The hearing room, in the order things happen
A Social Security disability hearing is shorter than most people expect, and quieter. Here is what happens, in order.
Before you walk in
The judge has already read your file, or most of it. You can see the same exhibits: ask the office for the exhibit list in the days before, and read it with a highlighter. Look for records that are missing, for gaps in treatment, and for any sentence a doctor wrote that makes you sound better than you are.
The first ten minutes
The judge confirms who is in the room, swears you in and asks whether anything is missing from the record. A hearing can be held in a hearing office, by video or by phone, and the first minutes are the same in each.
Your testimony
You’ll be asked questions in three rounds, first by the judge and then by your lawyer. Expect to describe:
- What each job required over a full day, hour by hour
- What an ordinary day looks like now
- What stops you from working: pain, concentration, how often you need to lie down
Answer what you’re asked, plainly. Bad days are part of the truth, so say how often they come.
The vocational expert
A vocational expert listens to your testimony and then answers a hypothetical from the judge: could a person with these limits do any job that exists in numbers in the economy? My questions to that expert often matter more than anything else said in the room.
A hearing isn’t a trial about whether you are a good person. It is an hour in which one person decides whether the record fits the rule.
After
The decision arrives by mail, usually weeks and sometimes months later. If it isn’t what you hoped, the letter says how long you have to appeal, and that date is the one that matters now.