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Who decides if I am disabled? If Social Security's doctor and my doctor both say I am unable
to work, will I get Social Security disability? A claims examiner and physician at the Disability
Determining Services decide whether you are disabled according to Social Security rules.
These employees of the Disability Determining Services, which is called DDS for short, make
the decision because Social Security has its own definition of disability and because they
are trained in Social Security law and regulations. The claims examiner and DDS doctor consider
all the information from your attending doctors and give special importance to your doctors'
opinions. However, to be accepted as valid evidence for your claim, your doctor's assessments
must be supported by clinical observations, test results, or other supporting medical
evidence. In other words, your doctor has to explain how he arrived at his diagnosis
and assessment of your capabilities. When Social Security hires a doctor to examine
you, the claims examiner instructs the doctor to evaluate whether you have the illness or
injury that you claim and to identify any limitations and restrictions you may have.
The doctor is not asked to make a disability decision and when the consulting doctor's
report is received, the DDS examiner reviews the report to be sure that the conclusions
the doctor had drawn from the examination are supported. Our video "How Does Social
Security Define Disability?" describes the definition of disability that Social Security
uses, and our video "How Does Social Security Determine If I Am Disabled?" has more information
about how your disability claim is decided. For more answers to your Social Security Disability
questions, go to www.DisabilityAdvisor.com or call one, eight, eight, eight, three, nine,
three, ten, ten.