Welcome to The National Disability Group!
America’s premier Social Security disability representation company.
Whether you need to file an Application for Social Security disability benefits, have already filed, or just have questions, The National Disability Group is here for you. Let us put our experience to work for you!
Consultation is free and we don’t get paid until we win your case!
Our Company Offers
How Will We Help You?
By advancing your disability case from Application, Reconsideration, Hearing by an Administrative Law Judge and, if necessary, Appeals Council Remand.
Why You Need Professional Representation
To get disability benefits, the “Burden of Proof” is on you and us to prove your disability. That’s what we do, that’s all we do, and we do it very well.
Why The National Disability Group?
Because we’re one of the best, we’ve won national awards in Disability Leadership. Our hearing representatives have over 80 years of experience in over 10,000 cases before judges in almost every SSA office nationwide.
What Could You Receive?
Both a retroactive check and future monthly checks. The average retro checks we have won for our clients are between $20,000 to $40,000, and as high as $100,000.
What Is Your Cost?
If we don’t win your case, we don’t get paid. Period! Our fee is capped by the SSA at a maximum $9,200.00 of the retroactive benefits due to you, or 25% of those benefits, whichever is less.
What Should You Do Now?
Don’t wait! Pick up the phone and call us. Two million people apply for SSA disability every year. That’s more than five thousand people every day. Time equals money. And it’s your time and money!
If you need more information, please click below to learn more about The National Disability Group and the Social Security disability process.
“Being unable to work a full-time job due to medically proven physical and/or psychological impairments that are expected to last 12 consecutive months or lead to death.”
This definition is very different from that used by state and local public assistance programs, insurance companies, and the Veteran’s Administration. Proving disability includes issues such as age, education, past relevant work, activities of daily living, impairments taken both individually or in combination, and general credibility, among many other issues.
We are ready to help you!
Having a disability is difficult. Dealing with the complexities of disability forms and the disability process compounds that difficulty. People who have assistance with their pursuit of disability benefits are much more likely to be successful. The National Disability Group’s SSDI Help Team will fight to help you get the benefits you deserve and take the pressure off of you by professionally preparing your forms and walking you through the process every step of the way.
SSA Disability is a Three-Step Process
Application
There are two kinds of SSA disability: Disability Insurance Benefits or what you paid into the system when working, and Supplemental Security Income which covers when you are unable to work. You can apply at www.ssa.gov; in person at your local Field Office, or you can let The National Disability Group apply for you.
Once filed, your application will be sent to your local Disability Determination Services, part of your state’s Health and Human Services department, who will mail you a variety of questionnaires, request medical records from your providers, and may send you to an outside examination with doctors provided at government expense. We win many of our cases at this initial level by proving disability at an early onset.
After several months, you may receive a denial of your application. The SSA will likely say that while you have medically determined impairments that impact your daily life, they are not severe enough to keep you from working and you do not meet the SSA definition of disability. At this time, most people may give up. Not us! The National Disability Group rolls up their sleeves and moves on to the second phase of reconsideration of the initial denial.
Reconsideration
We also win cases at Reconsideration, if our client’s conditions have gotten worse, but usually we receive a second denial. We then immediately file a Request for a disability Hearing by an Administrative law Judge.
Disability Hearing
Once a judge has been assigned to your case and a time is reserved on their docket, your hearing is officially scheduled. Prior to the hearing you will work with your case manager to develop your medical records.
We order, pay for and submit your records to your SSA file. Your Hearing Representative will read your case file, develop a strategy for your case, and schedule a call to brief you prior to the hearing.
At the hearing your representative will discuss the main issues of your case with the judge, will clarify any procedural or process issues, will question you about your disabilities and specific physical or mental limitations, and will cross-examine the vocational expert, a government expert on the national job market who is there to advise the judge, and question a medical expert, if present for your hearing.
How Does the Judge Decide if You Are Disabled?
The judge must follow a five-step sequential evaluation process.
- Are you working at a Substantial Gainful Activity level? The Substantial Gainful Activity level for 2024 is gross earnings of $1,550.00 a month. If you are working at the SGA level, was there a 12 month Closed Period when you did not work at SGA? If so, you may still have a case.
- Do you have a medically determinable impairment, or a combination of impairments, considered severe under SSA regulations? Which means, a combination of physical or mental impairments that result in more than a minimal restriction on your ability for work related activities.
- Do your impairments meet or equal the criteria of an impairment listed in the Combined Federal Regulations, the SSA’s rule book for all federal regulations?
- What is your Residual Functional Capacity, and can you still do your Past Relevant Work?
- Is there any kind of work anywhere in the national economy that you can still do, considering your disabling impairments, age, education, work experience, and transferability of skills if any?
How You Can Help Us Win Your Case
- Retain The National Disability Group to represent you.
- See your doctors regularly.
- Tell your doctors everything about your illness or injury that is prohibiting your ability to live a normal, non-disabled, working life.
- Hearing voices, seeing shadows, or smelling things that aren’t there?
- Have days where your pain or depression or anxiety are so bad you can’t get out of bed or leave your home?
- The list is large and depending upon your specific disability, can include limitations on how long you can stand, walk, and sit.
- How much you can lift and carry.
- Limitations of focus and memory, inability to keep appointments or work without extra breaks.
What might seem silly or embarrassing to you could be the factor that wins your case, so tell your doctor absolutely everything! If you don’t tell your doctor, then it’s not in your medical record, and cannot be considered by the judge.
Can You Hurt Your Case?
Absolutely!
By not hiring The National Disability Group.
Consider any recent unfortunate legal circumstances in your life. Is there any evidence of drug or alcohol abuse in your medical records? By law, the judge cannot award you disability benefits if drug or alcohol abuse is actively present and contributing to your inability to work.
Have you recently been incarcerated? Incarceration may damage your credibility to the judge. Particularly if the incarceration was for using or selling narcotics, or a DUI within the past five years.
Have you received unemployment benefits? To receive unemployment, you must agree to be actively looking for work, yet to get disability you are claiming you are unable to work. The judge may find Secondary Gain in that contradiction that hurts your credibility.
Not taking prescribed medications or following your doctors’ orders? The judge may find that you are not cooperating with medical professionals and procedures that would make you healthier and able to return to work, and decide you are exaggerating your impairments.
Are you young and have no employment record to speak of? The judge may find that you simply haven’t tried to work with your impairments.
The National Disability Group wins cases where these issues are present, but it is up to you to regularly see your doctors, and fully inform them about your limitations so we have the most comprehensive medical records possible to present your case in the best possible light!