Help for Initial Applications for
Social Security Disability in Louisiana

What You Need When You First Apply for Social Security Disability

Before you sit down with the forms you have to fill out to get Social Security Disability benefits, it can be helpful to gather all the information you’ll need.

Here is a rundown of the kinds of information Social Security will ask you:

• Jobs you’ve held for the past 15 years, even those jobs where you worked for cash or were self-employed
• Explanation of what those jobs required you to be able to do
• Description of the health problems that force you to stop working (documents showing your diagnosis)
• The date when you first had to stop working
• Any dates you tried to return to work but had to stop
• Details and medical records about the severity of your symptoms
• Medical evidence that shows the kinds of treatment you’ve been receiving
• What your daily life is like, and how your health limits you

When you fill out forms to apply for Social Security Disability, you need to be thorough—answer every question.

You also need correct information, because errors found later could hurt your claim.

You need to be blunt. This isn’t like a job application you may have done before, where you explain your experiences in glowing terms. Don’t hold back on how your medical conditions make your everyday life harder.

Having an attorney to represent you during the initial application will help you understand how to explain all of your limitations and how they prevent you from holding a job.

But it’s not a time to exaggerate, either. Later on, if you have to take your claim before a disability judge, they’ll be able to see if you’re overstating the effects of your health problems.

For a better idea of what your application for disability benefits could involve, you can talk to Empower Disability for an initial review of your situation, free of charge.