Many people get very nervous in anticipation for their Social Security Disability hearing. For a lot of people, it is the first time that they have been in front of a judge. After two years of waiting it makes sense to be worried about this last, final step of the process.
The good news is that the hearing is actually the easiest, and most relieving part of the entire process! The hearing will consist of you, your lawyer, a Judge, a hearing monitor, and a vocational expert. The hearing monitor runs the recording equipment and the vocational expert classifies your past work and provides answers to the Judge’s hypothetical questions at the end of the hearing.
The hearing is divided into four parts. First, the Judge will ask your lawyer some basic procedural questions. Second, the Judge will ask you about the physical demands of the jobs that you’ve had in the last 15 years. Third, the Judge (or your lawyer, depending on the Judge) will ask you all about your life right now. Finally, the Judge will ask the vocational expert to classify your past work and provide some jobs a person with some of your limitations could do.
The questions are all very easy and the process is informal. It’s more like a casual conversation than the courtrooms you might see on TV. You don’t need to know dates, or medical terminology, or anything like that. The questions will be like “at your last job, what was the heaviest you had to lift?” or “what sort of chores do you do around the house?” The hearing is really just a way for the Judge to get to know you and your perspective on your limitations.
