What should you include in a disability benefits application?

An injury on the job can leave you unable to work and you may realize that you need Social Security Disability benefits. You may not have much experience with disability benefits before you fill out your application and you may wonder what kind of information you need to provide.

In order to decide whether you can receive disability benefits, the Social Security Administration needs to review information about you and your situation. The Social Security Administration says that you usually need to provide your personal information. This includes details like your address, your social security number and your date of birth. If you have young children and a spouse, you should list their birth dates and names.

Provide Your Work Details

To fully understand your situation, the SSA also needs to see information about your work history. You typically need to list information about your current employer, such as the name and address of the company. You also may need to write a list of the jobs you have held over the past 15 years. Additionally, you should list your earnings for the past few years. These details allow the SSA to understand how long you have been in the workforce and how much income you may lose if you cannot return to work.

Provide Your Medical Details

The SSA also needs to understand how your condition affects your life. In the application, you usually need to include as many details as possible about your condition. These include the diagnosis, the kinds of tests that you have taken and your doctor’s reports. If you are on medication to help you cope with the symptoms, you should list these as well. Additionally, you may want to write an explanation of the way that your condition affects your life. Have you lost the ability to do certain tasks? Are you unable to do any kind of work? These details can help the SSA understand the full impact of your condition.

After providing all of this information, the SSA may sometimes need further details. In this situation, you will usually receive a letter telling you what kind of information you need to submit.