Many people with legitimate health problems, who have medical proof to back up their claims, are found disabled at some point in the process. Your participation is crucial. The rules in its process are generally well thought out, well written, and understandable. The rules are many, however and very complex. The rules do not reward people who fail to cooperate, who do not fill out forms or provide requested information. The rules require documentation of your medical and vocational history. The rules penalize those with significant ongoing drug or alcohol addictions. The rules penalize noncompliance with suggested medical advice or therapy. – If you can afford it but chose not to do your part in doing what you can to take care of yourself.
Because the ultimate is to prove you are unable to work due to medical problems, doing significant, prolonged work during the life of your claim can defeat your claim to be unable to work. Many people test their ability to work as their claim goes on and find that they are able to work even though it is difficult. Some people have financial support from family or friends during this long process, others do not. Some people, especially those with family support or those facing homelessness, find that they can work at some kind of less stressful or less strenuous job.
It is not enough to prove that you cannot do your past work; you must prove that, considering your age, education, and past work experience, that there are not a substantial number of jobs in the national economy that you can still do, considering your problems. Many people’s claims are denied because even though they prove they cannot do their past work (any job in the past 15 years) there are still jobs they can do.
Consider the cases of the CAN, the teacher, or construction worker who can’t do any past job because of a heart attack, stroke, serious back problems, or depression. If any of these people did telemarketing work in the 15 years they filed a disability claim, Social Security, under the rules, can lawfully deny the disability claim if the person can still do the sedentary, sit-down work of unskilled telemarketer or laundry folder not involving being around the general public.