Many people who filled out their own Adult Disability Reports at the outset of their claim will recall that it required them to list all the conditions limiting their ability to do work. However, in many instances, people receive denials or fully favorable decisions based in whole or part on conditions other than what they alleged in their Adult Disability Report. There is a common misconception amongst many claimants that Social Security is somehow limited in their analysis to only the conditions originally alleged. This is not the case.
Social Security bases the majority of their decisions on the contents of the medical records, which, for people who are treating, provide a more comprehensive diagnoses listing than what most people put in their Adult Disability Reports. The records also provide guidance as to the conditions’ severity and, in many cases, a pointed analysis as to the claimant’s ability to function as a result of these conditions. Social Security has every right, and obligation, to analyze all the conditions that are present in the medical records that have caused or will cause the claimant a more than minimal limitation on his/her ability to work for a period of not less than 12 consecutive months. This can and has resulted in decision letters that find the claimant disabled for reasons of x, y and z, when the claimant originally alleged a, b and c. A claimant who originally alleged disability due to arthritis in knees and feet and make no mention of mental conditions, can be found disabled for reasons of Bi-Polar Disorder and Depression if the medical records bear out that those conditions are disabling for the claimant under Social Security’s rules.
The main benefit to the claimant is that this requires Social Security to analyze conditions that they may have certain difficulties talking about. Many claimants are in situations where they suffer from several conditions that are disabling either singly or in combination, but as a result of the culture or environment for which they grew up, are ashamed of the conditions. This can result in Adult Disability Reports with key conditions left off, as it is hard for a lot of people to talk about things like Schizophrenia, Crohn’s Disease, Traumatic Brain Injury or Learning Disabilities, despite the fact that these conditions are NOTHING to be ashamed of. People often times fill out the Online Adult Disability Report when someone else is in the room, so they don’t feel comfortable listing it in front of the other person, or do the report by interview with a Social Security agent and don’t fully trust the agent. However, in many of these cases, the claimant trusts their doctor, and is open and frank with that person. Social Security’s system allows for claimant’s to receive a fair up or down vote based on ALL the conditions they are treating for.
The main drawback for many claimants to this approach is that if the medical records also contain ongoing drug and alcohol abuse, that will get analyzed alongside the other conditions present. This means that a claimant cannot hide their abuse from Social Security by leaving it off the Disability Report. Everything that has a material affect on the claimant’s ability to do work-like activities gets analyzed if it is present in the record, even drug or alcohol dependence. Thus, if a claimant fails to mention drug and alcohol dependence in the Adult Disability Report, but the treatment records bear out that it is material to the claimant’s inability to work, Social Security can still use drug and alcohol abuse as a reason to deny a claimant.
The notion that Social Security is bound to only analyze the conditions listed in the Adult Disability Report is incorrect. The more accurate sentiment is that Social Security can and will analyze all conditions that the record indicates are causing more than a minimal affect on a person’s ability to do work, without regard as to whether it helps or hurts the claim.
