New York Disability Lawyer & Attorney : Turley, Redmond & Rosasco : Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, Nassau, Suffolk, Bronx, Staten Island

I was reading the magazine section of my Sunday paper this weekend and ran across a great article on online support groups by Peter Waite, the founder of HealingWell.com, a website devoted to online discussion groups for individuals with chronic illnesses.  I have always been a big fan of support groups for those with particular medical conditions, whether they be cancer, diabetes heart disease or some less common but equally disabling conditions.  However, I have always been dubious of recommending specific online disease forums due to the proliferation of bad medical information and questionable "lurkers".  Up until now, about the only Internet medical site I have recommended is MedlinePlus, sponsored by the National Institute of Health.  MedlinePlus is the starting place for my medical research.

Mr. Waite makes an excellent suggestion that anyone considering participation in an online support group first check out who sponsors the site (is it a drug company that wants to sell you its latest multiple sclerosis medication?) and if the site is accredited by the Health on the Net Foundation.  He also discussed proper online etiquette and the always sound mantra to check everything with your doctor.

My curiosity piqued, I got out of the recliner, sat down at my computer, and went to the HealingWell.com website.  It is well organize and has a user friendly interface.   More importantly, it has well attended discussion forums on diseases such as fibromyalgia, chronic pain, lupus, depression, arthritis, Crohn's Disease and ulcerative colitis, to name a few.  For those of you who are fighting a Social Security Disability claim or ERISA long term disability claim, this helpful site may give you some much needed support in the interim.  

Last week, the New York Daily News published a sad article about disability benefits and our client's 3 1/2 year struggle to obtain the Social Security Disability benefits she deserved entitled "Filing for Disability, but Finding Discouragement".   As detailed in the article, our client was mentally retarded and could not read or write. 

In mid-2003, she applied for Social Security Disability benefits.  Unbelievably, her claim was denied about 6 months later.  Our office filed an appeal called a "Request for a Hearing before an Administrative Law Judge" in the Queens Office of Disability Adjudication and Review.  Our client eventually appeared for a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge after waiting an additional 12 months.  At the hearing, the law judge called a special Social Security medical expert to testify.  The medical expert testified that our client was disabled under Social Security regulations.  End of story - right? No!

Despite  the testimony of his own medical expert saying our mentally retarded client was disabled, the judge again denied the claim in a poorly written decision a few months later.  This particular judge is known for horrible decisions. We then immediately appealed our client's case to the Social Security Appeals Council (a panel of reviewing judges) in Falls Church, Virginia.  Finally, in January 2007 the Appeals Council  fully reversed the original judge's decision and granted our client disability benefits, some 3 1/2 years after her initial application. 

As the claimant's mother said in the article, "when we needed the system, it wasn't there for us".  When the mentally retarded need retain disability attorneys to get the Social Security Disability benefits they deserve, you can only imagine the challenge the rest of you might have, especially in the New York City area.   

Welcome to the newly designed New York Disability Law Blog!  As you will notice, I changed the official title of the blog from "The Disabled Worker Law Blog" to the  more informational "New York Disability Law Blog".  This is in keeping with the blog's purpose of providing useful information and insight regarding disability claims to fellow attorneys and the general public. 

To this end, I am excited to announce the creation of the blog's "Disability Law Library" which will be continually added to and updated.  I hope that this will eventually become the first place attorneys and claimant's turn to when researching disability claims and legal issues.  Still in it's formative stages, the library will have sections on long term disability and ERISA claims, Social Security  disability, New York workers' compensation, civil service disability pensions, scaffold /ladder /construction site lawsuits and a new section on the unfortunate expanding area of veterans' disability claims.

In addition, in 2007 we hope to do a better job collaborating with fellow bloggers such as Jonathan Ginsberg and his excellent Social Security Disability Radio Blog.  Please feel free to comment about the new design and let me know how the New York Disability Law Blog can better serve your needs.  Talk to you soon.

Social Security has a special definition for the term "disability". It is very specific and is related to your ability to work. To qualify for disability from Social Security, you must have a physical or mental impairment that is expected to keep you from doing any "substantial" work for at least a year, or you must have a condition that is expected to result in your death.This is a fairly strict definition of disability in order to receive benefits. There is no such thing as a "partial" disability payment from Social Security. However, individuals who have been found only "partially disabled" under workers' compensation standards may also be eligible for Social Security Disability. You should talk to a lawyer about your individual disability to see if you qualify.

Social Security's rules are different from other plans or government agencies. So the fact that you qualify for disability from somebody else does not mean that you will be eligible for Social Security. Further, the fact that you have a statement from your doctor indicating that you are "totally disabled" does not mean that you will be automatically eligible for Social Security disability payments. You should speak to one of our attorneys to discuss the specifics of your individual case.