April 28, 2026
Jonathan Ginsberg's Social Security disability podcast
You may feel scared or intimidated as the date of your Social Security disability hearing approaches. Would it be ok if you brought a friend or relative into the hearing room to give you moral support. In this video I explain hearing office policy regarding witnesses and observers.
Can I Bring an Observer with me to my Social Security Disability Hearing from Jonathan Ginsberg on Vimeo.
Vocational Witness testimony in Social Security disability cases from Jonathan Ginsberg on Vimeo.
In this video, I talk about vocational witness testimony in a Social Security disability case. Vocational witnesses appear and testify at many Social Security disability hearings. At first, this may seem odd, as you have most likely never met this person and now he or she will be giving testimony about your hearing.
SSDI judges use vocational witnesses because the main issue they are deciding has to do with your capacity to work. Basically, during the hearing, the judge will be trying to identify specific limitations that arise from your medical or mental health condition. More specifically, the judge will be concerning himself with limitations that will impact your capacity to work.
For example, suppose that you hurt your back and you testify that you experience severe pain 3 to 4 hours per day and that the pain is so severe that you cannot sit or stand but have to lie down and take narcotic pain medication until you fall asleep. If the medical record supports your testimony and the judge finds you credible, he might ask the VE a question like this:
Over the past few months, lawyers in the Social Security disability legal community have been talking about a rumor that Social Security administrators in Washington have sent out a memo to judges working in hearing offices throughout the country instructing them to cut back on the number of approvals being issued in disability cases. Historically, about 60% of cases taken to hearing have been approved – but according to this rumor, Social Security wants the approval rate to be around 30%.
There is no question that the Social Security disability trust fund is running out of money and judges in the local hearing offices are aware of this issue.
I have found no evidence that a memo has been sent, but I do note that all of the judges before whom I appear are requiring more and better evidence. Specifically, I am looking for the following when I accept a case and from my discussions with colleagues throughout the country, they are doing likewise:
Social Security has a stated goal of encouraging disabled claimants to return to work. However, as a practical matter, work attempts are treated very differently depending on where you are in the process. While you are waiting for your decision, work attempts can help your case (if these attempts are short and unsuccessful) or they can cause a judge to conclude that you are not disabled and do have the capacity for work.
After you are found disabled, my experience has been that Social Security is much more forgiving in terms of both the length of your work attempts and the type of work you may try.
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[mc id=”118″ type=”audio”]How to Prepare for Your Hearing[/mc]
Podcast Notes: Social Security judges are busy people, and they do not have time to dig for information. Your hearing offers you the opportunity to explain to a Social Security Administration judge why you are unable to work, and your hearing will last no more than 60 minutes. The only issue that the judge really cares about involves your capacity for work – everything else is peripheral, so it does not make sense to waste valuable time pondering background information like your work history and medication lists.
In my experience, judges appreciate you and your attorney if you can quickly review background information and proceed quickly to the heart of the matter. In fact, I generally ask leading questions (questions that suggest the answer) when I cover background information and not once has a judge interrupted me.
Here is the background information that you need to have at your fingertips:
Past work over the last 15 years – you should know the dates of employment, your job title, and prepare a brief description of what you did. This information can also be submitted in writing on a form but the judge may want to hear it directly from you.
Current medications list – you should have a list of the medicines, both prescription and non-prescription, that you take, who prescribed those medications, and when you started taking each one. Further, if your doctor has been modifying your prescriptions in an effort to control your condition, a timeline would be helpful. Finally, you should make note of any side effects that apply.
Know the “onset date” set out in your application for benefits and why you chose that date. Was it an accident? Was this your last day of work? Why this date?
Have a clear understanding of why you believe you meet Social Security’s definition of disability. Discuss this with your lawyer and write out a statement if necessary.
Prepare answers to questions about your capacity to perform specific exertional activities, like standing, walking, sitting, crawling, crouching, climbing, reaching, using your hands, etc. Avoid “not very much” or “not too long.”
Social Security recognizes that individuals who are 50 years old or older, and who have a limited education and limited work skills will have a more difficult time entering into the workforce. The “grid rules” (officially called the medical-vocational guidelines) provide a structure whereby judges can find a claimant disabled even if that claimant can still do certain kinds of work.
Unless you are illiterate or unable to communicate in English, the grid rules apply to claimants who are 50 years old or older and who have a physical impairment. I have published a web site specifically about the grid rules – the address is http://www.gridrules.net.
The following video demonstrates how the grid rules work and how you can use free resources on the Internet to see if the grid rules apply to you. You will need to click on the video icon, which will open a full screen video.
[mc id=”85″ type=”file”]Grid Rules video[/mc]
[mc src=”https://ssdradio.com/wp-content/uploads/oct09attitude.mp3″/]
I have a good friend who works as a sales trainer. He teaches his students that “attitude is everything.” In a sales context, if you exude confidence and believeability, you have much better chance at making a sale. Conversely, if you give off a “vibe” of defeatism and lack of confidence, your customers will sense your desperation and you will not be successful in sales.
The same ideas hold true in the Social Security disability world. Although you may have been waiting for years to appear before a judge, and you may know with every fiber of your being that you do not have the energy or endurance to work, you must present yourself as a fighter who wants to work and who hates the idea of pursuing disability benefits. Five days a week for 8 hours a day your judge has seen or thought about a claimant who wants that judge to obligate the federal government to pay monthly benefits.
Most disability cases turn on whether the judge finds you credible. You can greatly enhance your credibility by presenting yourself as an honest, hardworking person who has reluctantly given up a fulfilling, financially rewarding career or job.
In this episode, I describe my pre-hearing meeting with a client who has a chronic, debilitating condition. Only at the end of my meeting did I discover a line of questioning that will allow me to portray her as a reluctant claimant.
Jonathan Ginsberg