Getting a Social Security Disability award in North Carolina

by Tim Moore. Free Case Evaluation here.

In most cases, getting a Social Security Disability award, or SSI award, in North Carolina will involve the following:

1. Having to file two appeals. The first appeal will be a reconsideration appeal that, like your disability application, will be handled by a disability examiner at North Carolina disability determination services (DDS).

2. The entire process of filing your initial claim and then going through the appeal process will most likely take the better part of two years, possibly a bit longer than this.

3. You will most likely need the benefit of disability representation. This is because a disability representative will be familiar with how decisions are made, the grid framework rules that direct decisions on cases, the sequential evaluation process used by disability examiners and judges, as well as the Code of Federal Regulations and the various social security court rulings, or SSRs.

4. Unless you fall into the roughly 30% of claims that are approved at the application level, you will most likely have to go to a disability hearing that is conducted by a federal judge.

Your disability hearing may be held at a satellite location that is closer to where you live, and this may be something such as a conference room at a bank. However, it is more likely that you will need to go to one of these specific hearing offices in the state.

There are several offices of disability adjudication and review, or ODAR. Currently, they are located in the following cities: Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, and Fayetteville NC.

To receive a Social Security Disability award, or SSI disability award, in North Carolina you will need to prove the following:

1. Your medical condition, which may be physical, mental, or both, must be severe and must last at least a full year, or must be projected to last at least that long.

2. Your medical records must either clearly establish that you have a condition that is listed in the Social Security bluebook, also known as the Social Security Disability list of impairments, and that your condition meets the listing’s approval criteria.

Or, your medical records must show that you have enough limitations in your functional capacity, either of a physical or mental nature, such that you cannot return to your past work, and which further prevents you from being able to switch to some type of other work that would normally utilize your skills and education.