Impressing the Social Security Disability Judge

Official Transcript: Impressing the Social Security Disability Judge

Hi, I’m Sharon Christie, your nurse attorney for Social Security Disability Benefits. When you are going to your hearing, how do you impress the Social Security Disability Judge? The biggest rule is simple tell the truth. That is the first rule, the last rule, the most important rule always tell the truth because if you try to fudge on something if you try to hide something believe me the judge is going to know what you are doing. He or she is very experienced in assessing somebody’s credibility, their believability.

That is what credibility is but they also have all of your medical records and there is a lot of information in your medical records that really doesn’t directly relate to your medical condition but talks about what you are telling the doctor and a lot about your background. So always tell the truth even if it feels uncomfortable you want to be very respectful to a judge because you are talking to a judge, you call the judge your honor. You want to be respectful in your dress. Now when I say that I do not mean that you have to go out and buy a new outfit or get all dressed up, because you want to be comfortable at your hearing, but make sure that your clothes are clean and neat. It is just a sign of respect and the judges look for that. You also want to make sure that you answer the question, now I know that can be hard to sometimes because you have a lot of things that you want to talk about that you may feel are important but you have to listen to what the judge is asking you.

The judge has reviewed your case, has reviewed your medical records, and has specific areas of questioning that they want to get to get to make sure you respect that and answer those questions. If there are other areas that need to be explored that the judge doesn’t ask about then your lawyer can ask you about that once the judge has finished his or her questioning.