How Can Details Help My Texas Disability Hearing Testimony?

Whether an Austin Social Security disability claimant receives benefits may depend in large part on how well their Austin disability attorney elicits critical facts and details during the disability hearing.

Details are perhaps the single most important component of your Texas disability hearing testimony, and specific information about how your impairment affects your day-to-day life can make the difference between your benefits being denied or awarded.

Imagine a claimant for whom the medical evidence alone does not justify an award of disability benefits. (In other words, the claimant’s impairment does not meet or equal one of the Social Security Administration’s listings.) Also imagine that this claimant, because of age, education, and work experience, must prove only that he cannot do more than sedentary work.

When asked about what activities he can still perform, the claimant could testify in two different ways, both completely truthfully:

Q: What activities are you still able to perform in spite of your impairment?

A: I’m able to vacuum the house, wash dishes, sweep, do a load of laundry, go shopping for groceries, prepare a meal, visit friends, and make minor repairs around the house.

Obviously, this testimony is not particularly helpful, especially because administrative law judges commonly use activities of daily living as a basis for a finding of “not disabled.” Taken at face value, the claimant’s testimony seems to suggest that he leads a very busy and active lifestyle—busier, even, than some people with no medical impairments.

This is where details come into play. Imagine the same claimant giving the following testimony:

Q: What activities are you still able to perform in spite of your impairment?

A: Almost everything I do has been impacted in some way by my impairment. I’m able to vacuum the living room, but only one room at a time—or half a room, in the case of a large room like the living room. After doing so, I need to lie down for at least an hour because I’m so tired. I can wash dishes only using a dishwashing machine that takes a few minutes to load, and I wash dishes only once or twice a week. I can sweep a small room like the kitchen for about five minutes, and, again, I have to lie down after I’m done. I can do laundry, but we had to move the hamper right next to the washing machine because I can no longer carry a basket of clothes across the house. I also need my wife’s help unloading and folding the clothes. I go grocery shopping, but I need to ride in a motorized cart, and I need my wife or children to help me get items off of the shelves, and to load and unload the car. I used to love to cook, but I can no longer prepare any meal more complicated than macaroni and cheese. And that’s on a good day. Most of the time, I just end up microwaving something. I still keep in touch with friends, but whereas we used to go out about once a month, they now mostly come to see me at my house because I can’t get out. I can still make minor repairs around the house. I used to be able to install a toilet, build shelves, and repair the roof. Now, I can still fix a leaky faucet, but doing so completely taxes my strength, and I’m in severe pain afterwards, sometimes for days. I can no longer sit for more than an hour or so at a time, and I need to lie down, stand, or walk around to alleviate the pain.

What a difference these details make! Our picture is now of a man unable to do the sustained eight-hours-a-day, five-days-a-week work required for a sedentary job, let alone medium or light work. The details show that the claimant’s activities are still within the limits of what he can do and still be eligible for Texas disability benefits.

An experienced Texas disability attorney can ask the questions that elicit helpful testimony to establish that you are disabled. If you need the help of a Texas disability attorney, please contact us using the information below, or fill out the claim evaluation form on the right to get a no-cost, no-obligation assessment of your case.

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