case with our team.
