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If you are applying for social security disability (SSD) or SSI, you’ll do yourself a big favor in the long run if you come to the interview prepared. In this case “prepared” means having all of the necessary documentation ready to hand off to the field claims representative performing your initial interview. What documents does Social Security need to render a decision on your claim? First, you must supply proof of your identity--original birth certificate (not a copy) and your social security card are required. You must also supply information regarding any financial holdings, such as your most recent statements for mutual funds, life insurance, stocks, etc. After establishing that you are who you say you are and your current financial situation, you must offer evidence that you have a disabling medical condition. In order to speed the process along, be sure to provide a medical history that is as complete as possible. Include a list of any medications you take to control your symptoms, as well as a complete list of the symptoms themselves and how they limit your ability to work. Do not forget to give your claims rep a list of all physicians and places from which you have received treatment for your disability, including names, addresses, and current phone numbers, so that social security can contact these people for medical records. Keep in mind that it can take a long time for physicians to respond to a medical records request, and so the ideal here would be for you to obtain copies of them yourself and bring them to the initial interview. Medical records that provide a date of onset (when your symptoms started) are critical, as are your most recent medical records that show you are currently disabled. If for some reason you are unable to obtain the records before your interview, just be sure that contact information on your medical history is as complete and up-to-date as possible. Social Security can get the records for you, but of course this could add months to the process, and will almost certainly delay a decision on your claim. One more thing here—be sure to keep a copy of your medical records for yourself. If you ask for your medical records back, Social Security will typically copy only the first 15 pages of anything you give them in order to save time and money. However, having an incomplete medical history in your case file is absolutely not in your best interest. Make your own complete copy, and hand it off to your claims rep at the interview (you keep the originals). It’s the only way to ensure that all of the relevant information gets in your file and that your efforts gathering this information were not a complete waste of time. 
Social Security Disability and SSI Disability Information
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