Significant Points Concerning Social Security Disability Hearings

Are you one of the social security disability claimants who have not yet seen a favorable answer for your applications after considerable waiting? Then requesting for an appeal of the decision concerning your Disability Claim at the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) could be the positive step in achieving what you have been praying for.

If you feel that your claim for Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits is becoming a hopeless case, do not lose heart. Most of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and SSD claims can be expected to turn up with favorable end through the OHA.


As the federal government has published, the judges who have heard the disability applications appeals at the OHA have approved the application for disability benefits of more than half of the cases that has been transferred for their consideration.

The OHA is one of the elements that make up the "disability adjudication process." It works quite differently from the other elements in the process. Here are several aspects of the OHA that sets it apart from the other stages of the application:

- After the SSD claim has been transferred from the local SS office to the OHA, the case may have to "sit" for about a year or even longer while waiting to have a schedule of hearing.

- A claimant may not hear anything at all about his or her case during the time it sits in the OHA.

- For claimants, the official correspondence they have to expect from the OHA are:

o Acknowledgment or Letter of Confirmation after they have submitted a "Request for Hearing"
o Appointment letter for purposes of notification of the date that has been set for the disability hearing
o Notification of the Judge's decision after the hearing and it would be any of these three: fully favorable, partially favorable or unfavorable.

Sometimes, the OHA requests the applicant to submit an exhibit list, which is everything that is contained in the claimant's SSD application file.

Being in a Social Security disability hearing

First, you have to know that hearings on Social Security Claim appeals are usually short and could run from 15 minutes up to about an hour. Contrary to what other people think that they need to be formally attired and be as prim and proper as they could for such affair, SSD hearings are really but informal gatherings. As a claimant, you need not dress special or anything. In fact, you will even be requested to wear the usual clothes that you wear everyday.

The venue for the hearing would depend upon how far away you are residing from the OHA. A venue could be set wherein you would not have to go all the way to the hearing office if it is too far.

In some cases, it could be held in a bank, a hotel or conference room.

Your disability hearing is one of the remedies you have to achieve greater chances of having a positive outcome in your application. As much as possible, you can consult with your disability lawyer on how to make your case more qualified and subsequently pass the scrutiny of a judge.