Bonus Forms
for customers of Disability Answer Guide
Please bookmark this page so you can return to it.
Good cause letter when reconsideration or request for hearing forms are filed outside of 60 day appeal deadline.
Physical Functional Capacity form – blank form for your use in Adobe pdf format.
Mental health functional capacity form – cover letter and blank form for your use in Adobe pdf format
12.04-Depressive, bipolar and related disorders – Checklist form for Depression, bipolar and related disorders listing
12.06 – Anxiety and Obsessive Compulsive Disorders – Checklist form for Anxiety and Obsessive Compulsive Disorders listing
12.10 Autism spectrum disorder – Checklist form for Autism Spectrum Disorder listing
Specific Medical Conditions
Rheumatoid Arthritis
– language describing medical issues and vocational implications
Hearing Decisions
Fibromyalgia hearing decision: Judge’s written decision in fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue case – this is a favorable decision I received in the case of a 38 year old woman with fibromyalgia and associated gastrointestinal problems. She had an excellent work history and had sought treatment with numerous doctors for her condition.
What made this case difficult was the claimant’s age (she was only 38) and the absence of one particular medical problem causing her disability. The key to winning this case was an extremely organized medical file and medications list and a clear argument as to why this woman could not work: fatigue, side effects of medications, and gastrointestinal pain.
Fibromyalgia hearing decision – here is another example of a fully favorable fibromyalgia case. Notice how the judge uses a different justification to approve this claim.
Here are pages from two decisions – one that was favorable to my client and one that was not. In the favorable decision the judge bases his approval on his finding that my client was “credible.” In the unfavorable decision, the judge found my client “not entirely credible.” Because credibility is such a subjective concept, judges have a great deal of leeway to either approve or disapprove a claim. This is why it is so important to always tell the truth during the entire adjudication process, and why you should not exaggerate your complaints.
Depression-Anxiety hearing decision: Judge’s written decision in a mental health impairment case. This is a partially favorable decision I received in the case of another young claimant, this time a 40 year old woman with claimant of a mental health impairment.
The theory of my case was that my client could not handle even minimal stress and that she was unable to handle supervision or criticism from supervisors, co-workers or the public.
What makes this decision interesting is that the Judge did not find the claimant believable, but the underlying medical record supported my theory. Frequently, in mental health cases, it helps to have a relative or friend testify since it is difficult for a person with mental health issues to accurately speak about his/her condition. In this case, there was no one available to testify.
Back pain hearing decision: Judge’s written decision in a back pain case. This is a favorable decision I received in the case of a 42 year old truck driver with a 10th grade education. This case is interesting because there was not a lot of medical evidence. In fact, the State Agency consultants – the doctors who reviewed the record while the case was being worked up at the State Agency – issued reports stating that there was no objective evidence supporting the claimant.
This case also involved workers’ compensation doctors who were very conservative and who did not find the claimant limited at all. The claimant did not hire me in this case until it was at the hearing stage.
When I reviewed the record, I discovered that all of the evidence supporting the claimant (and there was not much) was not yet in the file. I brought the file up to date and I had the claimant bring a witness to describe his day to day life.
We won this case because (1) I was able to locate and submit missing medical evidence from a family doctor and (2) I had a good witness and (3) I had the claimant describe examples of day to day problems he had dressing, attending to personal needs and functioning in his own house.
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Link to “Case studies” section of Jonathan’s web site
Link to Jonathan’s Grid Rules web site
Link to Jonathan’s Social Security disability blog
Link to Jonathan’s Social Security disability podcast
Link to Jonathan’s YouTube Channel
Want to research your judge? Visit https://disabilityjudges.com. This site is a little less useful now that we are not provided the names of the judge for a case prior to the hearing but I will use it the actual day of the hearing using my iPhone.